April 26, 2024
Feature
Donor Science
Artificial intelligence might be all the rage these days, but Michael Peterman was an early adopter of the technology. In the early 2000s, the Naples native was working at a Fort Myers company called AccuData and started closely watching what tech giants like Amazon and Netflix were doing with all the data they were collecting. “It was around the time when some juggernauts in Silicon Valley were launching their early forms of machine learning,” he says.
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Published on 2/21/2024
AI's Emerging Role in Cardiac Care
Sumit Verma is a board-certified specialist in cardiac electrophysiology and cardiovascular disease with Baptist Health Care in Pensacola. In a recent interview with FLORIDA TREND, he discussed the impact that...
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Published on 2/20/2024
AI in Action
As we go about our daily lives, artificial intelligence is everywhere. It's sorting through our e-mail for spam and recognizing our faces to unlock our smartphones. It's tracking our steps and reminding us to take deep breaths. It's mapping out the best route to get to that business meeting across town and rerouting us in real time when traffic gets snarled.
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Published on 2/19/2024
Florida Icon: Lee Brian Schrager
I always worked in restaurants. When I was 10, 11 years old, I used to bag Chinese takeout food, Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights, in a local popular Chinese restaurant. I worked in snack bars and movie theaters. I worked at Swensen's ice cream parlor, (and was a) valet car parker at a fine-dining restaurant. There was always something about the hospitality industry. The people in it are very special. And you know, I've always enjoyed wine and food.
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Published on 2/19/2024
Detecting Trouble
The sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) incidents with Buffalo Bills football player Damar Hamlin and college basketball player Bronny James brought national attention to the often-fatal heart problem. Without quick CPR or automatic external defibrillator use to get the heart beating again, 90% of people who go into SCA outside of a hospital will die.
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Published on 2/15/2024
Education Guru
Education was calling for Adam Giery. His mother was a teacher — he always dreamed of following in her footsteps — and he was inspired by his own teachers. “I'm a product of an American public education system that just wouldn't expect less from me,” Giery explains. “My teachers were there for me, my teachers set a very high bar and when given the choice to pursue a profession, ‘teacher' felt like the answer.”
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Published on 2/14/2024
Problem Solver
As a kid in Argentina, Jose Navia recalls, he liked finding ways to fix broken things around the house. He also was exposed to the world of medicine. His mother was a midwife. His uncle was a cardiac surgeon.
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Published on 2/14/2024
A Window on Risk
Pregnancy is hard on the body, with 10-15% of women experiencing a complication themselves or with their baby. In some ways, pregnancy is essentially a stress test for the mother, with the potential to forecast significant health risks down the road.
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Published on 2/14/2024
Flower Power
Valentine's Day is already in full bloom at Miami International Airport, which imports more flowers than any other airport in the United States
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Published on 2/13/2024
Heart Health
Approximately two in 10 deaths in Florida are caused by heart disease, making it the No. 1 killer in the state.
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Published on 2/12/2024
Daycare Dilemma
Part I of the 2024 legislative preview in the January issue of Florida Trend explored the day-to-day realities of working Floridians struggling with rising housing, insurance and food costs. This month, we examine Florida's childcare crisis and what solutions may be on the horizon.
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Published on 2/12/2024
Southwest Florida's economic forecast for 2024
“Over the past few years, we have moved from a world of disinflation and ultra-easy monetary policy to one with high inflation, conventional monetary policy and rising interest rates. While England may have crowned a new king, cash continues to reign supreme here in the U.S. Since the Fed began hiking interest rates in 2021, we have seen our J.P. Morgan Private Bank clients increase their cash at the expense of stocks."
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Published on 1/31/2024
Northwest Florida's economic forecast for 2024
In the fall of 2018, Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City was devastated by a direct hit from Hurricane Michael. The Category 5 storm severely damaged 484 buildings on the base, a major pilot training facility.
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Published on 1/31/2024
Targeting Skin Cancer
If you've ever spent time in a dermatologist's office in Florida, then it may feel as if skin cancer removal is practically routine in the Sunshine State.
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Published on 1/31/2024
New in Cancer Care
Diffuse midline gliomas, also known as diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas, are aggressive tumors that occur in the brainstem and each year affect about 300 children — most of them between the ages of 5 and 9. The tumors are difficult to treat because chemotherapy has a hard time penetrating the blood-brain barrier that protects the brain from toxins and pathogens.
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Published on 1/31/2024
Occupational Hazard
Once upon a time, having a dirty firefighting uniform was like a badge of honor. It meant you'd seen some heavy action.
“In the past, the dirtier your gear, the dirtier your helmet, it was like a trophy,” recalls Longboat Key Fire Chief Paul Dezzi. “Now you clean it all up to make sure you're not breathing that stuff in.”
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Published on 1/31/2024
Diversifying Cancer Research
Black men face a far greater risk of getting prostate cancer than whites, and they suffer higher mortality rates. Yet, clinical trials for new treatments disproportionately involve white men. Similarly, Black women are more susceptible to dying from triple negative breast cancer than whites, but clinical trials do not represent this.
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Published on 1/31/2024
Mind-Body Healing
Memorial Cancer Institute in Pembroke Pines offers yoga, acupuncture and other mind-body techniques to improve the quality of life of patients with cancer.
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Published on 1/31/2024
Pinpoint Accuracy
Baptist Health Care is treating patients with high-energy X-rays that destroy cancer while sparing healthy cells.
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Published on 1/31/2024
Northeast Florida's economic forecast for 2024
“In the nonprofit sector at large, I see a huge demand for financial talent. That's probably explained by the fact that people with financial expertise are in huge demand in the for-profit space, which compensates at a higher level. It also plays out in issues like non-profits not being able to find auditors to carry out financial audits for them, despite being willing to pay market rates, because audit firms simply do not have the people to carry out all the audits being demanded of them."
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Published on 1/31/2024
Central Florida's economic forecast for 2024
The Orlando Magic's planned sports and entertainment district is moving forward with the addition of two developers experienced in sports-related venues. San Francisco-based JMA Ventures and Houston-based Machete Group have joined the effort to create a downtown Orlando entertainment district next to the Amway Center, home to the NBA franchise.
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Published on 1/31/2024
Southeast Florida's economic forecast for 2024
“FHG is a service maintenance company specializing in diesel engines for the superyacht industry, commercial shipping industry and government. We basically do inboard engine overhauls. We've built the company as a concierge complete engine service. It's the most expensive piece of equipment on board and the biggest liability. We do wastewater treatment systems, electrical, hydraulic, generators. A lot of it is supporting OEMs."
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Published on 1/31/2024
Miami's economic forecast for 2024
“As we look ahead to 2024, we believe rates will stabilize and that the Federal Reserve will gradually ease rates to sustain economic growth. We anticipate that Florida's economy will remain strong and that residents, businesses, and domestic and international capital will continue flowing into the state."
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Published on 1/30/2024
Insurance Burdens
Justine Johnson, 35, moved into her three-bedroom, two-bath home in Vero Beach in 2020 through Habitat for Humanity. A single mother, she works in medical billing and has two children, ages 6 and 1.
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Published on 1/23/2024
On the Table in Tallahassee
Food insecurity is defined as lacking access to sufficient food for a healthy, active lifestyle. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of food insecurity in Florida had been going down consistently — dropping from 16.2% in 2020 to 10.6% in 2020, according to the state Department of Health.
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Published on 1/23/2024
