UF Health researchers recognized as “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds”

Two University of Florida Health researchers have been named to Thomson Reuters’ “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds: 2014” list for their work in the fields of clinical medicine and social sciences.

Analysts at Thomson Reuters ScienceWatch, an online resource for science metrics and research performance analysis, ranked the top 1 percent of the scientists around the world whose scholarly papers were among the most cited by other researchers during 2002-2012.

Dominick Angiolillo, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of medicine and medical director of cardiovascular research at the UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville, and Marco Pahor, M.D., chairman of aging and geriatric research in the UF College of Medicine and director of the UF Institute on Aging, were among the 3,200 individuals to be recognized around the globe.

Angiolillo’s research includes studies on coronary artery disease and antiplatelet medications, which prevent blood clot formation. In 2013, this work earned him an Outstanding Achievement Award from the European Society of Cardiology, the largest cardiovascular society in the world.

He has furthered his research by investigating a variety of blood-thinning medications in different clinical settings; for example, a drug that could help reduce heart attack risk for cardiac patients awaiting surgery.

Pahor is an internationally recognized expert on population-based studies, clinical trials and multidisciplinary translational research in the fields of aging, disability and cardiovascular disease. Under his leadership, UF’s Institute on Aging received a multimillion-dollar grant in 2007 from the National Institutes of Health to establish Florida’s first Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center.

Recently, Pahor served as principal investigator of a multicenter study that received national attention when it was published in May. The Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders (LIFE) Study showed that daily moderate physical activity helps seniors maintain their ability to walk at a higher rate than older adults who did not exercise.

Analysts from Thomson Reuters culled data about researchers across 21 broad fields of academic study, including chemistry, agricultural sciences and plant and animal science.

“It is precisely this type of recognition, recognition by peers, in the form of citations, that makes their status meaningful,” the report said. “The identification of these individuals is rooted in the collective, objective opinions of the scientific community.”

In addition to the UF Health researchers, five other UF researchers were also included in the list, including UF Genetics Institute members Douglas Soltis, Ph.D., and Pamela Soltis, Ph.D.

View Thomson Reuters’ full report at http://sciencewatch.com/sites/sw/files/sw-article/media/worlds-most-influential-scientific-minds-2014.pdf.