Russ Armistead – Health Care CEO Chooses Proton Therapy for Melanoma
When patients complete proton therapy for cancer treatment at the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute, they ring an 8-foot chime in the main lobby to signify the moment as they transition into cancer survivorship. Thursday, July 11, retired CEO of UF Health Jacksonville Russ Armistead rang the chime to mark completion of 30 proton therapy treatments for melanoma, a type of skin cancer. The proton therapy radiation followed surgeries at UF Health Jacksonville earlier this year to remove the cancerous tissue and to reconstruct the area treated.
Russ Armistead served as CEO of UF Health Jacksonville from January 2013 to December 2017. Following the untimely death of his successor Dr. Leon Haley in July 2021, Russ agreed to come out of retirement at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to serve as interim CEO. He retired a second time in June 2023 and transitioned the role to current CEO Patrick Green. Russ also served on the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute board during his time as CEO. His involvement with the proton therapy institute dates to 2004 when he joined UF Health in Gainesville as Associate Vice President of Finance and Planning. He served in a financial advisory role for UF at that time and was a regular guest at the Institute’s board meetings.
Russ was diagnosed with melanoma in 2012 and had surgery. Since then, he has had four recurrences of cancer in his right temple and cheek. Following his most recent recurrence in February 2024, the UF Health tumor board, a weekly meeting of the UF Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery – Jacksonville and the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute specialists in treating cancers of the head and neck, reviewed his case. Russ said given his case history, the tumor board recommended that he receive proton therapy for the best chance of stopping the cancer from recurring or metastasizing. He said, “The good news is there is no active cancer.”
Since opening in 2006, the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute has treated more than 11,000 cancer patients with proton therapy, an advanced form of radiation treatment. In Russ’ case, proton therapy was an optimal way to deliver targeted radiation since it could reduce or avoid spillover radiation in healthy tissue in the mouth and throat. Russ said he had no serious side effects during treatment with a small amount of hair loss above the ear, skin redness, like sunburn, and some fatigue towards the end of his course of treatment.
As someone whose career was in health care administration, Russ said, “The care I received at the Institute is what you would want and expect, but don’t often get at a health care facility. People are uniformly friendly.” He was a familiar face to some of the staff members, but many did not know him as a UF Health executive. For Russ, receiving treatment at UF Health felt familiar in some ways, but with a twist. “I often tell people it was like I was going to work, but I had to park in a different place, and I don’t get paid. I have to pay!”
The UF Health Proton Therapy Institute Executive Director Dr. Kristin Heath said, “It is a privilege to treat each of our patients. It is a rare privilege to treat someone in our ‘UF Health family’ who has been a leading figure within the history of the Institute, UF Health Jacksonville and the Jacksonville community at large.”
Russ and his wife Susan split their time between a home in Florida and one in North Carolina. For Russ, who turns 78 in December, he plans to remain active in some volunteer work, including on the board of the continuing care retirement community where they live in North Carolina.