Byrd board announced

USF and Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer’s Center & Research Institute announced the members of their new affiliation board Tuesday.

The seven-member board was designed to work on the details of the affiliation between Byrd and USF, said Melanie Meyer, chief of external affairs for the institute. Byrd became part of the University last month.

“According to the term sheet there were some broad outlines of agreements,” Meyer said. “The board will get together and work out more the meat of the affiliation agreement.”

Rhea Law, chair of the USF Board of Trustees, chose four of the seven members for the board: Wayne Goodman, professor of the University of Florida and director of the Division of Adult Translational Research and Treatment Development at the National Institute of Mental Health; Frank L. Morsani and Sherrill M. Tomasino, both members of the USF Foundation Board of Trustees; and Karen Holbrook, vice president for research and innovation at USF.

“I am delighted to be a part of the board. Hopefully it will be helpful to the group,” Holbrook said.

Pamela Vergara, chairman of the institute’s board of directors, chose three of the board members. Vergara appointed Johnnie B. Byrd Jr. a member of the institute’s board of directors, Kathy Harris, the vice-chair of the board of directors, and herself.

The board and the new leadership will work to determine what the management structure of the board is, Holbrook said.

CEO and Scientific Director of the institute Huntington Potter will be replaced by USF College of Medicine Dean Steve Klasko. Klasko will keep his position at USF and Potter will become the senior vice president of health affairs in the College of Medicine.

Holbrook said one of the purposes of the board is to make the institute an integral part of the University’s neuroscience program.

“The real goal is to continue to build it, so that their statute, its influence and its programs become stronger than they ever had been for the state of Florida and the nation,” she said. “The goals have not changed and will always be to find a cure and improve treatments and detection of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Holbrook said the partnership will not only be good for patients but for education in the neurosciences.

“Students should look forward to seeing opportunities for them in the future to do research and get engaged in the group and hopefully even take part in some occasional activities,” she said.

The board will meet for the first time Friday.