Medical Advisory Committee Members
Dr. Akinyemi Ajayi was born in England and received his subspecialty training in Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, arguably the most prestigious in the United States. Dr. Ajayi is board certified in Pediatric Pulmonology and in Sleep Medicine and is also a Diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine. He is passionate about providing pulmonary and sleep medicine care to children through most of Florida. He loves working with parents and their children, and his clinic can be distinguished by the many sounds of laughter from parents, patients and him as he conducts the clinics. With over 25 years as a physician, he is an excellent diagnostician and takes pleasure in attempting to solve every medical mystery that comes before him. He continues to operate, the only true pediatric sleep disorders practice through much of Florida in addition to his specialty practice in the management of pediatric pulmonary, pediatric allergy and high-risk infant care. He has served as the Director for Pediatric Pulmonary Services at Florida Hospital for Children for over 10 years. Dr. Ajayi is also the Medical Director at Florida Pediatric Research Institute which performs clinical research studies in pulmonary and sleep medicine.
Dr. Adriana Cadilla serves as a physician with the infectious disease team at Nemours Children’s Hospital. Prior to joining Nemours in December 2015, Dr. Cadilla was the pediatric clerkship assistant director for Florida International University and Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. She was also an urgent care physician in Miami and a pediatric infectious disease physician at Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers, Fla. Dr. Cadilla was also a pediatric hospitalist at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Chicago and at Chris Evert Children's Hospital in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Dr. Cadilla earned her medical degree at Ponce Health Science University in Puerto Rico before completing a residency in pediatrics at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital (formerly Miami Children’s Hospital). She continued her training with a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Chicago. Dr. Cadilla is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics with subspecialty certification in pediatric infectious diseases.
Dr. Brian Harris is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician with Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital Pediatric Behavioral Health and Developmental Center. He cares for children with social, behavioral, and functional issues indicating the possibility of neurodevelopmental conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, communication concerns, learning difficulties, and more. Dr. Harris earned his medical degree from George Washington University, a master’s of science degree in physiology and biophysics from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and a bachelor’s of arts degree in psychological and brain sciences from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He completed his residency in pediatrics at Children’s National Health System in Washington, DC, and a fellowship in developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Vincent Hsu is the Hospital Epidemiologist and Executive Director for Infection Prevention at AdventHealth Orlando. He also serves as an Assistant Director for the AdventHealth Internal Medicine Residency Program with faculty appointments from the Colleges of Medicine at Florida State University and the University of Central Florida. A graduate from Loma Linda University School of Medicine, he completed his internal medicine residency at Legacy Health in Portland Oregon, infectious disease fellowship at the University of Southern California, and obtained a Master of Public Health at UCLA. He trained at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an Epidemic Intelligence Officer studying outbreaks caused by respiratory and enteric viruses, and participating in investigations into the 2001 anthrax attacks and 2003 SARS epidemic. He obtained board certifications in Infectious Disease and Preventive Medicine, and has published in several peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Hsu has served as the Director for Continuing Medical Education and with current involvement in training medical residents.
Dr. Omayra Mansfield is a board-certified emergency medicine physician. She is the Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at AdventHealth Apopka and AdventHealth Winter Garden. She obtained her medical degree and Masters in Healthcare Administration at the University of Florida and completed her residency at Carolinas Medical Center. She is a fellow with the American College of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Mansfield has served in a number of leadership and administrative roles throughout her career in healthcare. She is the immediate past Chief of Staff of AdventHealth Celebration and a graduate of the AdventHealth Physician Leadership and REACH Leadership courses. Dr. Mansfield co-authored The Trust Transformation, a workshop that helps participants transform and improve the relationships in their lives by building a foundation of trust. Her primary areas of interest are improving the physician and patient experience as it relates to improving provider wellbeing, patient adherence to care, and clinical outcomes, and she has lectured extensively on these topics.
Dr. Michael Muszynski is a graduate of the Ohio State University College of Medicine. He completed his pediatric residency plus a chief residency year at Nationwide (Columbus) Children’s Hospital and his pediatric infectious diseases fellowship at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and the Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma. He founded the pediatric infectious disease division and research laboratories at the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Florida, and was founding Division Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases from 1986-2004. He was additionally founding Division Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Nemours Children’s Clinic—Orlando from 1996-2004. Dr Muszynski is currently Professor Emeritus of Clinical Sciences at the Florida State University College of Medicine. He was previously the Orlando Regional Campus Dean for the College of Medicine, starting the position in 2004 and retiring in May 2019. He was also Associate Dean for Clinical Research for the entire university, and founder of the College of Medicine’s Network for Clinical Research and Training.
Dr. Annette Nielsen attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham for her undergraduate degree where she majored in Biology. Following college she worked in the pharmaceutical research industry prior to entering medical school. She attended the University of Alabama School of Medicine. Upon graduation Dr. Nielsen moved to Florida where she completed her Pediatric Residency at Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital. Following residency Dr. Nielsen worked at Vanderbilt University Monroe Carroll Children's Hospital as a fellow in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology. Following that passion for general pediatrics she accepted a position in Winter Garden, Florida, with the Community Health Centers of Central Florida. In January 2008, Dr. Nielsen opened Tree House Pediatrics in Lake Nona.
Darcy Ravndal is currently the primary clinician at the Edgewater High School Student Health Center. She began her career as a science teacher in Tampa and was involved in many community health initiatives as she completed her Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of South Florida. While serving as the Director or Education and Training at the USF Center for Biological Defense, she was part of the team that developed protocols for sample collection of suspected agents of biological terrorism for first responders. Ms. Ravndal was an instructor for the State and Local Anti-Terrorism Task Force and chaired several committees with the Tampa Bay Metropolitan Medical Response System. Ms. Ravndal completed her BS and MS in nursing at Johns Hopkins University. She was selected as a fellow at the National Institute of Health, working with adolescents with schizophrenia at the National Institute of Mental Health. Ms. Ravndal is nationally accredited by the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board and is an active member of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners and of the American Public Health Association.
Dr. Mercedes Rodriguez has been an Orange County Public School Physician Consultant since 2004 as a part-time medical consultant for the school system. As a pediatric physician consultant she has been a part of the health team working school nurses and others under the Exceptional Student Education / Health Services area which addresses health issues of the students. In this unique position she has also had the opportunity to join the school nurses in developing coordination and communication systems with local primary and specialty care providers to ensure continuity of care for OCPS students, particularly fragile students. She has also worked with other school team members such as social workers, mental health professionals, athletic directors and school principals. Dr. Rodriguez completed training in Pediatrics at Orlando Health (Orlando Regional Medical Center) between 1983-1986. Other past experience includes working at Florida Department of Health over a decade as Medical Executive Director at both Orange County Health Department and Osceola County Health Department. She was most recently employed in hospital administration as Physician Advisor and Liaison at HCA / Osceola Regional Medical Center and retired from there in February of this year.
Dr. Regan Schwartz is a Board Certified Emergency Medicine physician who is a senior physician leader on the Medical Staff of AdventHealth. He has served as the Chairman of the Emergency Department for the past twelve years, and has clinical oversight of all the Emergency Departments in the Central Florida South division of the AdventHealth system. Dr. Schwartz received his Medical Doctor degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He subsequently completed an internship at Emory University/Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, and his Emergency Medicine residency training at the Albert Einstein/Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York City.