UCF’s leading space medicine experts, valued strategic partners and an astronaut who holds NASA’s record for spacewalks will gather April 10 in Lake Nona’s Medical City to discuss how they can work together to keep space travelers healthy and use that research to create groundbreaking clinical innovations on Earth.

The “Star Nona 2026” event is led by the Lake Nona Research Council, which is focused on encouraging interdisciplinary scientific partnerships between industry, academia and healthcare.

The council includes physicians and researchers from UCF, Orlando Health, AdventHealth, the , the Orlando VA Medical Center, Nemours Children’s Health, business and industry.

Star Nona 2026 Event Details

“Our goal is to bring together space medicine leaders and experts from academia, medicine and the space industry to find more ways we can work together to research the health impacts of space flight and how our discoveries can also improve healthcare on Earth,” says Michal Masternak, UCF professor of medicine.

An anti-aging and cancer researcher, Masternak leads the Lake Nona Research Council’s space medicine research group. He also leads the College of Medicine’s program that processes astronaut samples so physicians and scientists can analyze the immediate impact of space travel on astronauts’ bodies.

Sessions will include presentations on:

• Microgravity and radiation exposure and their impact on human physical and mental health
• How space travel affects muscles, bones, cells, vision and the brain
• Protecting muscles in space (led by AdventHealth researchers)
• Next generation of the space station
• New technologies for diagnosing how space travel impacts human cells.

These presentations will feature UCF researchers from medicine, , and . UCF graduate students and post-doctoral scientists will also present research posters on space medicine.

The plenary speaker is NASA astronaut Robert Curbeam, a U.S. Navy captain who completed four spacewalks during space shuttle Discovery’s 2006 mission to the International Space Station.

The Space Coast’s College of Medicine

Located 45 miles west of the Space Coast and Kennedy Space Center, UCF’s College of Medicine is the perfect partner to chart a new frontier in healthcare as humans prepare for longer missions to the moon and Mars, and commercial space flights take more civilians into space.

The goal: explore 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 on Earth.

To further those efforts, UCF has created a new Center for Aerospace and Extreme Environments Medicine (CASEEM), which includes UCF faculty experts in medicine, engineering, computer science, psychology, arts and educational leadership. This interdisciplinary group will work together to research and develop new technologies for keeping space travelers healthy, as well as soldiers on military missions, deep sea explorers and mountain climbers.

About the Lake Nona Research Council

Edward Ross, the College of Medicine’s chair of medicine and assistant dean for research, leads the Lake Nona Research Council.

Ross says Star Nona and the partnerships it creates will help solidify UCF and Medical City’s reputation as a premier center for space medicine.

“When people think of keeping space visitors healthy, we want them to immediately think UCF.” — Edward Ross, College of Medicine’s chair of medicine

“As a university, UCF was born to create the workforce to send humans to the moon,” he says. “We’re continuing that legacy with space medicine. When people think of keeping space visitors healthy, we want them to immediately think UCF.”

Event Registration

Star Nona 2026 will be held at the UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center, with registration beginning at 8:15 a.m. Star Nona is made possible by support and sponsorships from Dr. Jogi Pattisapu and the Hydrocephalus and Neuroscience Institute, Tavistock Development Company and the Florida Space Institute. To sign up to attend the event, please visit .

The Triological Society’s (American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society) ELEVATE-ENT program included hands-on clinical skills training, one-on-one mentorship with ENT physicians, and an opportunity for UCF students to engage with otolaryngology leaders from across the country.

Otolaryngology, also called ENT, is a specialty focused on diagnosing and treating diseases of the ear, nose, throat, neck and head.

“ENT brings together the senses – how you hear, taste, swallow, smell. It’s how our patients interact with the world,” says Juliana Morcos, one of the four UCF students. “And a minor change or surgical procedure can dramatically improve someone’s quality of life.”

Exposure to High-Tech Surgical Tools

Isaac Soloveychik is a third-year UCF medical student who aspires to become a pediatric ENT after graduation. The national program gave him an opportunity to experience new high-tech surgical instruments that ENTs use to repair delicate sections of the ear and throat.

He says simulations that allowed him to use forceps, scalpels and endoscopy tools brought his specialty of choice to life. And rather than a traditional clerkship experience, where medical students observe doctors, the ENT event had a physician standing behind Soloveychik, giving them real-world guidance as he used the tools.

The Power of Mentorship

Each selected student also received a mentor, who will stay with them as they progress through medical school and attend more society events.

Soloveychik did his undergraduate work at the șŁœÇֱȄ of Illinois, and his ENT mentor is a physician who has practiced for almost 40 years in the Midwest. Soloveychik says they connected immediately and through that engagement he was able to meet other experienced physicians and learn their perspectives on a range of topics. Even “bread and butter” therapies like tonsillectomies stirred strong debate at the conference, providing the UCF student with insights and perspectives. “ENTs are always learning from each other,” he says.

Second-year UCF med student Natalie Marshall’s mentor is an expert in laryngology, a subspecialty that focuses on the voice box. Through that mentorship, Marshall says she broadened her perspective on the range of career possibilities in the field, such as helping actors and singers maintain their health so they can pursue their dreams.

Research Connections

Antonia Tammaro is in her first year of medical school at UCF and is conducting several research projects with Nemours Children’s Health on cochlear implants and ways to ease bleeding after tonsillectomies. She says the ENT program provided an opportunity to get mentorship early in her training and make further research connections that will help her advance science.

Morcos, a second-year student, leads the College of Medicine’s ENT Student Interest group. She worried that the specialty might be too narrow a career path. But being selected as a fellow allowed her to see multiple avenues for her future – pediatrics, adults, head and neck cancers, research.

The specialty also offers experience in both surgery and the clinic. “You have the opportunity to make quick fixes that have an immediate impact and also follow patients for their whole life as they receive long-term care,” she says.

UCF alum Kelly Shea ’23 understands first-hand the academic challenges some children struggle with in the classroom. After all, she was once one of them.

“School just didn’t make sense to me,” says the elementary education grad, who couldn’t read until midway through elementary school.

Those early challenges have been integral to Shea’s career path as an educational entrepreneur. They also fuel the “why” behind her mission to empower young students through her start-up business that offers invention education kits for kids.

Making Sense of School

Growing up, Shea recalls struggling in every subject, especially reading, during her elementary school years.

“I had trouble comprehending things,” says the 23-year-old, who has since written and published four children’s books. “My first-grade teacher, Ms. Shepard, was the one who recognized I was having problems. I met with her almost weekly throughout second grade for extra support. Things finally started clicking for me in middle school, but I struggled a lot early on.”

She got involved with a Tampa-area nonprofit called Girls With Confidence, which empowers young girls in developing positive self-esteem. As she got older, she began volunteering and taking on more leadership roles with the organization.

“I would come up with activities and games for their programming and realized that I love teaching and creating impact, like how people did for me,” she says. “I just loved working with kids. I wanted to help them find solutions to their struggles because I was there once, too.”

Shea carried that determination and creative, problem-solving spirit throughout her time in and leveraged it to create two businesses before she graduated. She credits UCF’s and as crucial resources that complemented the knowledge she gained in her coursework, ultimately fueling her career path today with Innovation Station LLC.

Connecting Education and Entrepreneurship

While taking the Careers in K-12 Education course with Cristina Sáenz ’22PhD — now an invention education manager for Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lemelson-MIT Program — Shea had her light bulb moment: She could bridge her passion for education with her entrepreneurship endeavors.

Invention education is a learning approach that challenges students through hands-on problem-solving. Shea often saw this play out during her internship with , where young patients face educational challenges due to injuries and illnesses.

“At Nemours, I saw how kids with cerebral palsy adapt things for their needs, and it inspired me because that’s what invention is about,” she says. “I thought, ‘Why don’t I create a series of kits for K-5 students that teaches them to go back to the basics of hands-on learning?’”

With that, Innovation Station LLC was born during her last semester at UCF.

Empowering Tomorrow’s Innovators

Through Innovation Station, Shea offers a series of four invention education kits that teach children to identify and explore problems, brainstorm and develop innovative ideas, build and prototype concepts, and practice their presentational skills.

Each kit includes a relatable storybook — written by Shea herself — as well as guided activities, worksheets, crafting supplies, and lesson resources for teachers. Even the packaging is designed to be used as part of the inventive process. With the final kit in the series, students cut off the sides of the box to make into a poster board they’ll use to pitch their product.

“They’re reminded that their product is a prototype; it’s not going to be perfect, and failure is OK because we can always fix things based on what we learn from it,” she says. “They learn how to communicate their brand with problem and solution statements. The books also cover easing those presentation nerves and learning to support your friends even if you’re competing.”

Prior to launching Innovation Station kits in July 2025, she conducted a six-week focus group with the Girls Scouts of Citrus Council, where she was able to test the kits with girls ranging from 4 to 12 years old. One 4-year-old invented a soft pencil because she was just learning to write, and regular pencils hurt her hand.

“It’s meant to teach them to be problem-solvers,” she says.

Since then, Shea has been promoting Innovation Station kits while also working in manufacturing, helping others bring their own inventions to life. She is piloting the kits this semester in partnership with fellow teacher education alum Chuck Burgess ’92. The kits will debut in nine Tampa-area elementary schools through local nonprofit High 5, Inc., which offers a variety of after-school and recreational programs.

“I took a chance on myself, and I decided that this is what I want to do.” — Kelly Shea ’23

She aspires to collaborate with school districts to introduce them into today’s classrooms.

“I took a chance on myself, and I decided that this is what I want to do,” she says. “I want to inspire and have an impact on the next generation and help create core memories by facilitating those light-bulb moments of, ‘Wow, I can be an entrepreneur.’”

With projections forecasting a shortfall in the number of physicians needed to meet the demand within the state of Florida in the coming years, this expanded partnership aims to help address those potential shortages by drawing from the organizations’ long-standing history of collaboration and accentuating their mutual commitment to advancing medical training, workforce development, innovation, community partnerships and advocacy to ensure the delivery of high-quality healthcare for children.

The UCF College of Medicine — Nemours Children’s Health Department of Pediatrics is expected to impact all 480 UCF medical students each year and will set a new standard for pediatric academic programs by further leveraging Nemours Children’s preeminence. Expanding upon current joint educational programs, the department will enable new collaborations and support both organizations’ efforts in clinical excellence, research and the recruitment and retention of the next generation of pediatricians.

“Nemours Children’s has been a fabulous partner to the College of Medicine, providing pediatric education to every UCF medical student,” says Deborah German founding dean and UCF vice president for health affairs. “Nemours shares our three missions. They are fully engaged in research, finding new cures and treatments. They provide care across the spectrum of pediatrics. And they are focused on education — of UCF medical students, residents and fellows. We are now expanding a great partnership that has allowed us both to thrive.”

Every UCF medical student receives their pediatric training at Nemours Children’s. Over the years, the pediatric health system has trained more than 1,100 M.D. candidates across a number of clinical departments and pediatric disciplines, including general and orthopedic surgery, anesthesiology, pathology and radiology. After graduation, medical school graduates must complete residencies in their specialty of choice and pediatrics has been one of the most popular specialties for UCF students. Nemours Children’s also participates in many of the UCF College of Medicine’s residency and fellowship programs, which are among the fastest growing in the state.

“We have long valued our partnership with UCF, and this newly established department is a natural continuation of our joint efforts,” says Martha McGill, president of the Central Florida Region for Nemours Children’s Health. “Nemours Children’s is one of the nation’s largest pediatric health systems, and together we will be able to provide medical students and trainees with the depth, complexity and variety of experience and skill-building we offer.”

The partnership further emphasizes Nemours Children’s commitment to directly supporting the growth and training of future clinical leaders. Other partnerships for Nemours Children’s include working with the Mayo Clinic and șŁœÇֱȄ of Florida in Jacksonville, Florida, to train pediatric residents and fellows representing more than 15 specialties. In Delaware, Nemours Children’s jointly runs a pediatric residency program in collaboration with Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson șŁœÇֱȄ.

“This new department underscores the value and importance of partnerships between industry and academic institutions, especially those aligned to a common mission,” says Kanekal Gautham, pediatrician-in-chief for Nemours Children’s Hospital, Florida who will serve as the inaugural chair of the department. “Pediatric health care is more complex than it has ever been, so creating a pipeline of skilled, well-trained clinicians is pivotal to meeting the ongoing and evolving care needs of children.”

The UCF Pegasus Partner Program is a comprehensive partnership initiative designed to foster deep, intentional, mutually beneficial relationships between the university and leading industry partners. UCF’s objective is to strategically align in key partnerships where the university and an industry partner can collectively drive talent development, discovery and innovation through collaboration and philanthropy.

Through the Pegasus Partner Program, Nemours Children’s and UCF will work collaboratively to identify opportunities and establish initiatives that leverage their collective medical and academic preeminence toward the overall advancement of pediatric healthcare.

“By further aligning our nationally recognized pediatric expertise with UCF’s prowess in innovation and technology, this expanded partnership builds upon Nemours Children’s commitment to creating the healthiest generations of children,” says R. Lawrence Moss, president and CEO of Nemours Children’s Health. “As we expand our long history of collaborating to address the unique health needs of children, we improve the care given in the multitude of communities we serve, and positively influence children’s quality of life for years to come.”

“We are grateful for Nemours Children’s longstanding partnership with UCF and the impact growing our collaboration will have for children and their families and for our College of Medicine students and faculty,” says UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright. “Together, we are strengthening our community’s health and well-being, investing in the development of new innovative clinical practices and devices, and developing the talent that will serve future generations of Floridians for decades to come.”

So, on Thursday, the science fair came to them — thanks to the help of UCF faculty and students — in the form of the first-ever STEM Day at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando. Poster boards detailing projects as varied as fish prosthetics and bouncing marbles were on display in the hospital’s lobby, each awaiting the arrival of a special panel of guest judges.

Thursday’s event was put on by UCF PedsAcademy at Nemours, which provides highly specialized schooling to chronically ill children in a way that’s tailored to their specific disease. STEM Day wrapped up the first academic year of PedsAcademy, which launched in August 2018. The program is run by about 50 UCF faculty members, student researchers, postdoctoral scholars and student interns who specialize in mathematics, engineering, science, the humanities and special education. Megan Nickels, Ph.D., an assistant professor of STEM education, heads the program.

“Every school needs a science fair. We wanted to give the kids center stage so everyone can see their good work.” — Megan Nickels, UCF assistant professor and PedsAcademy faculty director

“Every school needs a science fair,” Nickels says. “We wanted to give the kids center stage so everyone can see their good work.”

The lobby of the Lake Nona hospital also hosted labs from across the university, enticing children with opportunities to touch sea turtle shells, get up close with bugs and learn how muscles generate electricity.

August Terry, 10, was captivated by the crabs brought by the Coastal and Estuarine Ecology Lab. She completed three projects for the science fair: one on silicone in paint; another with a 3D-printed replica of the Castillo De San Marcos fort in St. Augustine; and a third exploring the best materials for building bridges.

Terry, who is still undergoing treatment for bone cancer, won an award for “most likely to change the world.”

Terry’s St. Augustine project was particularly special to her, as she was unable to attend her fourth-grade field trip to St. Augustine because of her illness.

“I can’t put a price on it,” says her mother, Wendy. “PedsAcademy has made hospital visits something August actually looks forward to.”

One of the judges was Katie Seymour, wife of Interim President Thad Seymour. She had high praise for the tailored, one-on-one instruction PedsAcademy offers children on a daily basis at the hospital.

“I love seeing the spark in each of these children,” she says.

PedsAcademy, a first-of-its-kind program, provides specialized schooling to chronically ill children tailored to their specific disease while undergoing care at Nemour’s Children’s Hospital. The program includes more than 50 UCF faculty and student teachers who teach STEM curriculum to the children.

What started as an idea when Nickels was in her doctoral program in mathematics education at Illinois State șŁœÇֱȄ, is now a comprehensive model for what education looks like for children who are hospitalized long-term.

“After years of teaching elementary school, I missed the daily interactions with children when I went back to school to complete my Ph.D.,” Nickels said. “I was trying to think about what I could do to be around them again, and that’s when I realized there was a children’s hospital not too far away from the university, so I signed up to be a volunteer.”

“None of my training or years as a teacher had prepared me for what these children encounter in terms of education and how best to teach them. Chronically ill children are a forgotten population.”

Nickels says she couldn’t have predicted the overwhelming need of educating the children who were hospitalized.

“None of my training or years as a teacher had prepared me for what these children encounter in terms of education and how best to teach them,” she says. “Chronically ill children are a forgotten population.”

PedsAcademy does three things: studies the specific needs of children according to their disease; provides tailored curriculum for their needs, and prepares student-teachers to teach hospitalized children.

“We are meeting a need that is not met, and, largely, not even understood,” Nickels says.

Instructors are instrumental in teaching children through science, technology, education and mathematics lessons using virtual reality, robotics, 3D printers and makerspaces. They are also involved in the research of how to teach children based on their disease. For example, cancer affects working memory, so Nickels’ team develops curriculum and teaching methods to help prevent memory loss. The team of researchers is currently beginning work on developing profiles for children with spinal muscular atrophy.

One of the inspiring things about PedsAcademy is its ability to be modeled elsewhere – which is a large part of why Nickels’ received the Marchioli Award. Nickels is in talks with a few children’s hospitals on how to replicate the model. She credits her partnership with Nemours Children’s Hospital on making it all possible.

If it’s not feasible for a hospital to have educators on-site, Nickels has another option: virtual reality.

“Our immersive virtual reality, or VR, platforms will provide multiuser virtual classrooms if a hospital can’t support in-room educators,” Nickels says. “All they need is the equipment and their patients could [virtually] attend PedsAcademy here in Orlando.”

Thanks to the $5,000 in prize money from the Marchioli Impact Award, Nickels says she will purchase additional VR equipment to take expand the program. The award was made possible by Nelson Marchioli ‘72, chairman of the UCF Foundation.

Lisa Jones, associate provost for strategy, says UCF’s strategic plan requires the university to innovate and then scale successful innovations to achieve greater impacts, as this project has done.

“Through Collective Impact, we are leveraging UCF’s existing culture of innovation and focusing the innovations towards solutions that help us move the needle on our metrics,” she says. “We created this award as one way we can encourage and reward innovations that are aligned with our strategic plan.

“Faculty and staff are the heartbeat of all that we do at UCF. We cannot and will not fulfill the promises outlined in the plan without faculty and staff using their creativity to test new ideas or enhance existing programs/projects to help achieve the metrics and Dr. Nickels is the perfect example.”

Jan. 1 –  After UCF completed their first perfect football season and a 34-27 defeat over Auburn at the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, former UCF linebacker Shaquem Griffin ’16 admires the championship trophy. Shaquem made history in April when he became the first one-handed player to be drafted in the NFL, joining his brother Shaquill Griffin ’16 on the Seattle Seahawks’ team.

Jan. 21 – A student takes some time between classes to stretch out on Memory Mall.

Feb. 23 – Engineering graduate student Estefania Bohorquez ’17 shows off her aerial acrobatic skills.

March 14 – Studio art major John Currie ’18 works on a special portrait of John C. Hitt to honor his 26 years of service as UCF’s fourth president.

April 5 – Singer Jesse McCartney performs at CFE Arena during UCFestival’s concert night.

April 7 – This year, UCF raised more than $1.5 million for Knight-Thon, an annual dance marathon that benefits Children’s Miracle Network.

April 13 – Director of jazz studies and Pegasus Professor Jeff Rupert conducts a performance during UCF Celebrates the Arts.

May 1 – After a six-month closure, a cute pup takes a dip in the newly renovated Reflecting Pond, which now has a new foundation and color-changing LED lights. *Note: Dogs are not allowed in the water, so don’t try this on your own.

May 3 – During his final commencement ceremonies, former UCF President John C. Hitt conferred degrees to more than 8,100 students. In October of last year, Hitt announced he would be stepping down from the presidency on June 30, 2018. Former UCF provost Dale Whittaker became the university’s fifth president on July 1.

June 5 – Senior studio art major Jenna Chastain works with clay during an art class in the Visual Arts building.

June 5 –  While in a lab, a student works on a project involving display screens and motorcycle helmets.

June 20 – Two students raced to the top of the Climbing Tower located in the .

June 29 – Construction on the new UCF Downtown campus is underway and on schedule to open Fall 2019.

Aug. 2 – After partnering with two other institutions to manage the Arecibo Observatory earlier this year, UCF President Dale Whittaker traveled to Puerto Rico for a visit to the facility.

July 27 – An instructor at the demonstrates how to put out a fire during a cooking class.

Aug. 21 – Afternoon Florida storm clouds cover campus as students make their return during the first week of fall classes.

Sept. 5 – The sun rises over the Charging Knight statue outside of Spectrum Stadium.

Sept. 5 – Campus on a quiet morning.

Sept. 19 – After more than a year of waiting, popular local taco spot Gringos Locos opened its UCF location in Knights Plaza.

Sept. 21 – The get ready to perform on the football field during half-time at the game against Florida Atlantic șŁœÇֱȄ.

Sept. 29 – Knightro and the cheer team entertain a packed stadium during UCF’s game against Pittsburg, which ended in a 45 – 14 win for the Knights.

Oct. 2 – During the evening, the Pegasus on the lights up the building.

Oct. 3 – After serving as UCF’s interim provost since April, Elizabeth A. Dooley has become the university’s provost and vice president for .

Oct. 30 – In August, UCF partnered with the Nemours Children Hospital to create PEDS Academy, a program that provides specialized STEM education to children hospitalized at the facility.

Nov. 8 – Students light up CFE Arena during Homecoming 2018‘s Concert Knight, which featured performances from rapper A$AP Ferg and singer Ella Mai.

Nov. 9 – Students show off their excitement as they prepare to take part in UCF’s biggest Homecoming tradition – .

Nov. 9 – During this year’s Spirit Splash, UCF President Dale Whittaker jumped into the Reflecting Pond alongside students. He promised take part in the tradition if 50,000 students would attend the first five home football games of the 2018 season – more than 55,000 students took on the challenge.

Dec. 1 –  After joining Knight Nation this football season, makes an appearance at the American Athletic Conference Championship game, during which fans wore leis to show their support for injured quarterback McKenzie Milton. UCF Athletics gave out 40,000 leis to fans in the spirit of #10hana, a movement that started in the local community and on social media.

Dec. 1 – During the American Athletic Conference title game against Memphis, 45,176 fans packed the stands as UCF secured a 56 -41 victory, extending their undefeated streak to 25 games and advancing them to the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1, 2019.

“These children can miss out on weeks, months or even years of schooling,” says Megan Nickels, a UCF assistant professor in the College of Community Innovation and Education and the College of Medicine, and PedsAcademy faculty director. “Our goal is to provide a rich, meaningful, educational experience so they aren’t just keeping pace with their healthy, typically developing peers, but they are actually getting extraordinary educational opportunities while in the hospital.”

The program launched in August and uses robots, immersive virtual reality, telepresence, 3D printers and MakerSpaces to deliver lessons that range from basic computer programming to learning about undersea worlds. Lessons are personalized to a child’s interests by incorporating themes such as superheroes, animals, or sports. Teaching methods are based on Nickel’s research into cognitive development and the effects of certain diseases on learning, so patients are taught in ways that are conducive to their physical limitations and sensory conditions.

For example, a child with cancer who likes superheroes might have a math session that features Spider-Man and uses robots to prompt engagement. Because chemotherapy can cause problems with focus, working memory, and identifying visual and spatial relationships, the assignment might center around an activity that involves mental rotation, repetitive programming and small increases in task difficulty.

“It’s such a nontraditional way of delivering education and is tailored in a way that is as fun as it is intellectually stimulating,” says Norman Jeune, director of Patient and Family Centered Care at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando. “No one has done anything like this before.”

Instruction takes place at the bedside of inpatient children, and will soon begin in outpatient settings such as the Nemours’ Infusion Center where cancer and blood disorders, kidney disease, and immune-system disorders are treated. In some cases, the virtual-reality goggles and scenarios are such an effective distraction that they are used as an alternative to sedation during treatments.

“It’s such a nontraditional way of delivering education and is tailored in a way that is as fun as it is intellectually stimulating.” — Norman Jeune, director of Patient and Family Centered Care at Nemours Children’s Hospital

On an average day, up to 60 children are taught through PedsAcademy at Nemours. Patients can receive at least three hours of instruction per day and may begin participating in the program as soon as they are admitted. Instruction is for children up through 12^th grade and also is available for siblings of the patients.

The PedsAcademy team is comprised of UCF faculty members, student researchers, postdoctoral scholars and dozens of student interns. The students, all pre-service teachers, complete a semester of study at Nemours and provide instruction to patients under the supervision of a faculty member. This gives them the opportunity to learn new skills for teaching special populations such as hospitalized children.

For UCF student Julisa Vinas, the mission of PedsAcademy hits home. In her third year at UCF as an accounting student, a mixture of illnesses led to her medically withdrawing from school and undergoing an extensive procedure to have a stem-cell transplant. Upon her recovery, she vowed to continue her education in something she felt would make an impact. She’s now in her senior year at UCF studying elementary education and a PedsAcademy intern.

“When this opportunity [PedsAcademy] came up, I thought this is perfect for me because I know what it feels like to be extremely ill and want to have an education, to want to go to school and not be able to. Being able to now go to these kids and provide that for them – it’s an amazing experience,” Vinas says.

The program was inspired by research that shows children who face life-threatening illnesses or suffer from chronic health conditions will have their education disrupted, often resulting in an inability to keep pace with their peers and perform at their grade level. This disruption in education can affect children into their later years by limiting their achievements and social mobility. Each year, eight out of every 100 children are hospitalized in the United States.

The program is funded through grants and private donations.

Visit the to learn more.

With a nursing shortage of more than 1.2 million in the United States, Bruce and Cox are preparing for crucial roles in our health care system. And with the assistance of the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust, they will do so without the crushing burden of student loans or the need to compromise their studies with part-time work.

“I believe in the alleviation of human suffering through the means of compassion and empathy that nursing has to offer,” Cox said. “Receiving this scholarship will reduce the current stress of juggling work so I can focus on my studies to provide the best care for my future patients.”

Bruce also recognizes the freedom provided by duPont’s generosity.

“Financing my dream of becoming a nurse is becoming harder and harder each semester, as I have to take out more and more loans. I want to someday help the pediatric population and their families through some of the hardest times of their lives, but I can’t do that if I don’t graduate this program due to financial stress,” Bruce explained.

Dean of the College of Nursing, Mary Lou Sole, recognizes the necessity of scholarships that empower students and allow them to focus on their studies. “Many nursing students are not able to work during the program due to the rigorous curriculum, so is critical and helps us recruit the best and brightest students.“

The Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust is one of America’s most generous supporters of pediatric health care. Since 1935, they have distributed more than $2.7 billion to its primary beneficiary, The Nemours Foundation, for the care and treatment of children primarily in Delaware and Florida. It has helped hundreds of thousands of sick children find health and new hope for the future, regardless of ability to pay.

With 96 percent of UCF’s nursing graduates passing the licensing exam on the first attempt, UCF ranks among the top four percent of nursing programs nationwide. Generous support from donors at every level has helped make this success possible.

The gift from the Alfred I. duPont Testamentary Trust supports IGNITE: The Campaign for UCF, which seeks to inspire $500 million in philanthropic support from alumni, friends and partners to drive transformational change. The campaign has currently stands at $366 million and is set to run until June of 2019.

The event will run from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the medical education building in Lake Nona and feature stations of cuisine from Orlando’s top chefs and restaurants, as well as live entertainment from UCF’s talented students. Guests will commemorate the college’s past, celebrate its present and get a glimpse of its future.

“After a decade together, I am still continually amazed by what we can achieve when we work together,” said Dr. Deborah German, vice president for medical affairs and founding dean of the medical school. “Ten years ago, President Hitt’s vision was of a medical school that would serve our Central Florida community by offering the very best in medical education, research and patient care. Today that dream has become a reality.”

The medical school stands at the hub of an emerging Medical City that includes one of the nation’s largest VA hospitals, the VA’s national simulation center and Nemours Children’s Hospital. UCF’s medical students rank in the top quartile nationally in all measures of student performance. The college is unique nationally because of its almost 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students studying biomedical sciences. Through a partnership with Hospital Corporation of America, the medical school is growing residency programs at hospitals across Central Florida that will help alleviate the state’s physician shortage.

At the College of Medicine’s Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, researchers are developing collaborative approaches across disciplines, UCF and the community to treat many of the diseases that plague humanity, including cancer, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and infectious diseases. The college now has three locations of UCF Health, its physician practice, where faculty physicians care for patients around the community.

“The next decade will see expanded growth in research and patient care,” German said, noting that UCF is working to establish a partnership academic teaching hospital in Lake Nona with HCA and intends to expand its partnerships throughout the community. “I can only imagine what we will accomplish together in our next decade.”

Tickets are still available for the event. Proceeds support all College of Medicine missions.