By Jill Pease
Andrew Judge, Ph.D., a professor in the College of Public Health and Health Professions Department of Physical Therapy, has been named a University of Florida Research Foundation Professor for 2025-2028. The professorships were created to recognize faculty who have established a distinguished record of research and scholarship that is expected to lead to continuing distinction in their field.
“Since the professorships were created in 1997, over 900 faculty have been named UFRF Professors,” said David Norton, UF’s vice president for research, in a news release. “These are our most innovative and productive faculty, with a proven record of research and scholarship and the potential for even more success in the future.”
Judge’s research has focused on significant weight loss among people with cancer, a condition known as cachexia. Up to 50% of patients with cancer will experience cachexia with incidence rising to 80% of patients who have advanced stage disease. In patients with cancer cachexia, the body breaks down muscle and other tissue to provide nutrients for tumor growth, or to activate immune cell function.
“Dr. Judge is internationally recognized in the cancer cachexia community as a stellar scientist and he works tirelessly to further research in this area and support the mentorship and training of young scientists,” said Krista Vandenborne, Ph.D., distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Physical Therapy.
Judge currently leads three studies funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Florida Department of Health examining the molecular mechanisms contributing to cancer cachexia, the impact of skeletal muscle tissue loss on health outcomes among patients with cancer, and potential treatments to combat cachexia.
Based on extensive studies of the blood and muscles of people with pancreatic cancer, Judge and his team published groundbreaking studies that challenged the conventional wisdom of how cachexia affects muscles.
“Until we conducted and published these studies, dogma in the field was that muscles became smaller and weaker but displayed no other overt pathologies,” said Judge, a member of the UF Health Cancer Center. “Our studies completely changed that thought process by demonstrating that muscles from cancer patients show evidence of immune cell infiltration, and replacement of muscle tissue with collagen and fat.”
This new understanding has led scientists to study treatments for cancer cachexia that also target inflammation and muscle fibrosis.
Judge is in demand as a presenter at national and international conferences. He also played a leading role in seven international conferences held on the UF campus. He will close out his two-year term as president of the Cancer Cachexia Society this fall by serving as the lead organizer of the 2025 Cancer Cachexia Conference in Torino, Italy.
Judge also serves as the director of the college’s Ph.D. program in rehabilitation science, and as the associate director of training for the UF Myology Institute.
UF is recognizing 35 faculty members as 2025 UF Research Foundation Professors. The three-year award includes a $5,000 annual salary supplement and a one-time $3,000 grant. The professorships are funded from the university’s share of royalty and licensing income on UF-generated products.