{"id":148435,"date":"2025-08-01T14:36:42","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T18:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=148435"},"modified":"2025-08-01T14:59:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T18:59:57","slug":"ucf-nursing-ph-d-graduate-helping-to-solve-two-healthcare-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-nursing-ph-d-graduate-helping-to-solve-two-healthcare-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Nursing Ph.D. Graduate Helping to Solve Two Healthcare Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"
When Eunice Oladepe Ojo \u201921DNP<\/strong> walks across the stage at Addition Financial Arena on Saturday<\/a> she will be positively impacting two major challenges facing healthcare in the U.S. today \u2014 the nursing shortage and falls among older adults.<\/p>\n Nursing programs across the nation are turning away qualified applicants due to a shortage of doctorally prepared faculty. The shortage is caused by an aging workforce that is expected to worsen with one-third of faculty projected to retire this year.<\/p>\n With a nursing Ph.D.<\/a>, Ojo will help fill a vital role in the future of the profession as a faculty member and already has two job offers in progress.<\/p>\n Through opportunities at UCF, Ojo is prepared for her next role. As a doctoral student, Ojo gained valuable experience working as a teaching assistant to support graduate students\u2019 research and working as a graduate teaching associate to educate undergraduate students.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a strong desire to perform effectively as a member of nursing faculty and a nurse researcher who will mentor nursing students, support innovation, and undertake research challenges to improve the nursing workforce,\u201d says Ojo.<\/p>\n Her research focus on fall prevention among older adults was inspired from her scholarly project in the nurse executive doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program at UCF\u2019s College of Nursing<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though I obtained a DNP, I believe I could make more of an impact by obtaining a Ph.D. in nursing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n It is estimated 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. age 65 or older experience a fall annually, making it the leading cause of injuries among that growing population.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that falls are preventable and there is a need to determine a fall prevention program that is feasible to nursing staff since they are critical to its successful delivery and the achievement of its outcomes,\u201d says Ojo.<\/p>\n At UCF, Ojo was able to grow her skills as a researcher as part of an interdisciplinary team<\/a> led by healthy aging expert Ladda Thiamwong<\/a>. She also had the opportunity to present her research at conferences across the U.S. and abroad, and has six publications in peer-reviewed journals with more in progress.<\/p>\n Her Ph.D. dissertation on \u201cThe Moderating Effect of Objectively Measured Physical Activity in the Association of Cognitive Function With Fear of Falling and the Experience of Low-Income Community-Dwelling Older Adults\u201d was honored with an award from the Aging\/Gerontology Research Interest Group of the Southern Nursing Research Society.<\/p>\n \u201cI always aspired to achieve the highest educational degree to engage in inquiry, discovery and development of innovation to make the world a better place,\u201d says Ojo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With her second doctoral degree in nursing from UCF, Eunice Oladepe Ojo \u201921DNP<\/strong> will address the shortage of nursing faculty and the leading cause of injury-related deaths among older adults in the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8692,"featured_media":148484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[4869,19,18102],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-148435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-college-of-nursing","tag-nursing","tag-student-success"],"yoast_head":"\nFueling a Talent Pipeline<\/h2>\n
Improving Health Outcomes<\/h2>\n