Last week we bid a fond farewell to Edra Ijames, who has long been an institution of both the UF Department of Surgery and the College of Medicine.
Edra first came to the department in 1994 where she served as a program assistant and senior secretary. In 1998, she became an executive secretary in the office of the associate vice president for health affairs, and then in the senior vice president of health affairs in 2003.
We were very lucky to have her return to our department in 2009, where she took on the role of administrative assistant in the chair’s office. Here, she played an invaluable role coordinating the day-to-day operations of our chair, Gilbert Upchurch Jr, M.D., D.H.A., and our vice chair, Lonn McDowell, D.H.A.
Once described as the administrative heart of the department, she has long been an essential part of the chair’s office, from large-scale organization to the day-to-day minutiae of keeping the complex operations of the department running smoothly.
We will miss Edra a great deal and the department won’t be quite the same without her. We wish her the absolute best of luck in her retirement and our heartfelt congratulations.
