Madam Speaker, this Black History Month, I am celebrating Tampa’s health care heroes. I rise today in admiration and respect for the service and leadership of Dr. Kevin Sneed, a tenured professor and the founding dean of the University of South Florida (USF) College of Pharmacy. Born in 1968, he was raised in Orlando, FL. His parents were both public school teachers and were part of the initial wave of educators to desegregate Orange County public schools. As a student at Edgewater High School, he was a shining star – senior class vice president, a member of the National Honor Society and a football and track athlete. 

He attended the University of Central Florida to earn his bachelor’s degree in biology with a concentration in microbiology. While it is apparent that he was drawn to the sciences, it was a significant illness while in college that furthered his appreciation for health care and inspired him to enter this field. Dr. Sneed then received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Xavier University of Louisiana College of Pharmacy, where he received numerous clinical and leadership awards. He returned to Florida to complete an Ambulatory Care/Primary Care Pharmacy Practice Specialty Residency at Bay Pines Veteran’s Administration Medical Center.

Prior to joining USF, Dr. Sneed was a faculty member at Florida A&M University College of Pharmacy. He joined USF Health as assistant dean and then founded its College of Pharmacy, which this year will celebrate its 10-year anniversary since welcoming its first charter class. In 2019, the College of Pharmacy received a $10 million donation from the Taneja Family Foundation, marking a transformational milestone for the young school and validating the innovative education experience that centers around the Primary Care Clinical Pharmacist, which trains pharmacists and physicians together. USF is a pioneer of this in Florida.

One of Dr. Sneed’s research and clinical interests is examining health care disparities. He regularly partners with organizations, such as the American Heart Association and REACHUP, Inc., to shine a light on these disparities and improve health outcomes, and his efforts were more critical than ever this past year during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, Dr. Sneed has been dedicated to educating African American and Latino communities on how to understand the coronavirus and prepare for the vaccine, while working with the medical research community to help ensure equitable distribution among communities of color. Black and Hispanic populations that contract COVID-19 have higher death rate by 2.8 times than their white counterparts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The same dataset also demonstrates even higher hospitalization rates for Black and Hispanic populations. Dr. Sneed’s efforts surely will save lives.

Dr. Sneed is active in national and state organizations, among which include the American Heart Association, Association of Black Cardiologists, National Pharmaceutical Association, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, Florida Pharmacy Association, Florida Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc, and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. His work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, abstracts, poster presentations, and he has participated in multiple federal and industry sponsored grant projects. Notably, Dr. Sneed served as a site principal investigator and co-investigator on medication clinical trials.

Madam Speaker, on behalf of a grateful nation in the midst of a public health crisis and the Tampa Bay community, I am proud to recognize the service and leadership of Dr. Kevin Sneed, and his audacious, inspiring vision to transform health care in a way that empowers the clinician, but more importantly, the patient.