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Articles by Wendy Sarubbi
Med Student Driven to Create Hope Through Cancer Research Earns Inaugural Award
UCF medical student Natalya Kramer lost her grandfather to lymphoma, inspiring her to pursue medicine with hopes of caring for cancer patients and their families. That dedication and her passion for research recently earned Kramer the inaugural Dean Deborah C.
FAA Executive Physician/Scientist Joins UCF Aerospace Medicine Team
UCF has recruited one of the nation’s foremost aerospace medicine experts. After decades leading the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, Melchor Antuñano joins the College of Medicine as professor, chief technologist and medical innovation officer. A Mexico City native, Antuñano came to America in 1985 to complete an aerospace medicine residency at Wright State University, the only program of its kind at the time.
120 Students Join UCF to Become Physician Knights
Pepi Dostal was inspired to enter medicine by his grandmother, a physician who cared for her village in the Czech Republic. Often paid with eggs or meat from her patients’ farms, she remains the village matriarch even after retirement. “I saw what she means to her community,” says Dostal, who comes to UCF from the University of Washington.
Researcher develops 'smart, tiny bubbles' to treat cancer and heart disease
To help accelerate the path to manufacturing the therapy for clinical use and advancing into FDA clinical trials for heart disease and cancer treatment, Dinender Singla (right) partnered with Orlando investor and UCF donor Chakri Toleti, a health care technology entrepreneur.
UCF, Industry Experts Share Insight on Evolution of Space Medicine
Hours before Artemis II splashed down safely into the Pacific Ocean on April 10, UCF researchers, university partners, an astronaut, and the former head of NASA gathered to start developing new technologies to keep space travelers healthy. 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.
UCF Students Explore Improving Patient Care Through AI, Robotics
UCF computer science major Julia Moras knows firsthand about living with epilepsy. Now, through a new interdisciplinary education and research effort, she’s examining through her undergraduate honors thesis how artificial intelligence (AI) might help fellow patients better predict an epileptic seizure. “I am on the receiving end of care for this disease.
UCF-HCA Healthcare Programs Training Needed Physicians for Florida
The arrival of summer marks a new year of residency and fellowship training for young doctors around the nation and here in Florida. Beginning July 1, more than 720 physicians across the state will be training in needed specialties like primary care, surgery, psychiatry and cardiology through a unique partnership between the UCF College of Medicine and HCA Florida Healthcare.
Everything to Know About Cataracts
Cataracts unfortunately come as you age, and with June being National Cataract Awareness Month, it’s a great time to learn more about this eye condition and its treatment. Cataracts occur when the eye’s lenses become cloudy over time. They are very common, affecting more than 65 million people worldwide and are a leading cause of vision loss and blindness. Because cataracts occur slowly and worsen over time, you might not notice eye changes at first.
UCF's College of Medicine Celebrates Commencement 2025
Vasiliki Beleri ’21 ’25MD wiped tears from her eyes moments after graduating as a UCF physician Knight. Nearby stood her father, who had once lost three fingertips while working at the family’s Central Florida restaurant. Beleri was 10 when the accident happened. She sterilized and rebandaged his wounds every night when he returned home from work. “I was so excited to play doctor,” she says.
UCF Students’ AI System Assists Orlando Health Robotic Surgeries
A student engineering project that began with using artificial intelligence (AI) to track cafeteria forks transformed into a system that will help Orlando Health surgeons perform robotic surgeries more efficiently.
How UCF Researchers Are Playing Key Role in Discovering Health Impacts of Space Travel
It’s 2 a.m. and UCF College of Medicine scientists, armed with technology and test tubes, are processing blood, saliva and urine samples from soon-to-be space adventurers. The astronauts had been quarantined in Florida before they launched into space Monday night on a rocket that is taking humans in orbit across the Earth’s North and South Poles for the first time in aviation history.
UCF Expert on Fram2 Mission Bringing Historic Opportunities for Space Medicine Discoveries
When astronauts aboard Fram2 enter a polar orbit on March 31, they’ll become the first crewed flight to orbit Earth over its polar regions. This unique trajectory exposes them to higher levels of cosmic radiation, particularly over the poles where Earth’s magnetic field provides less shielding.
Healthier Through Technology
Glen Salow believes medical innovation is the key to bringing hope and health to the planet. That’s why he’s investing in UCF’s College of Medicine. Thursday, April 10 is UCF Day of Giving. Join us in celebrating all things Black & Gold by making your gift at dayofgiving.ucf.edu. Salow led global technology and customer service teams at Ameriprise Financial and was chief global information officer at American Express.
100% Match Placement: UCF Med Students Open Doors to Their Futures, HCA Residencies
An accidental meeting with an orthopedic surgeon changed J.D. Schwartzman’s life when he was in middle school. Friday, and 20 years later, the dream that encounter inspired became a reality during National Residency Match Day. Schwartzman, a UCF College of Medicine senior, matched into orthopedic surgery, one of the nation’s most competitive specialties, at Baylor University.
Medicine Students Showcase Research at FIRE Conference
A love for pickleball turned UCF medical student Isaac Soloveychik into a medical researcher who discovered that physical activity outdoors improves mental health more than exercising inside. Soloveychik was one of 120 future physician Knights who presented their research at the 2025 FIRE (Focused Individualized Research Experience) conference. UCF is one of the few medical schools in the nation that requires all students to do a two-year scientific research project.
Flu is Here - What You Should Know
Flu is on the rise across the community and nation, so we asked Ariel Mejia, medical director at UCF Health Faculty Physician Practice and an internal medicine specialist, for advice on dealing with the contagious respiratory illness. What are the signs and symptoms of the flu that patients should watch for? The flu likes to make a big entrance when it comes in – a fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, muscle aches like a truck just ran you over. And for some children, even nausea and diarrhea.
Operator Solutions, UCF Partner to Advance Aerospace Medical Training and Emergency Response
As commercial space exploration accelerates, the need for highly trained first responders and innovative medical solutions for in-flight emergencies has never been greater. In response, Operator Solutions, a leader in specialized rescue and emergency response for human spaceflight, has partnered with UCF’s College of Medicine to advance aerospace medical training and emergency preparedness.
UCF Physician Shares ABCs of Keeping Your Heart Healthy
February is American Heart Month, so we asked David Fries, a cardiologist at UCF Health Faculty Physician Practice, to give us advice on the best ways to improve health heart. Fries, who cares for patients across the community and teaches UCF medical students, uses ABCDE as an acronym for the latest findings on heart health: A – Assessment. Patients over age 40 should discuss heart health with their physician and undergo an assessment of their risk for heart disease.
UCF Researcher Earns Presidential Academic Honor from Native Poland
College of Medicine Professor Michal Masternak, who focuses his research on healthy aging and cancer, has been honored as a Professor Belweder, his native Poland’s highest academic honor. Polish President Andrzej Duda presented the award to Masternak at Poland’s Presidential Palace. The award is given based on an exhaustive review of a nominee’s research and scholarly activities by Poland’s top scientists and academics.
UCF-HCA Launch New Transitional Year Residency in Pensacola
UCF-HCA Healthcare have announced a new transitional year residency program at HCA Florida West Hospital in Pensacola and are seeking applications to begin training this July. The transitional year program is a one-year training that provides newly graduated M.D.s with comprehensive clinical skills before they go on to more specialized training in areas such as ophthalmology, dermatology and physical medicine and rehabilitation.
Student Combines Research, Service and Art to Improve Health
UCF medical student Rachel Shi is a Renaissance woman whose achievements in science, research, community service and the arts have earned her statewide recognition. Shi will graduate this May with her M.D. degree after completing her Master of Public Health from Purdue University Global and her B.A. in pre-medical sciences and studio art from Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Massachusetts.
UCF Health Faculty Physicians Are Orlando’s Finest Doctors
Five physicians at UCF Health Faculty Physician Practice have been honored in Orlando Magazine’s Finest Doctors 2024 edition. The magazine’s yearly awards are compiled by Consumer’s Checkbook, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit research organization that surveys Orlando area physicians, and DataJoe Research, a software and research company specializing in data collection and verification.
UCF Professor Named American College of Physician’s 2024 Outstanding Teacher of the Year for Florida
The American College of Physician (ACP)’s Florida Chapter has named Abdo Asmar, a College of Medicine internal medicine professor and director of its inaugural residency program, as the 2024 Outstanding Teacher of the Year. Asmar received the award during the group’s annual scientific meeting this fall, where one of his residents received first place for research on improving patient access to heart rehabilitation services.
Uniting Medicine, Engineering for Improved Patient Care
Research partnerships between medicine and engineering will impact the future of healthcare by creating new technologies for diagnosing and caring for patients, says Bruce Tromberg, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the National Institutes of Health. As the leader of a national research team focused on developing technologies for biomedical imaging and therapy to improve health, Tromberg spoke Nov.
New UCF Lab Focuses on Healing Power of Light
Physicians and scientists will work side by side in a new UCF research lab to advance light-based technologies that can prevent, detect and treat disease. Scientists from the university’s world-renowned College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL) and physicians and biomedical scientists from the College of Medicine commemorated the opening of the new lab Friday at the College of Medicine’s Burnett Biomedical Sciences building in Lake Nona.
UCF Medical Researchers Earn Grants for Innovative Approaches to Breast Cancer
As Breast Cancer Awareness Month begins, two College of Medicine cancer researchers have received statewide grants to support their innovative projects to fight a disease that strikes one in eight American women. Alicja Copik and Debbie Altomare each received $100,000 from the Florida Breast Cancer Foundation (FBCF), a group focused on supporting innovative research that will create new and better ways to diagnose, treat and perhaps cure the disease.
UCF-HCA Florida Healthcare Create First Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship
The UCF College of Medicine and HCA Florida Healthcare recently announced the partnership’s first Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship. The ACGME-accredited program will be located at HCA Florida Ocala Hospital and is seeking applicants for the first cohort to begin training in July 2025. With the new program, the UCF-HCA Florida Healthcare Graduate Medical Education Consortium has 40 residency programs and fellowships across the state, making it one of the fastest growing in Florida.
2 Clinical Skills Staff Members Receive International Certification
As the College of Medicine celebrates SimWeek 2024, two staff members have earned international certification by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH). Mary Ann Reiner, standardized patient (SP) program manager, and Jennifer Neal, SP educator, received the Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator recognition, which affirms their expertise and proficiency in all aspects of medical simulation education.
Polaris Dawn brings new areas of research, medical care
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Polaris Dawn brings new areas of research, medical care Original
The launch of Polaris Dawn from Kennedy Space Center includes the first civilian commercial spacewalk and other factors that will be firsts for space medicine research. And that's why Emmanuel Urquieta, an internationally recognized space medicine expert who recently joined UCF's College of Medicine, is especially excited about this latest mission. The spacecraft is flying up to 870 miles above Earth—the highest orbit flown in the last half century.
UCF Space Medicine Expert: Polaris Dawn Brings New Areas of Research, Medical Care
This week’s launch of Polaris Dawn from Kennedy Space Center includes the first civilian commercial spacewalk and other factors that will be firsts for space medicine research. And that’s why Emmanuel Urquieta, an internationally recognized space medicine expert who recently joined UCF’s College of Medicine, is especially excited about this latest mission. The spacecraft is flying up to 870 miles above Earth – the highest orbit flown in the last half century.
UCF Welcomes M.D. Class of 2028
Before med school, Calvin MacDonald helped create 3D-printed bionic arms for children. Natalie Marshall hopes to become her family’s fifth generation physician, and in honor of that goal, came to the College of Medicine White Coat Ceremony with her late grandfather’s embroidered doctor’s coat. Both were among 120 M.D. students in the class of 2028 who were coated Monday in recognition that they are now colleagues in healthcare.
Congressman Soto Presents UCF Funding for Pathogen Surveillance, Research
A $900,000 congressional appropriation will help the UCF College of Medicine create a pathogen surveillance and research core to identify and address future pandemics. U.S. Congressman Darren Soto recently presented the funding to Deborah German, vice president for health affairs and founding dean of the medical school, and Griffith Parks, associate dean of research and director of the College of Medicine’s Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences.
Sanford is Home to Inaugural UCF-HCA Healthcare Residency
Last week, two young physicians began their internal medicine residency training at HCA Florida Lake Monroe Hospital in Sanford, Florida, — another first for the UCF-HCA Healthcare Graduate Medical Education (GME) Consortium, which is one of the fastest-growing in Florida. Shaheera Nadeem and Sameh Madanieh and hospital leaders said they are inspired being part of a new UCF residency that is committed to innovation, education and providing patient-centered care to the community.
Population Health Faculty Member Honored as Fellow
How and where humans live has a direct impact on their health, and a new UCF College of Medicine population health sciences faculty member recently received national recognition for his work to improve people’s social environment for better wellness. Nolan Kline was honored as a fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology, an organization dedicated to researching how the relationships humans have with one another influences their lives, including their health.
UCF Physicians Find Alternative Treatment Option for Alcohol-Related Liver Disease
UCF-trained physicians Raj Shah and Richard Henriquez found that gabapentinoids, a family of drugs used to prevent seizures and commonly used for nerve pain, reduced alcohol withdrawal symptoms and slowed the progressions of liver disease better than another FDA-approved drug for alcohol use disorder.
UCF Students Earn Fellowships To Advance Huntington Disease Research
UCF was awarded three of The Huntington’s Disease Society of America’s six national fellowships this year. The students work in the research lab of Amber Southwell, a College of Medicine expert on Huntington’s Disease (HD), who also helps run an interdisciplinary clinic for patients with the inherited disease. HD causes brain cells to break down and die, causing patients to suffer involuntary movements, difficulty swallowing, cognitive decline, and behavioral and emotional control issues.
UCF to Expand Space Medicine Research, Curriculum Aimed at Keeping Space Travelers Healthy
UCF’s College of Medicine has hired an internationally recognized space medicine expert to expand research into how spaceflight affects humans and create a space medicine curriculum for students across the university. Emmanuel Urquieta comes to UCF after serving as chief medical officer of the NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) led by the Baylor College of Medicine.
UCF Graduates 117 New Physician Knights
They started medical school during a worldwide pandemic, when ICUs were full and a vaccine undiscovered. They met during Zoom classes from their off-campus homes. Despite the risks, they chose not to cancel in-person anatomy labs and did dissections in protective gowns, face shields and masks. And on Friday, the UCF College of Medicine class of 2024, known as “The COVID Class,” became doctors.
UCF College of Medicine Staff Member Earns Congressional Award for Public Service
Onchantho Am has dedicated her life and career to serving others, and recently the associate general counsel for the College of Medicine received congressional recognition for her “extraordinary contributions to our community.” Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost honored Am during a Women’s History Month celebration in March. “Onchantho’s story of resilience, dedication to service and commitment to advocacy for the APPI community is inspiring,” Congressman Frost said.
UCF-HCA Programs Gain More Than 200 New Residents
UCF medical student Hunter Hampton is passionate about helping people function better in their daily lives — especially those suffering from cancer pain. He continues to help his younger sister with physical rehabilitation after a bone cancer diagnosis several years ago forced surgeons to rebuild her shoulder.
New Study Shows Fortified Salt Can Reduce Birth Defects
Jogi Pattisapu, a retired Orlando pediatric neurosurgeon who helped create UCF’s medical school, is the lead author of a study published online this week by the Journal of the American Medical Association’s Network Open publication that showed the success of folic-acid fortified table salt. The study was a collaboration between physicians, scientists and health officials across the United States, Canada and India.
New UCF-HCA REI Fellowship Is 3rd to Launch in Florida
A new UCF-HCA Healthcare fellowship will help Central Florida women and couples seeking medical treatment for infertility — and is just the third such training program in the state and the 52rd in the nation. The three-year reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI) fellowship recently received ACGME accreditation to begin this summer and will be open to physicians who have completed a four-year obstetrics and gynecology residency.
New UCF-HCA REI Fellowship Is 2nd to Launch in Florida
A new UCF-HCA Healthcare fellowship will help Central Florida women and couples seeking medical treatment for infertility — and is just the second such training program in the state and the 52rd in the nation. The three-year reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI) fellowship recently received ACGME accreditation to begin this summer and will be open to physicians who have completed a four-year obstetrics and gynecology residency.
UCF Patent Will Improve Patient Care
The tool is an algorithm that identifies gaps and incomplete information in digital health records and is the latest research collaboration between Varadraj Gurupur, associate professor in UCF’s School of Global Health Management and Informatics, and Ayan Nasir ’20MD. As a UCF undergraduate and medical student, Nasir did research with Varadraj Gurupur on health informatics, including his Focused Inquiry and Research Experience (FIRE) module project.
UCF-HCA Add New Residency, Fellowship — Firsts in Florida | University of Central Florida News
UCF and HCA Florida Healthcare are starting their first residency program in internal medicine at HCA Florida Ft. Walton-Destin Hospital, and are also adding the consortium’s first gastroenterology (GI) fellowship with the Orlando VA Medical Center and HCA Florida Osceola Hospital. The two new programs recently received ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) accreditation and are seeking applicants to begin training in July 2024.
Cancer researcher 'beefing up' natural killer cells to stop cancer
A UCF cancer researcher is discovering ways that the body's own natural killer (NK) cells can be energized to fight deadly pediatric cancers and improve immunotherapy by unleashing the power of our immune system. UCF Associate Professor of Medicine Alicja Copik has focused her career on developing technologies that "beef up" the body's NK cells. These cells are the body's first line of defense in protecting you from viral and other pathogenic infections and even malignancies.
UCF “Beefing Up” Natural Killer Cells to Stop Cancer
A UCF cancer researcher is discovering ways that the body’s own natural killer (NK) cells can be energized to fight deadly pediatric cancers and improve immunotherapy by unleashing the power of our immune system. UCF Associate Professor of Medicine Alicja Copik has focused her career on developing technologies that “beef up” the body’s NK cells. These cells are the body’s first line of defense in protecting you from viral and other pathogenic infections and even malignancies.
UCF Wound-healing Technology Also Shows Promise for Parkinson’s Patients
Researchers at UCF’s College of Medicine who developed a new wound-healing technology report that their innovation may also be a promising treatment for Parkinson’s disease. The technology developed by Frederick Carrick, professor of neurology at UCF’s College of Medicine, and Kiminobu Sugaya, professor of medicine and leader of the Neuroscience Division at the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, speeds healing through specially designed ceramics wrapped in a rubber blanket.
Dean German Is AAHC Steering Committee Chair
Deborah German, UCF’s vice president for health affairs and dean of its College of Medicine, has been selected to chair the Alliance of Academic Health Centers’ Steering Committee, which provides leadership in strategic planning and innovation to advance the nation’s academic health centers and health system. The Alliance includes academic and business leaders who work collectively to improve healthcare, increase biomedical research and advance medical education.
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