Bringing tomorrow’s treatments closer to home

ORLANDO, Fla. - When patients and families are facing difficult or lifechanging diagnoses, they want options—care that’s compassionate, thoughtful and rooted in the latest advances in medicine.

Creating that balance—by bringing research and discovery directly into the care experience—is where Dr. Peter Nagele believes medicine can make its greatest impact. As the recently named chief scientific officer for AdventHealth’s Central Florida Division, Dr. Nagele will help advance whole-person research that expands care options for patients and families.

“The best care goes beyond a diagnosis, it’s about understanding what someone is going through and giving them real options,” said Dr. Nagele. “That’s only possible when research and medicine move forward together.”

For Dr. Nagele, the purpose of research has always been deeply personal. As a teenager in Austria, he volunteered as a paramedic with the Austrian Red Cross, responding to emergency calls while still in high school. Caring for patients and witnessing the uncertainty families face during their most vulnerable moments left a lasting impression and helped shape how he approaches medicine and research.

“When you’re exposed to that level of suffering— illness, trauma and loss—it changes your perspective,” he said. “You see how fragile life can be. I knew I wanted to help patients and do everything possible to improve care.”

Dr. Nagele comes to AdventHealth from the University of Chicago, where he is a tenured professor of anesthesia and critical care and professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience. Over the course of his career, he has brought a patient-centered perspective to nationally recognized research programs focused on translating scientific discovery into meaningful advances in care. He is an NIH funded clinical and translational scientist whose work spans cardiovascular medicine, genomics, perioperative science and mental health. He also serves as an editor of ANESTHESIOLOGY, the field’s leading peer-reviewed journal and as president of the FAER Academy of Research Mentors in Anesthesiology.

“Research is a core part of improving patient care. When it’s done with intention, it helps ensure patients and families don’t have to leave home to find hope.”

Through that work, Dr. Nagele says one truth has become increasingly clear: medicine advances only when clinicians are willing to question what they think they know.

“Many treatments we once believed in wholeheartedly turned out to be ineffective, or even harmful,” he explained. “That’s why rigorous, unbiased research is so important. It helps us understand what truly benefits patients.”

Dr. Nagele has seen firsthand how rapidly scientific discovery can change the course of disease. He recalls caring for a physician with aggressive leukemia who had exhausted traditional treatment options. Through genetic analysis of the cancer—a relatively new approach at the time—researchers identified mutations that could be targeted with existing therapies, leading to remission.

“That was only possible because of research,” he said. “It gave someone a chance they wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

Today, similar breakthroughs are happening across health care—from cancer therapies and cardiac treatments to diabetes, obesity and mental health—often based on research conducted just years earlier.

“For patients, research isn’t something happening far away in a lab,” Nagele said. “It directly influences the care they receive.”

As chief scientific officer, Dr. Nagele is especially drawn to AdventHealth’s commitment to caring for the whole person—body, mind and spirit.

“Sometimes medicine has focused too narrowly on physical symptoms,” he said. “We can’t forget the importance of mental and emotional health. Addressing the full person leads to better outcomes.”

His own research reflects that belief. Dr. Nagele has studied the effects of nitrous oxide—commonly known as laughing gas—on patients with severe, treatment resistant depression. In collaboration with psychiatrists, his team observed rapid improvements, sometimes within hours, offering renewed hope for patients who had struggled for years.

“Seeing those changes in patients is incredibly powerful,” he said. “That’s why we do research, to help people in ways we didn’t previously think were possible.”

Looking ahead, Dr. Nagele’s vision at AdventHealth centers on growth that directly benefits patients and families across Central Florida and beyond. A key focus is expanding clinical trials and strengthening collaborative research networks so more people can access emerging therapies where they already receive care.

“Research is a core part of improving patient care,” he said. “When it’s done with intention, it helps ensure patients and families don’t have to leave home to find hope.”

To learn more about research and clinical trials at AdventHealth—including opportunities to participate—visit AdventHealth’s Translational Research Institute.