This fund was established in 2011 by Leonard and Elizabeth Furlow to support an assistant professorship at the University of Florida College of Medicine in memory of M.J. “Josh” Jurkiewicz.

Josh earned a doctor of dental surgery degree from the University of Maryland in 1946, and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1952. He completed general and plastic surgical residencies at Barnes Hospital at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

Josh came to the University of Florida School of Medicine as chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery in 1959, and in 1964 instituted its residency program in plastic surgery. In 1971, he left Florida for Atlanta, GA where he served as chief of reconstructive plastic surgery at Emory University until 1993.

In 1990, Josh became an honorary fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and in 2004 he became an honorary fellow of the Southern Surgical Association.

He passed away in 2011.