USF Health leader shakes up medical status quo

If you think it's surprising that the University of South Florida plans to build an ambitious health system—starting with a hospital far beyond Tampa—you haven't met Dr. Stephen Klasko. In eight years as USF medical school dean, Klasko has moved at a dizzying pace, compensating for his institution's lack of a hospital by launching partnerships as far afield as Allentown, Pa. Along the way, he has crossed lines that others won't, ruffling feathers in the tradition-bound medical world. Supporters call Klasko the visionary that USF's medical school—which still yearns for national recognition at 41 years old—needs at a time of seismic change in the healthcare industry.