Dr. Joe Greer named Citizen of the Year

Dr. Pedro “Joe” Greer and Sen. Bob Graham.

The Bob Graham Center for Public Service, a nonpartisan civic engagement center at the University of Florida, has named Dr. Pedro “Joe” Greer Jr. its 2017 Citizen of the Year.

The award recognizes “Florida citizens who have made extraordinary contributions to the state—individuals [who] have used their personal and professional talents to make Florida a better place for its citizens.”

Greer, a UF alumnus, is associate dean for community engagement and professor and chair of the Department of Humanities, Health, and Society at FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.

To be a citizen of this country, is in its simplest terms, a true treasure. As such, we must always fulfill our responsibilities as citizens of the United States of America, always be civil and never forget to care for the most vulnerable of our society, as an example to the world and to history, for that is the treasure.
Pedro “Joe” Greer Jr., MD

Retired U.S. Senator Bob Graham, for whom the center is named, presented the award to Greer at the Center’s Annual Gathering in Hollywood May 11 in recognition of his long-time advocacy on behalf of delivering medical care to Florida’s homeless and developing the next generation of culturally competent physicians.

2017 Citizen of the Year Jose Greer from The Bob Graham Center on Vimeo.

Greer, a gastroenterologist and hepatologist, helped establish Camillus Health Concern and St. John Bosco Clinic, health care centers serving homeless, undocumented, uninsured and low income populations in Miami. In 2009, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.