Chief Nursing Officer for Tenet’s Palm Beach Health Network, and Good Samaritan Medical Center, Mary Elizabeth “Libby” Flippo, is the newest member of the Florida Board of Nursing, as appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis.

Flippo, is currently the chief nursing officer for the Palm Beach Health Network which includes, Delray Medical Center, Good Samaritan Medical Center, Palm Beach Children’s Hospital, Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, St. Mary’s Medical Center, and West Boca Medical Center. Flippo, earned her Bachelor’s in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and holds a Master of Science degree in Nursing Leadership for Healthcare Systems from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a Master’s in Business Administration from Florida Atlantic University.


 

 

 

 

 



Sofia Mendez Rodriguez, IIDA, NCIDQ, has joined LEO A DALY’s Miami studio as Interior Designer. Mendez brings 6 years’ experience working on a variety of projects, with a focus on improving the user’s wellbeing through sustainability and design.  

Mendez will be working closely with LEO A DALY’s Miami Managing Principal, Eduardo S. Egea, AIA, NCARB by advising like-minded clients in aviation, public safety, commercial and healthcare design.
 
Mendez and her team are currently working on several public safety and hospitality renovation and expansion projects, which includes the City of Miami Beach’s Police Headquarters and Aurora Anguilla Resort & Golf Club in Anguilla.
 
Mendez is a member of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), Women in Healthcare, is a LEED Accredited Professional and holds her licensing from the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ). She has been an active volunteer in organizations such as Project HOME and her design work and thought leadership have been featured in MODO DE VIDA.
 


Trulieve Cannabis Corp. and Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. announced the expiration of the 30-day waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 in connection with the previously announced proposed acquisition.

Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers commented, "Completion of the HSR milestone is exciting and we will continue to work toward closing this strategic transaction. Upon closing, we expect to leverage the expertise and resources of the combined companies to realize meaningful scale and expansion for years to come."
 
Closing of the Transaction remains subject to the satisfaction or waiver of all remaining conditions in the agreement. The Harvest shareholder vote is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2021. Both companies continue to work toward obtaining all required regulatory approvals.


Exciting advances in immunotherapy, the discovery of novel agents and a better understanding of the molecular makeup of an individual’s disease are leading to revolutionary changes in the treatment of patients with hematologic cancers. The news on the latest promising treatments impacting life expectancy and quality of life came out of Miami Cancer Institute’s Summit of the Americas on Immunotherapies for Hematologic Malignancies, the second annual gathering of the top experts in the field. Nearly 300 physicians and other healthcare providers attended the Summit.

In the United States in 2020, nearly 180,000 people were diagnosed with a form of blood cancer, according to the Leukemia & Lymphoma society. As clinical trials and research continue, physician scientists are gaining more insight into which patients respond better to immunotherapy versus chemotherapy or who might need a combination of the treatments along with stem cell transplantation, said Guenther Koehne, M.D., Ph.D., course director and deputy director and chief of Blood & Marrow Transplant and Hematologic Oncology at Miami Cancer Institute.
 
“There has been an explosion in research that has led to a rapidly evolving environment in the treatment of cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma,” Dr. Koehne said. “The Summit faculty are physicians who are overseeing many of these treatment breakthroughs. By sharing information in this format, we can move these developments to the patient bedside more quickly.”
 
Dr. Koehne is a pioneer in allogeneic stem cell transplantation and immunotherapies, having developed a technique to manipulate donor cells to treat those with acute myeloid and lymphoblastic leukemia and multiple myeloma . The manipulation of donor stem cell products prior to allogeneic stem cell transplantation diminishes the often-harmful graft versus host disease complication of transplantation.
 
“I think one of the most exciting things about the work that all of us who took part in the Summit of the Americas do is that we are showing that treatments are becoming more sophisticated and more targeted to the individual,” Dr. Koehne said. “This is not one size fits all care. Every day we are learning new facts about how to choose and integrate the best medications and treatments for the specific individual. And we are finding new treatments for those with extremely complicated cases. This improves outcome and gives us hope.”