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Meet the UCF College of Medicine Class of 2030! 🖤 💛
Learn more about our new students at med.ucf.edu/news/120-student….
Congratulations to the nine medical faculty from the UCF College of Medicine, UCF Health Orlando VA Medical Center and Nemours who recently graduated from the Stanford Faculty Development Program - Clinical Teacher Course.
The course allows medical educators an opportunity to expand and build new teaching skills to better train and inspire the next generation.
Thank you to our graduates for your commitment to growing as educators!
Get ready to Step Up this holiday season! 👟
The UCF UCF Alumni & Friends Step Challenge is underway, inviting UCF alumni, faculty and staff to stay moving and connected by counting their steps alongside fellow Knights.
Compete for your college to see who can take the most steps this holiday season.
The challenge runs today through December 31 and entrants can sign up and start stepping anytime.
Follow the instructions at cloud.advancement.ucf.edu/st… to register.
Meet Dr. Henry Boilini - Military veteran, psychiatrist and preceptor, whose role in educating third-year UCF medical students has left a lasting impact on students, residents, colleagues and the communities he serves.
“Dr. Boilini is very patient and attentive with student presentations, open to questions, and is great at involving the students in the patients’ care. I appreciate that he is open to discussion about medication choices, differentials and even how to practice with consideration of legal and administrative rules. I had a great learning experience with Dr. Boilini.” - a UCF medical student who learned under Dr. Boilini.
Learn more about Dr. Boilini and see what other students say about their experience with him at the link below.
Exciting new research from our engineering colleagues that explores targeting unknown molecules known as "dark matter" for biomedical purposes 🔬💊
The Molecular Community Network, developed by Vladimir Boginski and his team, uncovers molecules in “dark matter.” Their findings are in Cell Reports Methods.
Discover how this work enhances knowledge of genetics, health, diseases and drug responses: bit.ly/4hr1hgs
Improving healthcare is a constant process. ❤️
HCA Florida West Hospital hosted a resident quality improvement forum, inviting residents from the UCF-HCA GME Consortium to present the projects they've led to champion better healthcare.
Research projects like these help guide healthcare toward a future that delivers faster, safer and better care to patients.
Last week, our students stepped out of the classroom to support the health of our Central Florida community.
At the 2026 Community Health Summit, UCF College of Medicine students provided basic health screenings and information, empowering individuals to reach their health goals and fostering an interest in medicine in the next generation.
Our med students are keeping pace with how AI is transforming medicine 📚⚕️🤖
Through the newly formed AI in Medicine Interest Group, students and faculty are invited to come together to learn from each other about responsible AI use, best practices as a study supplement and how AI can enhance research.
M2 students Sophia Velasco and Alejandro De Los Angeles founded the group after seeing there was an urgent need for med students and faculty to keep up with the rapid implementation of AI in medicine. Their first two meetings were earlier this month, where they hosted UCF and industry researchers to talk about their work.
Interested in staying at the forefront of medical AI? Get in touch with the group and learn more about the group below:
med.ucf.edu/news/new-ucf-stu…
How do tiny molecules in the cells of the brain affect our decisions every day? 🔬
UCF researcher Dr. Cali Calarco’s lab is examining how neurons — nerve cells in the brain — and their molecules change when exposed to nicotine and other drugs. The goal is to understand how microscopic changes in the brain eventually influence behavioral decisions, including those associated with addiction.
While her research is focused on nicotine, Calarco says her findings could have implications for other substances and even social media addiction.
Learn more about Dr. Calarco and her research at med.ucf.edu/news/ucf-researc….
This week, the UCF College of Medicine welcomed Dr. Paul Tran to share his insight with our future Physician Knights on how they can better prepare for exams, rotations and their careers beyond.
Thank you Dr. Tran for visiting and to AMSA at UCF COM for organizing the event!
With the help of AI, we've identified 🔟 potential treatments for a rare nerve tumor 🔍🧠
@UCF Pegasus Professor Dr. Cristina Fernández-Valle, her lab & @Sagebio used AI to sift through about 200 FDA-approved drugs & found 10 that could be repurposed to treat NF2-related schwannomatosis, which affects 1 in 25,000 newborns worldwide.
The $280K project is funded by the @ChildrensTumor Foundation, as these tumors can develop during childhood, damaging nerves responsible for movement, hearing & balance.
These new drugs of interest will be further tested in hopes of giving patients better & less invasive treatments.
Learn more about the research here:
ucf.edu/news/ucf-researcher-…
Great healthcare happens when we work together, across disciplines and countries. 🌎
UCF professors from the colleges of nursing and medicine were invited to University Center Dinâmica das Cataratas (UDC) in Brazil for the Interprofessional Health Congress, an event dedicated to teaching healthcare students alongside one another to better prepare them to work together in their careers.
Dr. Hung Nguyen recently discovered 🆕 genetic pathways that could improve immune response and inform new treatments 🧬🔬
Dr. Nguyen and his team found that specialized white blood cells known as T cells can be redirected to effectively target dozens of diseases by regulating the cell's tRNA - molecules within cells that help build proteins and provide energy.
Learn more about how we're expanding immunology: med.ucf.edu/news/ucf-discove…
Congratulations to UCF medical student Natalya Kramer, winner of the inaugural Dean Deborah C. German, M.D. FIRE Impact Award, given to the student whose research shows the greatest potential impact to medicine and/or biomedical research. ✨
When Kramer lost her grandfather to lymphoma, she was inspired to pursue medicine with hopes of caring for cancer patients and their families.
She chose UCF for her medical education in part due to its focus on research and the FIRE (Focused Individualized Research Experience) course, which requires every student to conduct a two-year research project. The course was created by Dr. German.
Kramer's FIRE project focused on glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer with a very low survival rate. Her research discovered that extracellular vesicles responsible for cell-to-cell communication may influence non-cancer cells to take on cancer-like properties.
Learn more about Kramer, her research and the Dean Deborah C. German, M.D. FIRE Impact Award at med.ucf.edu/news/med-student….
He’s an experienced skydiver, private pilot and scuba diver whose hero since childhood has been moon-walker Neil Armstrong. And now Melchor Antuñano is a UCF Knight. ⚔️ 🚀
After 34 years with the Federal Aviation Administration - the longest term for any senior executive in the agency's history - Dr. Antuñano has joined the UCF College of Medicine's aerospace medicine team as a professor, and chief technologist and medical innovation officer.
At UCF, he’ll help design new procedures and technologies to keep astronauts, pilots and airplane passengers safer and help create a new UCF master’s degree in aerospace medicine and a residency program for aerospace medicine physicians. He’ll also teach across UCF colleges.
Learn more about Dr. Antuñano at med.ucf.edu/news/faa-executi….
Meet Dr. Philippa Bright, family medicine physician at HCA Florida North Florida Hospital and a preceptor, helping teach UCF College of Medicine students.
Dr. Bright received her medical degree from the University of London before relocating to the United States to complete the Family Medicine Residency at the University of Florida. In 2024 she joined the UCF/HCA Graduate Medical Education Consortium Family Medicine Residency Program as an Assistant Professor and core faculty member.
Dr. Bright is committed to training the next generation of physicians to be excellent in providing patient-centered, evidence-based family medicine.
Here is what a UCF medical student said about Dr. Bright:
"Working with Dr. Bright has been an outstanding experience. Her calm demeanor in even the most hectic situations is truly impressive and sets a reassuring tone for the team. Dr. Bright’s extensive clinical knowledge is remarkable; she consistently provides guidance on the latest techniques and medications, enriching our learning experience. Her warm greetings and thoughtful questions always encourage us to deepen our understanding and improve our skills."
Learn more about Dr. Bright and see what other students said about their experience learning form her at med.ucf.edu/news/meet-our-pr….
When Alexis Lichtenberger’s father was diagnosed with renal cancer, she began volunteering at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center where he was receiving care. Seeing the difference compassionate care could make, both for her father and the patients she worked with, inspired her to want to do more. Now, she’s taking the next step as a member of our UCF College of Medicine Class of 2030.
For Lichtenberger, the heart of care can be found in the small interactions. Asking about the day of a person she delivered meals to as a Meals on Wheels volunteer. Finding connections with the patients at the cancer center. Comforting patients experiencing the most challenging days of their lives when she was an EMT.
Now, as a future physician, her goal is to turn those moments into relationships that make patients feel seen. She believes that knowing patients, showing them you care and making them more comfortable can make the difference between understanding complex health topics, rather than being overwhelmed by them.
Can we halt Lyme disease from taking hold in our bodies without general antibiotics? 🧫
Through her 3️⃣rd consecutive @NIH grant renewal, @UCF College of Medicine professor Dr. Mollie Jewett aims to “starve” Borrelia burgdorferi, preventing the tick-borne bacteria from spreading in humans & causing Lyme disease.
Because the bacteria must consume vitamin B2 to survive, Dr. Jewett & her lab are examining ways to disrupt its metabolism by targeting newly discovered genetic markers linked to consumption of vitamin B2, essentially "starving" B. burgdorferi as soon as it enters the human body via black-legged tick bite.
Learn more about this new research on our website ⤵️
med.ucf.edu/news/ucf-scienti…
