2012 College of Sciences Professional Achievement Award Winner

The 2012 College of Sciences Professional Achievement Award Winner is Douglas Dew, ’84, who was honored at the Black and Gold Gala hosted by the UCF Alumni Association during the 2012 Homecoming week.

“I think the importance of science in education, especially at the undergraduate level, is to get that basic understanding of different areas,” Dew said. “Then at the graduate level work on specific projects, really understand details of different problems, fix those problems and then try to translate those to the new world, but you need that basis to understand the different aspects.”

Dr. Dew is a practicing board certified orthopedic surgeon with a background in research and product development. His senior leadership experience includes medical staff leadership in for-profit and not-for-profit facilities. He currently serves on 2 for-profit board of directors and 4 not-for-profit boards.

Dr. Dew has served as a grant reviewer and member of the NIH Special Study Section on Bioengineering and Surgery for the SBA’s SBIR Program. He has six issued US patents. From a regulatory standpoint, he has co-authored multiple 510(k)’s, served as principle investigator on four FDA IDE clinical trials, and co-authored medical software validation protocols.

Most of his development time is now being spent on a knowledge based expert system for automated clinical guidelines support along with a mobile health record. He is also active in the leadership of both the Florida Medical Association and the Florida Orthopaedic Society.

“Listen to your heart,” is Dew’s advice to UCF undergraduate students faced with choosing classes and picking careers.

College of Sciences Dean Michael Johnson with the 2012 College of Sciences Professional Achievement Award Winner Douglas Dew.

The Professional Achievement Award is the highest honor that an alum can receive and recipients are honored in the fall during Homecoming week annually at UCF.