Now a global project manager for wire technology at Alleima Advanced Materials, the materials science and engineering alum has earned the company’s 2026 Innovation Prize for her work advancing wires used in critical medical devices such as continuous glucose monitors, hearing implants and pacemakers. The annual award recognizes excellence in product development.

“The work I do is very rewarding. Every day, I get to contribute to advancing medical care and treatment,” McDorman says. “If it’s a medical device and it has a wire, Alleima is likely contributing to it somehow.”

McDorman earned her doctoral degree from UCF under Associate Professor Swaminathan Rajaraman, who directs the , where researchers develop micro- and nanoscale solutions spanning biotechnology, pharmacology, plant sciences and medical devices.

“I chose UCF because the [materials science and engineering] program was highly rated … and had a wide variety of research areas …”

Before coming to UCF, McDorman earned her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in physics, but discovered a passion for applied research that required a deeper focus on materials.

“When I decided to pursue a Ph.D., materials science and engineering was a natural choice,” she says. “I chose UCF because the program was highly rated, small and had a wide variety of research areas that I was interested in.”

Through her doctoral studies, McDorman found a more biology-focused side of materials science. Her work with biosensors in Rajaraman’s lab ultimately inspired her to pursue a career in the medical device industry.

She credits her research experience at UCF with preparing her for work at Alleima, where 90% of her unit’s business supports medical device manufacturing.

“The company has a rich history of materials innovation in steel and nickel-based alloys,” McDorman says. “Since we produce wire, I am constantly using base materials science knowledge to process the material in a way that achieves a specific set of properties in the end product.”

She says she has always aimed for a position that would allow her to make a positive contribution to society, an opportunity she is grateful to have at Alleima.

For new graduates considering a similar path, McDorman encourages them to connect with UCF alumni on LinkedIn and to explore job opportunities in Florida’s growing manufacturing industry, particularly in Volusia and Flagler counties.

“We put a lot into our work every day because we truly care about ensuring the best possible patient outcomes,” she says. “It is great that our efforts have been recognized by the business.”

Dinender Singla, professor and head of the College of Medicine’s Division of Metabolic and Cardiovascular Sciences, developed a system that turns exosomes — vesicles that cells secrete to communicate with one another — into delivery vehicles for medical treatments.

This innovative technology, for which UCF is seeking patent protection, places therapeutics inside exosomes and coats them with cell-specific markers that direct them to an exact area of the body to deliver the drug.

“I call these smart tiny bubbles,” Singla says. “Millions of people have heart disease, and they take multiple drugs in extremely high doses. But we have no way to be certain these drugs are getting to where they need to go. We need innovative technologies to get treatments exactly where they need to go to cure the problem.”

How the Therapy Works

This discovery is part of Singla’s work to provide therapies to treat and prevent heart disease, including heart damage caused by cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and targeted radiation to the chest. That heart damage seems to be caused by inflammatory factors that treatments use to kill cancer cells. Technology developed by Singla encapsulates anti-inflammatory heart treatments in exosomes and then delivers the drug to the exact area of heart damage.

“They can treat cancer and protect the heart.” — UCF Professor Dinender Singla

As part of this research, Singla’s team also developed technologies to deliver cancer-killing drugs inside exosomes. They chose triple-negative breast cancer for their research, the deadliest form of the disease, with a 77%–78% five-year survival rate. In the lab, the therapy showed significant promise in killing cancer cells – at much lower doses that are used in chemotherapy – while also protecting the heart. So the exosome therapy could help cancer patients without the severe side effects of chemotherapy.

“These therapies can work hand-in-hand,” Singla said. “They can treat cancer and protect the heart.”

Financial Investment is Key for Drug Development

The next step will be manufacturing the therapy for clinical use and advancing into FDA clinical trials for heart disease and cancer treatment. To help accelerate that path, Singla partnered with Orlando investor and UCF donor Chakri Toleti, a healthcare technology entrepreneur focused on building category-defining businesses through AI and agentic platforms, biomedical innovation and ambient intelligence including most recently care.ai, which was acquired by Stryker in 2024.

Through his innovation fund, TCapital, Toleti backs transformative technologies designed to improve healthcare delivery and reduce human suffering at scale. Together, Singla and Toleti invested in and formed Exomic to fund continued research, clinical development, and commercialization of the technology.

“This was an opportunity to do something truly innovative in cancer and cardiovascular treatment.” — Chakri Toleti, UCF donor

Toleti says his passion for advancing cancer research is deeply personal after losing his father to the disease.

“This was an opportunity to do something truly innovative in cancer and cardiovascular treatment,” he says. “Dr. Singla’s work represents a fundamental shift toward new biomedical platforms not only in how targeted therapies are delivered in the human body, but in how we think about treatment and healing itself.”

Such public-private partnerships are one of the goals of , which drives innovation, enterprise, and collaboration across disciplines.

“Dr. Singla’s groundbreaking exosome delivery system perfectly exemplifies how university innovation translates into significant, life-saving benefits for society,” says Winston V. Schoenfeld, vice president for research and innovation. “As demonstrated by the creation of Exomic, industry partnership is essential for driving such pioneering technologies towards successful translation and real-world clinical use.”

The effort is also providing exciting learning opportunities for College of Medicine graduate students. Jonatas De Mendonca Rolando ’23MS ’26PhD earned his Ph.D. in biomedical sciences earlier this month. He is staying at UCF as a post-doctoral researcher to continue creating the exosome therapy.

He helped develop protocols and procedures for the delicate technology and saw its impact in the lab. He’s excited to have a financial supporter who can help take the therapy from lab to, he hopes, patients.

“It’s been amazing to part of a high-tech project and see leadership in science,” he says. “I am very excited for my future.”

Researcher Background

Singla is the AdventHealth Endowed Chair of Cardiovascular Sciences at the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences and is a faculty fellow with the UCF Office of Research. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Punjabi șŁœÇֱȄ, Patiala, India, and his Ph.D. from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and has continually been funded by the American Heart Association and/or the National Institutes of Health since 2004.

About TCapital

TCapital is an AI, Frontier Tech and Life Sciences innovation fund investing in category-defining platforms and infrastructure. Founded by healthcare technology entrepreneur Chakri Toleti, T-Capital invests in companies shaping the future of treatment, care, and biomedical innovation. For more information, visit TCapital.com.

When NASA launches its latest voyage to the International Space Station on May 12, it will carry a blood clotting experiment from the UCF College of Medicine’s newest faculty member. The research will include illuminated bone marrow cells floating in space to find better ways to keep astronauts and Earthlings healthier.

Hansjorg Schwertz specializes in occupational health and focuses his research on how microgravity and radiation in space impact the body’s blood-clotting functions. After an extensive career overseas and at the șŁœÇֱȄ of Utah, he comes to UCF to serve as the associate director for Translational Aerospace Medicine Research at the UCF Center for Aerospace and Extreme Environments Medicine (CASEEM).

As humans prepare for longer missions to the moon, Mars and beyond, the center is exploring how factors such as microgravity, radiation and isolation impact the human body in space and how that knowledge can drive innovation into diagnostics, treatment and disease prevention for patients on Earth.

“When it comes to putting footprints on the moon, there is no better place to be than UCF,” he says.

NASA Concerned About Blood Clots in Space

Pre- and post-mission medical testing of astronauts on the International Space Station has shown that spaceflight changes their immune system and blood clotting ability. A few astronauts have even developed blood clots during a flight or after returning. For that reason, Schwertz is leading the NASA-funded Megakaryocytes Orbiting in Outer Space and Near Earth (MOON) study, which he began working on at the șŁœÇֱȄ of Utah and continues to collaborate with the university’s researchers on.

“When it comes to putting footprints on the moon, there is no better place to be than UCF.” — Hansjorg Schwertz

Megakaryocytes are bone marrow cells that create platelets, which circulate in the blood stream and can stop bleeding or form blood clots. Both cells also play a key role in immune responses.

The MOON study is examining how space flight affects the development and function of megakaryocytes as they create platelets. The results could provide important knowledge about the risks of inflammation, immune responses and blood clot formation that will help space travelers and patients on Earth, Schwertz says.

His team is sending human cells to the ISS on board the SpaceX 34 resupply mission. Once they are aboard the space station, astronauts will culture the cells and help to develop megakaryocytes in space.

One part of the experiment is to watch the cells in real time, and how they develop their “daughter cell,” the platelets. Because the research will be in microgravity, the cells will float. They’ll be stained with fluorescent dye so UCF’s researcher can examine them remotely at better accuracy.

Schwertz says mentors taught him, “seeing is believing,” so he is “genuinely excited” to see megakaryocytes float in space.

Advancing Personalized Medicine

One of the challenges of space medicine research is that so few people have gone to space, so the sample pool is small. As space travel and colonization progress, more people will be traveling to and working on the moon and beyond.

Healthwise, many will be different than astronauts who are selected after going through vigorous testing and selection criteria. Thus, space is a new frontier of healthcare.

Schwertz hopes his study will unlock technologies and therapies to keep astronauts’ blood clotting mechanisms controlled, prevent abnormal clotting and bring those discoveries back to Earth.

“We’re examining the impact of space flight on each person’s cells,” he says. “This is personalized medicine, and isn’t that what healthcare is all about?”

Emmanuel Urquieta, vice chair for Aerospace Medicine at the UCF College of Medicine and founding director of CASEEM, Schwertz’s work reflects the program’s broader mission to connect spaceflight research with practical clinical and operational solutions.

“Our aerospace medicine program is intentionally designed to be operational and translational in nature,” Urquieta says. “We are building a program that can support the real medical needs of exploration missions while rapidly translating discoveries from spaceflight and extreme environments into innovations that improve health here on Earth.”

Schwertz received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the School of Medicine at the șŁœÇֱȄ of Mainz, Germany. After a residency in Internal Medicine/Cardiology at the șŁœÇֱȄ of Halle, Germany, he did a post-doctoral fellowship at the șŁœÇֱȄ of Utah, where he also served as faculty.

In 2012, he  was awarded a prestigious Lichtenberg-Professorship for Experimental Hemostasis and returned to Germany where he directed a research laboratory. He returned to Utah in 2015, where he completed his residency training in Occupational Medicine and was a faculty member, researcher and community physician.

The material is based upon work supported by NASA under award No. 80NSSC22K0255. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

“The residency accelerates clinical reasoning by three to five years, making [residents] more competitive candidates for the best jobs.” — Meredith Chaput, research coordinator and liaison for the UCF and Orlando Health sports physical therapy  residency program

“We look for people who thrive on rigor,” says Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy Meredith Chaput, the residency’s research coordinator and liaison. The payoff is priceless. “The residency accelerates clinical reasoning by three to five years, making them more competitive candidates for the best jobs.”

Chaput’s sport-specific expertise, along with that of four of her colleagues in the UCF Division of Physical Therapy who serve as didactic and clinical mentors, is an instant draw to the program. So, too, are UCF’s research labs, partnerships and the opportunity to teach students in the UCF doctor of physical therapy program.

The residents are equally drawn to the opportunity to advance their skills alongside a seasoned clinical team at Orlando Health. They take on a caseload of sports and orthopedic patients, providing specialized care ranging from post-surgical rehabilitation to elite-level performance optimization, tapping into advanced rehabilitation technology to improve athlete recovery. Nearly 2 million people every year suffer sports-related injuries and receive treatment in emergency departments, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

With all of this in place, professionals are being prepared, two at a time, through a specialized 12-month program, to join the select group of 169 board-certified sports clinical specialist physical therapists in Florida. It’s a coveted residency and one designed to develop healthcare providers to better aid athletes of all levels. Central Florida is a premier sports destination, featuring a mix of professional franchises, elite collegiate athletics, large high schools and massive amateur complexes.

“When we started this program in 2020, our mission initially aimed to strengthen the rehabilitation services provided to the local sports-based community within Central Florida by producing highly trained and skilled sports physical therapists,” says Philip Agostinelli, residency program coordinator and rehab clinical operations manager with Orlando Health Sports Medicine and Rehab Center.  “Now, currently, in our sixth cohort of residents, that mission evolved to encompass the needs of athletes on a national scale, with multiple past graduates working in professional or semi-professional sports across the country.”

The Tireless Protege: Alvaro Zapata

Long days do not faze Alvaro Zapata, even as they turn into 60-hour weeks. To him, they’re part of the allure of the residency program.

“I ask myself, ‘When would I have this kind of opportunity again?’ and the answer is never,” Zapata says. “The program opens doors that would otherwise not be open.”

“I’m gaining all the knowledge I could possibly need to eventually be at the top of my profession.” — Alvaro Zapata

Since entering the program last August, Zapata has stretched his aptitude alongside clinicians at Orlando Health and Jewett Orthopedic. He’s worked with athletes in high schools and at UCF and accessed the inner circles of Orlando’s two professional soccer teams.

As Zapata puts it, “I’m gaining all the knowledge I could possibly need to eventually be at the top of my profession.”

Zapata was poised to climb the ladder with his Doctor of Physical Therapy from Boston șŁœÇֱȄ when he heard about Chaput heading up the residency program at UCF. He knew of her published research and presentations to global audiences.

“She’s a big reason I wanted this residency so badly,” Zapata says.

Here, he has had the opportunity to collaborate with Chaput and progress research on the “visual-cognitive control-to-chaos continuum” in rehab, a model for which Chaput is one of the original creators. After ACL reconstruction surgery, patients often develop inhibitions within the brain that limit the coordination of knee movement. Instead of movement in competition being instinctive, athletes are often consciously aware of deficiencies that were once automatic.

“If you can’t trust your knee, then you can’t get back to the top of your game,” Zapata says. “Rehab is typically done in a controlled setting. The real sports environment is chaotic. We’re finding ways to challenge people the day after surgery, so inhibitions don’t set in.”

This means “visual-cognitive” challenges are added to rehab in the very early stages. For example, the physical therapists might have the patient look for colored lights on a screen. Red means squeeze the right leg. Blue means squeeze the left leg. Yellow means squeeze both.

The visual-cognitive control-to-chaos continuum calls for therapists to gradually make exercises more complex for the patient, from simple, controlled movements to more unpredictable, game-like situations. The goal is to better prepare patients to safely return to sports by training both the body and the brain.

“We want athletes to react instead of thinking first,” Zapata says. “It could be a game changer.”

The Team Player: Tsianna Barnwell

At noon on a Monday, Tsianna Barnwell leaves Jewett Orthopedic Clinic, where she’s been broadening her skills since 7 a.m. She’ll now drive to a local high school to work with athletes across a range of sports. Barnwell thrives in the residency program because no two days are the same. She might work with the Orlando Pride or Orlando City, provide expertise for USA Track or binge on insights at Orlando Health.

Some people call the program challenging. Barnwell calls it “incredible.”

“I’m getting the best of all worlds,” she says. She even immerses herself in the world of Orlando Ballet, calling it “another unique experience to add to my toolbox.”

Barnwell takes her toolbox into the Cognition, Neuroplasticity and Sarcopenia Lab, where she and Chaput are advancing research, which they recently presented in Athens, Greece, at the Isokinetic Conference. It started with a question Barnwell had from her days as a Division I soccer player: Why are female athletes two to six times more likely to suffer knee injuries than men? Through her sports residency, she’s discovered that females are more likely to be weaker in their hamstring muscles. Studying these anatomical and physiological differences can inform impactful changes in rehab, recovery and injury prevention, she notes.

“With this residency under my belt, my opportunities will be almost endless.” — Tsianna Barnwell

Barnwell knows firsthand what it’s like to suffer a torn ACL. She’s also known “the team” as her home away from home since leaving Qatar as an 18-year-old to study and play soccer at St. Bonaventure șŁœÇֱȄ. Ultimately, she wants to be part of a team again, perhaps as the director of rehabilitation for a professional women’s soccer team. That’s her preference, but when the residency ends, she’ll be prepared to work with any team — even a ballet company, Cirque du Soleil or the rehab team at Orlando Health.

“I’m fortunate to gain such a breadth of knowledge,” Barnwell says. “With this residency under my belt, my opportunities will be almost endless.”

The Empowered Graduate: Jeremy Wydra ’18 ’22DPT

Jeremy Wydra ’18 ’22DPT is where Zapata and Barnwell will soon be: residency complete, now pursuing a path to find more effective ways to help athletes and performers recover and raise the bar.

“That’s the great outcome for me: variety,” says Wydra, who finished the residency program in 2024 and is now practicing clinically, and working toward his doctorate in kinesiology at UCF, where he is collecting data on the recovery and return to performance after ACL reconstruction.

Wydra worked his way through UCF, first envisioning a career in mechanical engineering and ultimately earning a bachelor’s in health sciences. Along the way, he decided he wanted a people-facing profession and shadowed at a clinic, where he noticed physical therapists conversing with patients throughout treatment sessions, often for more than an hour. He saw it as personalized healthcare that he could optimize with physics and innovation.

After finishing his doctorate in physical therapy at UCF, Wydra landed in a dream situation in Maryland, practicing as both a strength and conditioning coach and a physical therapist within sports performance centers. It begs the question: Why return for the residency?

“I wanted to work with mentors who would push me to be better,” says Wydra.

Unlike Zapata and Barnwell, Wydra had little soccer experience. Gaining it became part of the push he desired.

“… the value of the residency for me: having access to such diversified people and environments.” — Jeremy Wydra ’18 ’22DPT

“During my second week in the residency, I stepped into the Orlando City Academy training room to work with high-level athletes,” he says. “I also helped on the sidelines and talked with the medical staff about team-centered communication with coaches and players. That was the value of the residency for me: having access to such diversified people and environments.”

Wydra sees himself taking full advantage of the variety still in front of him, perhaps as a physical therapist and sports scientist, reforming best practices and helping others be their best.

“That’s what my mentors in the residency have done for me: made me a better person and professional,” he says. “I wouldn’t trade those 12 months for the world.”

We could start 33 years ago to when Castro Tapler first visited UCF and dreamed of becoming a Knight.

Or jump to when she lost sight of that dream in the whirlwind of life after enlisting in the U.S. Marines, completing an overseas deployment, getting married and raising a family.

Or here, in present day, as the 49-year-old graduates alongside her oldest, each with degree choices influenced by Johnny’s struggle with neurological hearing loss — hers, early childhood development and education and his, communication sciences and disorders. And don’t forget her other son, Michael, an emergency management major, close behind and husband, John, graduating later this year from Valencia College, a partner.

Their story is one of many subplots and selfless acts, and so much love for family — a family that pulled strength from each other on the road to this long-awaited, triumphant moment.

“People doubted us for moving here from Long Island to become Knights,” Castro Tapler says. “We said, ‘Just watch.’ “We’re proving that you can do anything you put your mind to doing by adapting and overcoming.”

A Dream Put on Hold, But Never Forgotten

Castro Tapler’s mind first fixed on UCF in 1993 when the family of her friend, David Konits ’01, paid for her to visit them in Orlando to thank her for saving their son’s life after a serious injury. Putting others first had already become ingrained for Castro Tapler, then 16, despite a childhood without means. She lived with her mother in another friend’s basement and had never traveled beyond New York.

“They brought me to the UCF campus and I was blown away,” she says. “I’d never seen such nice kids studying together in such a beautiful environment. If I could ever afford college, I wanted it to be here.”

Castro Tapler went back home, finished high school and joined the U.S. Marines. Shortly after 9/11, she was deployed to Kuwait. The idea of college continued to dim as she fulfilled her military duty, returned to Long Island, went to work and raised a family.

“The goal was always out there,” she says, “but I just couldn’t get to it.”

She wanted a more streamlined path for her sons, Johnny and Michael, so she and her husband always included tours of universities during family trips.

“When we came to UCF, the boys and John fell in love,” Castro Tapler says, “and to me, that feeling of belonging was still there after so many years.”

On the day of Johnny’s high school graduation, they loaded up the car and moved to Orlando — placing her within reach of the dream she never gave up on.

Planting Roots on Campus

As a U.S. Marine veteran, Castro Tapler has chilling stories about how she calmly put out oil fires in open combat zones. On her first day of classes at UCF, she — like a good Marine — arrived 30 minutes early with food and hydration. An emotion consumed her: Fear.

Here she was, surrounded by students half her age using tablets and carrying backpacks while she pulled around a wagon and used a spiral notebook. She would need to relearn how to learn. Three encounters quickly made her feel at ease.

“The sound of a piano in the lobby soothed my nerves. Then a group of girls in my first class invited me to work with them. And I found the ,” she says. “A college campus is a different world from what veterans are used to. The people in that office helped me understand aid, tutoring and the culture. They’re veterans, too, so they know how difficult the transition can be.”

Her fear turned to joy and a genuine belief she belonged. She felt even more connected knowing Johnny and Michael were on the same campus feeling the same pride.

The Start of a New Future

We come to the most surreal moment: mom and son graduating together. She points out this is a goal achieved, but not the goal.

“Our degrees open doors to serve others,” Castro Tapler says.

She’ll teach first grade, knowing each child is unique, perhaps with a challenge that hasn’t yet been identified. Johnny intends to use his communications and sciences disorders degree as the first step toward a medical degree in audiology. He visualizes being the first person parents see when their babies are diagnosed with a complication. He already knows what he’ll say:

“It’s going to be OK. Look at me. I have a hearing disorder, too, and now I’m a doctor,” Johnny says.

Michael will apply his emergency management degree from UCF to help communities on a larger scale. And John, after finishing at Valencia College, will consider an online business master’s program at UCF, so he can provide financial planning and support for those facing their own challenges.

“He wants so badly to be a Knight like the rest of us,” Castro Tapler says.

It makes sense. Knights are known for their grit. And this family has plenty of it.

“I think back to people saying you’ll never afford college, you’re too old, and Johnny can’t become a doctor with hearing loss,” Castro Tapler says. “Now we’re going to walk to the stage together and hear our names called.”

Designed to accelerate innovation, the Orlando Health Strategic Innovations group connects real clinical and operational challenges with student and academic talent, creating a healthcare environment where ideas are tested, informed by feedback, and continually improved. The space serves as an extension of the system’s downtown headquarters and is jointly funded by Orlando Health Ventures and the Orlando Health Innovation teams.

Orlando Health’s presence within SPRK aligns with UCF’s broader co-location strategy, which brings industry partners onto campus to catalyze innovation through proximity. The approach emphasizes shared space, shared challenges and shared outcomes to accelerate problem-solving, support experiential learning and speed the translation of ideas into practice.

The co-location marks the latest milestone in Orlando Health’s long-standing partnership with UCF.

“By working side by side at SPRK, we are accelerating innovation and moving real-world healthcare solutions more quickly into the communities we serve.”  — Alexander N. Cartwright, UCF president

The Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute provides comprehensive, year-round care for UCF student-athletes, including on-field coverage, primary care sports medicine, and specialized imaging. As a Pegasus Partner, Orlando Health pledged $5 million toward the , which supports nursing internships, scholarships, and hiring, helping to address the state’s nursing shortage. In addition, Orlando Health and UCF collaborate on advanced technology projects — such as the AI for Medical Surgery system — jointly offer specialized residency programs and collaborate in many additional ways.

“Orlando Health has been an exceptional partner, demonstrating what is possible when industry and academia come together with shared purpose. This next phase of co-location builds on that foundation,” says UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright. “By working side by side at SPRK, we are accelerating innovation and moving real-world healthcare solutions more quickly into the communities we serve.”

Healthcare Innovation at the Center of Campus

Located in approximately 2,649 square feet within SPRK, the Strategic Innovations group was intentionally placed, here, to foster continuous collaboration with faculty and students across disciplines.

This co-location enables a new operating model. Orlando Health brings real health system challenges directly into the academic environment, and interdisciplinary teams of students, faculty, and Orlando Health innovators rapidly design, test, and refine solutions.

Early collaboration has already begun to generate impact in areas such as cancer research, digital health, creation of AI models and various orthopedic innovations.

“The opening of an Orlando Health Strategic Innovations space at UCF represents our shared commitment to advancing healthcare delivery through bold new ideas,” says Jamal Hakim, M.D., chief physician officer, Orlando Health. “Through this partnership, we are creating a collaborative environment where clinicians, researchers, students and industry leaders can generate real-world solutions and drive innovations that will shape the future of how we care for patients.”

Built to Go For Launch

The latest milestone in , this co-location represents UCF’s deep commitment to the ecosystem of support powering our vision for the future.

Through a collective effort — combining philanthropy and transformational giving with corporate partnerships, research commercialization and other revenue-generating endeavors — UCF is charting a bold new path forward and building a future the world has only begun to imagine.

“This co-location with Orlando Health exemplifies the kind of partnership that powers Go for Launch, bringing industry and academia together to create real-world impact,” says Rod Grabowski, UCF vice president for Advancement and Partnership, and CEO of the UCF Foundation. “By aligning visionary partners with UCF’s innovation ecosystem, we are accelerating discovery, expanding opportunity and advancing solutions that improve lives.”

Parchment is one of just two nurse leaders in Florida — and the only one from a Florida university — inducted into the 2026 class of fellows. The distinction honors individuals who’ve made sustained contributions to nursing leadership and are influencing the future of healthcare.

With more than two decades in the field, including her recent role as corporate director of nursing strategy implementation at Orlando Health, Parchment has guided two hospitals to Magnet Recognition, an honor for quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovation in practice. She’s actively mentored nurses and built systems that help them progress. At one multi-hospital health system, her framework supported 62% of clinical nurse leaders in advancing professionally.

Turning Mentorship Into Momentum

Since 2022, Parchment has mentored graduate students at UCF as an assistant professor in the College of Nursing, helping prepare future nurse leaders.

“In my career, I have learned that continual growth and lifelong learning are essential,” she says. “As our profession continues to evolve, it is crucial that experienced leaders help guide the path forward, navigate new norms and provide support during times of change.”

Filling the Gaps in Leadership Training

Her research — cited nearly 50 times in national and international journals and books — examines professional nursing practice and leadership science, including defining role-specific factors behind workplace bullying among nurse managers and its effects on those in these leadership positions.

One of her most notable contributions is an evidence-based manual for interim nurse managers that addresses a critical gap in leadership training. It equips managers with the skills and resources to lead in complex, demanding environments and has been downloaded nearly 200 times to date. The manual was recognized by the Association for Leadership Science in Nursing as an innovative solution to the nurse manager workforce crisis and adopted by a 357-bed hospital to support its nurse manager transition-to-practice program.

Advancing Nursing at the National Level

Beyond the classroom and research lab, Parchment’s influence extends nationally. She serves as the academic commissioner for the American Nurses Credentialing Center Commission on Magnet Recognition and sits on The Nurses Legacy Institute board. She’s also an active member of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership and the Association of Leadership Science in Nursing, where she co-led three funded national research studies on nursing leadership and system science priorities within healthcare leadership.

“I will continue to advocate for the profession, advance nursing leadership [and] nurture future leaders …”

“It is an incredible honor to be recognized by the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, an organization that has encouraged me to seize opportunities and use my voice to inspire transformation across levels of healthcare,” she says. “I will continue to advocate for the profession, advance nursing leadership, nurture future leaders and empower them to excel in today’s challenging healthcare landscape.”

They proclaimed there is no better place than UCF, the closest medical school to Kennedy Space Center, to create a new frontier in healthcare as humans prepare for longer missions to the moon, Mars and beyond.

“You are in a global destination for medical innovation,” Michal Masternak told participants in the Star Nona 2026 event in Lake Nona’s Medical City. An anti-aging and cancer researcher at the UCF College of Medicine, Masternak organized the event as part of the Lake Nona Research Council, which is focused on encouraging interdisciplinary scientific partnerships between industry, academia and healthcare.

Space medicine is one of the council’s priorities. Deep space travel and the commercialization of space bring unique health challenges that science is just beginning to explore. The College of Medicine’s focuses on how factors such as microgravity, radiation and isolation impact the human body in space and how that knowledge can drive innovation into diagnostics, treatment and disease prevention for patients on Earth.

Former NASA Administrator and U.S. Senator Bill Nelson told attendees the Artemis voyage’s return to the moon should inspire space medicine experts to make new discoveries.

“We’re in a whole new era, an exciting era, of space exploration that makes this time so special,” Nelson said.

Star Nona’s goal was to bring together experts to understand current research on the health impacts of space travel and what challenges need to be addressed as more professional and commercial space travelers go to the moon and beyond.

The Physical Challenges of Space Flight

Former NASA astronaut Robert Curbeam holds the record for most spacewalks on a single mission. He described how the body feels during launch and splashdown when G-forces are so strong you must remind yourself to breathe. He presented with his former NASA flight surgeon, Smith Johnson, now a faculty member at UCF’s new Center for Aerospace and Extreme Environments Medicine (CASEEM). The two discussed the important relationship between physicians and space travelers before, during and after a mission.

“I loved being an astronaut and flying space shuttles,” Curbeam says. “The only problem with space travel is that not a lot of people get to do it.”

Your Brain Actually Shifts in Space

Living in space causes the body’s fluids to move up to the head and brain. But symptoms of that condition do more than cause puffy faces. Space travel actually causes the brain to shift. Jogi Pattisapu, of the Hydrocephalus and Neuroscience Institute, said as astronauts go to Mars for years-long missions and settle on the moon, scientists will have to understand how living in space affects brain function and create predictive tests and preventative measures. Eye health will be key, as fluid buildup has caused spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS) in 70% of astronauts on the International Space Station, leading to farsightedness, optic nerve swelling and eyeball flattening.

“What are we going to do if the pilot goes blind 210 million miles from Earth?” he said.

Team Dynamics in Space

Interpersonal communication is key to any team’s success, but how do relationships change for crews in confined spaces and face additional challenges such as sleep deprivation, isolation and differences in rank and roles. Shawn Burke and Stephen Fiore from UCF’s Institute for Simulation and Training have researched team dynamics in space to understand and prevent collaboration failures that can impact mission success.

Their research has also identified the formal and informal roles crew members play in encouraging positive social interactions and teamwork, especially in long-term missions. Missions to Mars may take up to 36 months and include 20-minute communications delays to and from Mission Control. Team dynamics will impact performance, mental health and affect, Burke said, because “you’re stuck with the people you have.”

Conducting Medical Research in Microgravity: Everything’s Upside Down

The weightlessness of space provides a unique research environment for new discoveries in areas including nutrient production, waste treatment, crystallization and biomanufacturing, said Alain Berinstain, director of the Florida Space Institute at UCF.

“Terrestrially, whenever space can make a difference, it’s a great economic driver,” he said.

In space, air doesn’t slow down processes, he explained, so experiments that involve weight, separation, sedimentation, fluid flow and buoyancy change. His advice to researchers considering space as a lab?

“Turn your experiment upside down. Does it still work? If the answer is no, you have a lot of work to do.”

The study was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging and was led by UCF Nanoscience Technology Center Professor James Hickman and Research Professor Xiufang “Nadine” Guo. In collaboration with researchers at healthcare tech company Hesperos, the team used lab-grown, human-cell systems designed to model how the body functions to examined how genetic mutations associated with familial Alzheimer’s affects movement. Today, the study was published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

“Motor deficits may be an earlier indication [of Alzheimer’s],” she says. “If we can detect those changes and intervene earlier, that could help delay the onset of central nervous system symptoms.”

How Movement and Alzheimer’s Are Connected

Familial Alzheimer’s is a rare form of the disease that is hereditary and appears earlier (from 40 to 65 years of age) in people affected than those with the typical condition.

While Alzheimer’s disease is widely associated with memory loss and dementia, clinicians have long observed that some patients show changes in balance, gait (manner of walking) or movement years before cognitive symptoms appear. These early motor changes raise questions about whether parts of the disease begin outside the brain.

Through a tech-powered approach, the team found that the diseased motor neurons — even without involvement from the brain — disrupted the neuromuscular junction, which is central to daily movement.

“This is the first time it’s been demonstrated that deficits in the peripheral nervous system can arise directly from these mutations,” Hickman says. “It means drugs that target the brain may not fix problems in the rest of the body.”

Maintaining motor function may also support overall brain health, as physical activity is known to play a role in cognitive well-being, Guo notes.

How Researchers Build Human Disease Models in the Lab

To explore how these mutations affect movement, the researchers turned to a cutting-edge approach called “human-on-a-chip” technology, which is manufactured through Hesperos, a company co-founded by Hickman. These miniature lab systems recreate the way human cells interact and function in the body, allowing scientists to study disease in a more realistic way than traditional lab or animal models.

The team built a neuromuscular junction-on-a-chip — a small system that mimics the connection between motor neurons and muscle cells. What makes this system powerful is what’s left out: the brain and spinal cord. By isolating motor neurons and muscle cells, the researchers could determine whether movement problems could arise without the central nervous system being involved.

To test this, the researchers paired healthy muscle cells with motor neurons that were created from stem cells and carried familial Alzheimer’s disease mutations. The findings suggest that Alzheimer’s-related movement issues may begin in the network of nerves outside the brain and spinal cord rather than being caused solely by brain degeneration.

Why the Nerve-to-Muscle Connection Matters

The neuromuscular junction is the point where a nerve cell signals a muscle to contract, making movement possible. If that connection is damaged, the body may lose strength, coordination or endurance.

In the study, the researchers measured several aspects of neuromuscular function, including how reliably nerve signals triggered muscle contraction and how long muscles could remain contracted before fatiguing. These measurements mirror the kinds of tests doctors use to evaluate movement disorders.

“You can’t move unless the motor circuit works,” Hickman says. “When a doctor taps your knee to check your reflex, they’re testing that exact connection.”

The Future of ‘Human-on-a-Chip’ Technology

The researchers believe their approach will become increasingly important as drug developers look for more accurate ways to study human disease.

Because the models use human cells and measure real biological function, they can reveal effects that may not appear in animal studies.

For Hickman, the work reflects 30 years of research to better understand disease and help people.

“These systems let us study disease in a way that’s closer to what actually happens in the human body, and that’s what we need to develop better treatments,” he says.

Research reported in this article was supported by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging under award number R01AG077651 and R44AG071386. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health

To reduce these challenges, associate professors of health sciences Michael Rovito and Keith Brazendale in UCF’s Department of Health Sciences are conducting a 6-month intervention study, which is funded by the Florida Department of Health Cancer Innovation Fund.

The National Cancer Institute estimates survival rates for testicular cancer are high, as about 10,000 men are diagnosed each year and fewer than 5% die from the disease — underscoring the need to improve quality of life for these patients.

“Our focus is on finding ways to improve the quality of life for these survivors, and to improve their mental, emotional and social health,” says Rovito, who has researched testicular cancer and men’s health for nearly two decades.

A New Approach to Survivorship Care

Previous survivorship programs have often focused on high-intensity exercise, which can be difficult for patients managing recovery, work and family demands. To develop a more sustainable path to recovery, Rovito and Brazendale are testing a uniquely designed intervention in Florida, known as the Physical Activity and Connectivity for Testicular Cancer Survivors (PACT) program.

PACT combines low-impact, remote, physical activity with an online support network to help survivors navigate psychosocial challenges. Participants engage in regular low-intensity physical activity, such as walking or taking the stairs, and track their progress using Fitbit devices. The devices provide real-time feedback, allowing researchers to set weekly goals and offer personalized guidance. This feedback loop helps participants stay engaged while building sustainable habits.

“We’re seeking an intervention they can do for the rest of their lives,” Brazendale says. “We want these healthy supports to become habit.”

Support Beyond Physical Recovery

Connected through Zoom sessions, PACT program participants receive personalized counsel and encouragement from the researchers directly. They also take part in virtual peer-support sessions led by a social worker and a survivor advocate trained in trauma-informed care. Monthly sessions include breathwork, meditation and discussions on common concerns such as fertility, relationship changes and fear of recurrence.

“The online support session provides coping strategies and tools for the participants to use during the day, when they can feel anxious or depressed or overwhelmed,” Rovito says.

Outside of the meetings, researchers stay in touch regularly with individual messages to participants, sending tailored motivational text messages.

“Our hope is that we are providing realistic physical activity changes that are sustainable when the monitoring ends,” says Brazendale. “We want these survivors to have adopted habits and skills that result in them being healthier over the long-term.”

The researchers say they hope to expand the program to other cancer survivor groups and integrate it into broader survivorship care across Florida, while securing additional funding for larger-scale trials.

The Feasibility of the Physical Activity and Connectivity for Testicular Cancer Survivors (PACT) program is supported by a grant from the Florida Department of Health Cancer Innovation Fund grant number 25C33.