Board of Directors

Rhea Law is an accomplished attorney working in acquisitions, permitting, land use and zoning matters with specific emphasis on commercial, industrial, residential, acquisitions, energy and higher education.
She served as former Chair of the Florida Offices for Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, PC, and is a current Member of the Board of Directors, and Chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee.

Rhea Law held top leadership positions within multiple civic and charitable initiatives including: the Inaugural Board of Trustees for the University of South Florida, Board of the Florida Council of 100, Stetson University College of Law Board of Overseers, Tampa Bay Partnership, Board of Tampa Electric Company (TECO) and Moffitt Research and Cancer Center, among many others.

She was named to the 2017 Tampa Bay Business Journal Power 100 list, featuring those who have the greatest impact and influence on the Tampa Bay Business Community. She also earned highest rankings in Legal Elite, Super Lawyers, and inducted into the Inaugural Hall of Fame for the Legal Elite.

At USF Health, Dr. Lockwood leads the Morsani College of Medicine and the Colleges of Nursing, Public Health and Pharmacy; and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences. He also oversees the faculty group practice of the medical school – with more than 1,000 providers, it is one of the largest multispecialty group practices in Florida. Dr. Lockwood is also a professor in the medical school’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and holds a secondary appointment as a professor in the USF Health College of Public Health. He assumed all these leadership roles when he joined USF Health in May 2014, and has also served as an Executive Vice President at Tampa General Hospital since 2015.

Dr. Lockwood has received multiple research grant awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the March of Dimes and other foundations. He has chaired and/or served on multiple committees of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, NIH, and the Food and Drug Administration. He serves on the national board of the March of Dimes Foundation, is president of the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society, and a past president of the Society for Reproductive Investigation, the largest international reproductive science organization. He has been a tireless advocate for the training of physician-scientists.

Dr. Lockwood is a prolific writer, having authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications (Google H-index of 80; 21,590 citations), 280 editorials, textbook chapters and reviews, authored or co-authored three books and co-edited seven major textbooks, three with multiple editions). He is obstetrics section editor for UpToDate, and the long-standing Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary OB/GYN, where his editorials won five national publication awards.

He has been elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine). He is a recipient of the Pardi President’s Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society for Reproductive Investigation, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the NICHD Frontiers in Reproduction Beacon Award.

Jeff Sparling started his career with EY in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in August 1986. In June 1988, Sparling transferred to the Tampa office. In September 1996, he relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, where he served as a member of EY’s national office. While with the national office, he was involved in developing firm policies, addressing technical issues and overseeing certain EY education courses. Sparling resumed his client-serving role in the Tampa office in June 1998. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Western Michigan University and is a Certified Public Accountant in Florida, Michigan, New York and Tennessee. He oversees also EY’s recruiting efforts at the University of South Florida.

Karen Burdash joined USF in 1989 when she was hired as practice administrator for the Department of Anesthesiology. Since then, she has managed the finances, offered financial analysis, forensics, self-audits, and process improvements to nearly every area across the medical school and practice plan. She focused her time on faculty and program performance, process improvement, and faculty outreach, using metric-driven evaluation processes before retiring in 2017.

Moez Limayem joined the USF Muma College of Business in 2012, coming from the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. At the University of South Florida, Limayem has been charged with enhancing the college’s profile and increasing its resources, building program demand, and strengthening relationships with varied stakeholders, including alumni, and business leaders. The results from his first few years on the job are impressive: the college has received three multi-million dollar naming gifts, and its programs have risen in national rankings.

As an administrator, Limayem spurred the development of a new doctoral program targeting seasoned C-suite executives and a professional development program targeting the business school’s younger students. Additionally, he has expanded the student success initiatives programs, including the Corporate Mentor Program and the Muma Leadership Program.

The recipient of numerous professional awards, Limayem has published dozens of articles, many of which focus on the intersection of technology with the consumer, academic and business worlds. He is also the coauthor of a scholarly book, “Understanding The Use of Technology-Based Self Service: The Consumers’ Point of View.” His most recent publication is “Building an Informing Business School: A Case Study of USF’s Muma College of Business.”

Dr. Pozner is an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He graduated from Tufts School of Medicine and completed residencies in internal medicine at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital/Harvard Medical School and in emergency medicine at UCLA/Olive View.

Dr. Pozner was the co-founder and founding medical director of the Neil and Elise Wallace STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Under his leadership, the center has grown from a center exclusively for emergency medicine to serving the entire academic medical center. Skills training and content education is provided to a wide variety of clinicians at all levels. There is a particular emphasis on interprofessional team training. Simulation is also used for quality initiatives at the hospital.

Dr. Pozner’s research interests are in non-technical skills and team training and his primary clinical interest is in resuscitation. He has been an invited speaker nationally and internationally and has been a consultant on simulation projects across the globe. He is the chairperson of the Strategic Relations subcommittee of the Society of Simulation in Healthcare. In 2016, Dr. Pozner received the Bernard Lown Teaching Award, an award to celebrate physicians who are outstanding clinical leaders and recognize the significant role that education plays in the missions of both Harvard and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.