Physicians Lead With Excellence — MCOM Alumni Award Winners

**Charlotte "Charley" Woods-Hill MD ’10**
Early Career Achievement Award
in Academics

Young Physician’s Early Career Success Comes Full Circle

Before becoming a nationally recognized physician and champion for children’s health, Charlotte “Charley” Woods-Hill, MD ’10, spent countless hours in the library studying religion and biology — subjects she describes as massive and complex that fueled her curiosity and prepared her to “fight for the little guy.”

A caring pediatric physician, visionary researcher and dedicated teacher, Woods-Hill was honored as the 2025 recipient of the USF Morsani College of Medicine Early Career Achievement Award in Academics.

After her first year in medical school, Woods-Hill rose to the top of her class and maintained that standing all four years, graduating as valedictorian. However, her commitment to excellence extended beyond her own success.

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“She consistently collaborated with and encouraged others around her to learn as much as possible, framing it in a way that mattered — that every fact, every detail committed to memory could help save our future patients’ lives,” says Dr. Catherine Hough-Telford, MD ’10, Woods-Hill’s classmate and longtime friend.

An attending physician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Woods-Hill inspires those around her to believe in her transformative vision for pediatric critical care.

She is the founder of Excellence in Pediatric Implementation Science, the first-ever national pediatric research collaborative dedicated to enhancing the quality of care and outcomes for critically ill children. Under her leadership, the group has grown to over 50 members, launched multiple research projects and published its first collaborative manuscript, with Woods-Hill as first author. As part of this initiative, she has guided numerous fellows and junior faculty members through the grant process, with many receiving funding.

She’s also a driving force behind the Bright STAR collaborative — a network of children’s hospitals focused on reducing unnecessary testing, particularly blood cultures, in pediatric intensive care units. Within the collaborative, she leads multidisciplinary teams and has assembled an advisory board of nationally recognized experts who provide ongoing support and guidance.

Woods-Hill believes no accomplishment is achieved by a single person.

“When the ICU rescues a situation, every single person on my team knows exactly what to do and operates at the peak of their skill set,” she says.
And she revels in those moments.

“I’m surrounded by people who are incredibly skilled, committed and compassionate,” she says. “We have the right equipment, the right people and the right energy. I feel so lucky — so blessed — to do this work with them.”

The camaraderie Woods-Hill fosters among her colleagues and students reflects the culture she experienced at USF.

“Every single pediatric instructor was unbelievable,” she says. “I had the most amazing time at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital (then known as All Children’s Hospital) during my inpatient pediatric rotation. Every resident worked so hard and cared so much.”

That experience was a turning point. Seeing how genuinely happy the residents were to come to work and the joy they found in caring for patients inspired Woods-Hill to pursue a career in pediatric critical care and teach the next generation of physicians.

During her pediatrics residency at the Boston Children’s Hospital, she was awarded the 2013 Harvard Medical School Teaching Award.

Her commitment to teaching is driven by her desire to pay forward the excellent instruction from her own dedicated instructors and the responsibility to ensure that children are well cared for.

She advises future physicians to set aside everything else and focus solely on the patient — they are the North Star, at the center of the experience, and the doctor-patient relationship is sacred.

“As hard as it is for me to miss bathtime or family dinners, it is important for me to show my children what it looks like to have a passion — to stick with something hard,” says Woods-Hill.

But she also believes balance is essential. Watching “KPop Demon Hunters,” listening to the film’s soundtrack in the car or baking cookies with her children are special moments with her family.

“The job can be dark. Things are often sad. But it’s important to find moments of levity and to be human,” she says. “We have to acknowledge that some situations are just hard and that there are external forces we can’t always control.”

As she reflects on receiving the Distinguished Physician Award, Woods-Hill is quick to extend her gratitude for where it all began.

“Everything I have is because of what I got at USF,” she says. “It’s a beautiful full-circle moment to now hear, ‘We’re proud of you,’ from the place that trained me.”

**Deborah Trehy MD ’78**
Distinguished Physician Alumna
Award in Service

Distinguished Physician Service Award Recipient Lives by One Simple Rule

In the home where Deborah Trehy and her husband, Wally, raised their children, a simple verse hangs on the wall: “Treat others as you would want others to treat you.” It’s more than a saying — it’s a legacy, a reflection of the principle by which Deborah was raised.

Trehy, MD ’78, has spent her life caring for and nurturing others, from injured animals when she was a child to classmates, colleagues, students and patients as she grew older. She has devoted her career to patients —through clinical excellence and as a teacher, mentor and tireless volunteer.

For that dedication, for her support of the next generation of physicians and her service to those in need, Trehy was recognized with the 2025 USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Distinguished Physician Alumna Award in Service.

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“It is heartbreaking to see so many in the community with so few resources,” she says. “But with time and collaboration, we can help them help themselves.”

For more than 30 years, Trehy treated thousands of women in the Tampa Bay area as an OB-GYN in her private practice, listening patiently, and offering encouragement and empathy — the compassion she would appreciate if she were on the receiving end. When she retired in 2012, her patients lamented that they could not find the same caliber of care in other physicians.

“I can attest that in the community, she was the OB-GYN physician that patients wanted to see. … Of course, I made sure she was the gynecologist to care for my mother and my wife,” says Dr. Frederick Slone, a USF Health professor and Dr. Trehy’s longtime friend, colleague and mentor.

Her son, Patrick Blackburn, ’10 and MD ’15, a gynecologic oncologic surgeon at Ironwood Oncology in Phoenix, remembers his mother’s patients routinely approaching the family at restaurants and grocery stores, excitedly sharing that she had delivered their babies or performed their surgeries.

“Because I was so young, I didn’t know exactly what was happening, but after a while I realized that people were going out of their way to stop what they were doing just to talk to her,” he says.

Like Patrick, Trehy’s daughter, Catherine Blackburn, MPH ’17 and MD ’22, followed in her mother’s footsteps. She is a pediatric hematology oncology fellow at Emory University School of Medicine. Catherine fondly recalls accompanying her mother to the hospital on weekends, where she witnessed camaraderie between her mother and the nurses, who always had a kind word to say and a story to share about her mother’s unending compassion.

While her private practice patients miss Dr. Trehy, she has been working hard to ensure future physicians are well-prepared to deliver the standard of care for which she is known.

“I’ve always wanted to share the secret to success — a way of life etched into my heart by my mother,” she says.

She serves as adjunct faculty at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, guiding second-year medical students in developing their interview skills and physical exam techniques. She also contributes to advanced cardiac life support training by teaching critical procedures such as endotracheal intubation and IV insertions. In the past, she volunteered her time to teach first- and second-year students how to perform OB-GYN examinations and assisted third-year medical students in tying surgical knots.

“Students love working with her and often tell me they learn more in one session with her than with anyone else,” Slone says.

Those interested in specializing in OB-GYN often sign up to volunteer at USF Health’s free, student-run BRIDGE Clinic, so they can have the chance to work with Trehy.

She has worked at the clinic for uninsured and underserved patients since 2013, logging more hours than any other volunteer physician. She performs exams in the evenings, then heads home to review test results and follow up with her patients. When patients require complex surgical procedures, Trehy finds colleagues willing to donate their services.

At the USF Health Tampa Bay Street Medicine Refugee Clinic, Trehy provides care to asylum seekers who lack insurance. She also takes her skills beyond our borders, participating in mission trips to Central America.

On one such trip to Honduras, she and her daughter saw firsthand the overwhelming need — women lining up as early as 5 a.m. for care. She and her fellow volunteers conducted up to 50 exams each morning, caravanning from one community center to another. In one remote village, they examined patients in a schoolhouse without electricity, relying on headlamps and light drapes to see.

An avid environmentalist and animal lover, Trehy also volunteers for the Humane Society of Tampa Bay and the Florida Audubon Society.

“When I was young, I would pick up and protect every stray animal that needed help, nurturing that injured animal back to health,” she says.

That sparked her curiosity about biology and the anatomical sciences — and her medical degree. Her career and service, she says, have enriched her life in priceless ways.

“Pause for a moment and remember that when you give of yourself, the emotional rewards you receive far surpass what you have given,” Trehy says.

For her, it’s simple. Just one golden rule can make a world of difference.

**James Korndorffer MD ’90**
Distinguished Physician Alumnus
Award in Academics

Distinguished Physician Builds Legacy on Preparing for the Future

Guided by his passion for engineering, medicine and education, James Korndorffer, MD ’90, was uniquely prepared to support the future of surgery.

With 30 years as a nationally recognized clinician, accomplished educational researcher, outstanding medical educator and respected administrator, Korndorffer has been named the 2025 recipient of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Distinguished Physician Alumnus Award in Academics.

He now serves as vice dean of education and professor of surgery at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, where he continues to build his legacy in surgical education.

Korndorffer began his academic journey at Tulane University, where he earned a bachelor’s in biomedical engineering. Raised in Gulf Breeze, Florida, he chose to remain in-state and attend medical school at the University of South Florida, drawn by the clinical experiences offered through the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital and Tampa General Hospital. After graduating from medical school, he served as surgical chief resident at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he was awarded Best Surgical Resident Teacher.

After eight years in private practice, Korndorffer longed to teach again.

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So, in 2003, he joined Tulane University School of Medicine as a fellow in minimally invasive surgery and an instructor of surgery.

Two years later, Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans, including Charity and Tulane Hospitals — the city’s leading hospitals and training sites for Tulane’s residency program. Staff and residents were scattered across the state and country, with no predetermined way of contacting one another. All records and phone numbers were stored at the surgery department offices, which were damaged during the storm.

Amid the chaos, Korndorffer was determined to keep training on track and support displaced learners, despite recommendations to shut down the program. He worked closely with the local medical community, building relationships with surgeons to help relocate residents, and was eventually named residency program director. Under Korndorffer, Tulane’s residency program not only survived but also earned the maximum five-year accreditation and is now one of the most highly regarded programs in the nation.

After more than a decade of success at Tulane, Stanford University School of Medicine recruited Korndorffer as the Department of Surgery’s first vice chair of education.

While there, he implemented an interdisciplinary approach to surgical training, collaborating with faculty across campus — including the Graduate School of Education and the School of Engineering — to explore innovative methods for teaching and preparing future surgical leaders.

“That’s the fun part,” Korndorffer says, “watching residents grow into confident, capable surgeons.” 

He designed and implemented leadership programs for residents and initiatives to enhance communication skills. His work also focused on program evaluation, educational quality improvement and identifying the most effective strategies for teaching and assessment.

Drawing on his engineering background, which he credits with teaching him how to think, Korndorffer encourages future surgeons to stretch beyond merely accessing information.

“It’s a thinking thing,” says Korndorffer. “Students need to learn not only how to access information but also how to utilize the information they have.”

For Korndorffer, teaching isn’t just about transferring knowledge — it’s an opportunity to see through the eyes of others and gain perspectives and insights from those just beginning their journey. As a young physician, he was influenced by residents and mentors who went the extra mile, inspiring him with their enthusiasm and dedication.

Those meaningful relationships shaped his professional identity and instilled in him a deep commitment to mentorship and collaboration. He brings that same approach to his work with future physicians, encouraging them to seek support and stay connected.
“You aren’t going to know everything,” he says. “Rely on good friends, have a sounding board as you continue to make changes, value others’ opinions and build that group around you. Those different perspectives matter,” Korndorffer says.

His emphasis on collaboration and respect for diverse viewpoints has earned him a reputation as a consummate professional — someone who understands the value of differing perspectives, according to Dr. Daniel Dent, MD ’90, his USF medical school classmate and longtime colleague.

At UT Austin, Korndorffer will continue his dedication to shaping the next generation of physicians by sharing his passion for surgical education and his expertise as both a clinician and an educational researcher — all in pursuit of advancing excellence in medical training and patient care.