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USF shakes up ailing medical training center in downtown Tampa: 'It wasn't making money'

 
The University of South Florida's Center for Advanced Medical Learning & Simulation, CAMLS, is located on Franklin Street at E. Brorein Street in downtown Tampa. [DANIEL WALLACE, Times]
The University of South Florida's Center for Advanced Medical Learning & Simulation, CAMLS, is located on Franklin Street at E. Brorein Street in downtown Tampa. [DANIEL WALLACE, Times]
Published Feb. 12, 2016

TAMPA — Top leaders have left the University of South Florida's prized medical training center as the downtown facility undergoes a massive shake up, shifting its focus amid a sagging budget, university officials said Thursday.

Deborah Sutherland, the founding chief executive officer of the Center for Advanced Medical Learning & Simulation, known as CAMLS, told the Tampa Bay Times that her skill set was no longer needed as the university transforms the facility from a freestanding medical innovation hub to an academic partner in the new medical school USF plans to open downtown.

"This dean came in and wasn't interested in the entrepreneurial services or innovation offered at CAMLS," said Sutherland when reached by phone Thursday. She referred to Dr. Charles Lockwood, who became dean of USF's health college in 2014. "That's his prerogative."

Lockwood was not available for an interview Thursday.

John Robinson, a spokesman for USF Health, said CAMLS "had a lot of ideas and was innovative, but as the market changed, it didn't really work. … and as a startup, it wasn't making money."

He also confirmed that Marty Petty, chief strategy and business development officer for USF CAMLS since 2013, departed "a few months ago." Both women were featured on the facility's leadership page until they were removed Thursday. Petty is a former publisher of the Times.

The university began a "deeper dive" into CAMLS in July as part of a broader analysis of its downtown Tampa footprint, USF Health vice president for Strategic Development Dr. Edmund Funai said at a board of trustees work session Thursday.

What they found included "areas that have not met expectations," Funai said. An internal audit of the center is expected to be released next week.

The facility at 124 S Franklin St. opened in 2012 as a major center for health care education and training, where medical professionals could practice in a realistic, clinical learning environment. Built at a cost of $38 million, it features surgical suites and classrooms, as well as space to work on projects such as medical devices.

The center has been seen as a key piece of a biomedical hub envisioned by Jeff Vinik, the landowner and Tampa Bay Lightning owner, who plans to redevelop a large swath of downtown. In addition to CAMLS, other anchors of the hub include USF's new medical school, a neighboring medical arts building and Tampa General Hospital.

Financial shortcomings, coupled with the coming medical school and an interest in using the facility by USF students, prompted the transformation at CAMLS, Funai said. The new medical school will be about a seven-minute walk from the center.

Mayor Bob Buckhorn said it "makes even more sense now" for the center to serve USF students as the medical school moves nearby.

"As with any startup, there are always hiccups," Buckhorn said. "As with any company, you have to recalibrate as the market changes, and that's what they're doing

Funai said USF would use existing equipment at CAMLS instead of replicating it at the new medical school. University students already use some parts of the facility, but are set to use much more. Plans call for holding anatomy classes there, expanding a nursing program, and building physician's assistant and biomedical engineering programs at the center.

"There is a lot of pent-up USF student demand to be at CAMLS, and the program is not at capacity," Funai said.

He bristled at the notion that CAMLS could lose its national and international acclaim as it focuses more on its role locally. "Everything CAMLS does today I foresee it doing in the future," he said, though he acknowledged the center will be "more about what is sustainable and less of what is not sustainable."

Funai described the surgical simulation areas as "beautiful," but high-cost. "All that technology comes at a tremendous cost," he said.

When CAMLS first opened, the plan was to partner with Intuitive Surgical Inc. and host a major hub for the robotic surgery company. But then Intuitive decided to create its own facility. After that, the medical community began to scrutinize the time and cost of robotic surgery.

The continuing education program, which offers training in medical simulation situations for physicians, has been profitable, Funai said, though he did not know if CAMLS met its initial goal of welcoming 60,000 of these customers through the door each year.

Dubbed by many as the first of its kind, CAMLS burst onto the field in 2012 with a virtual operating room and a 3-D printer that could create customized knee implants. Neonatal nurses could practice their technique on a dummy that convulsed like a real, distressed newborn baby.

More than 700 groups came to tour it. Senators and congressmen flocked to walk the halls of what some referred to as the "Disney World for doctors."

In early 2014, Sutherland said it was a challenge for the facility to make money. It lost about $4.5 million in its first year, operating at 30 percent capacity. "We'll always be looking for new opportunities," she said.

At 90,000 square feet, CAMLS was thought to be the largest of facility of its kind. When it opened, it was in a field of its own. But by 2014, there were about six such training and research facilities in the nation. Now, approaching four years old, CAMLS faced more competition.

"By the time the ribbon was cut, there was a lot of life in that ocean, and now it's teeming with fish," Funai said at Thursday's board of trustees meeting.

Lockwood, speaking from the table, agreed. "All those operational changes have to be viewed in the context of one of the most rapidly changing" industries, he said, referring to health care. "The changes that are occurring are so fundamental and permeate so many aspects of what we do that if we're not incredibly proactive in our response to them, we won't be around in three to four years."

The new CEO of CAMLS will be Dr. David Smith, chief medical officer at the facility and the chair of surgery for USF's medical college. He declined an interview Thursday.

"When you are changing and reshaping your strategic vision, it's also an important time to reevaluate leadership," Funai said.

Sutherland said she left voluntarily in December. She said she is starting a consulting company.

She said she believes that CAMLS lost money because it wasn't charging USF students what it cost to deliver the expensive program. "CAMLS was a startup," Sutherland said. "It was just turning the corner."

When she speaks at national conferences, she said, at least three other presenters will spotlight the center: "All I can tell you is that CAMLS is best-in-class globally, and USF Health was known for CAMLS."

Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Times clips were used. Contact Lisa Gartner at lgartner@tampabay.com. Follow her on Twitter @lisagartner.