Life-Changing Research
UCF is a hub for health and human performance research and innovation. Our approach to hiring faculty is different — focusing on emerging areas or interdisciplinary perspectives — and infusing engineering thinking and technology into every classroom and lab.
Here, faculty members collaborate across fields — and offer unparalleled opportunities for student researchers — to accelerate diagnoses, advance medicine, improve patient outcomes and elevate quality of life.
Gregory Welch
AdventHealth Endowed Chair
in Healthcare Simulation
Innovating Learning for Real Life: A computer scientist and engineer, Gregory Welch was the first non-nurse faculty member to join UCF’s College of Nursing. As part of his pioneering research in healthcare simulation, he created the first physical-virtual patient — melding the physicality of a manikin with the versatility of virtual humans. His nationally acclaimed work has resulted in more than 25 patents at UCF.
Impact to Industry: Welch’s development of these simulation technologies has elevated the quality and capabilities of nursing education — not only at UCF, but also inspiring similar tech across the country. Having an interactive, human-like patient has vastly improved students’ opportunities to safely, realistically practice the interactions involved in the diagnosis and treatment of disease long before entering the field.
Ozlem Garibay
Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
Sudipta Seal
Department Chair of
Materials Science and Professor
Harnessing AI for Better Healthcare: Fueled by UCF’s opportunities for interdisciplinary discovery, researchers Sudipta Seal and Ozlem Garibay ’01MS ’08PhD, a UCF alum, created an Al-based prediction method that helps develop life-saving medicines and treatments for various diseases with up to 97% accuracy. Using a unique two-step approach, the method enhances drug design accuracy and efficiency when identifying critical protein binding sites.
Impact to Industry: This development can further help improve any deep learning-based prediction model and ultimately lead to quicker, lower-cost medication design. The goal is to provide the possibility for swift treatments, disease prevention and longer, healthier lives for patients.
Melanie Coathup
Lead of the Biionix Cluster and Professor of Medicine
A biomedical engineer, Melanie Coathup created groundbreaking technologies and therapies to protect and rebuild damaged bones from radiation — pivotal for cancer patients and space travelers alike.
Deborah Beidel
Executive Director of UCF RESTORES, and Trustee Chair and Pegasus Professor of Psychology
Reimagining Mental Health Support: An internationally recognized leader in traumatic stress research, Deborah Beidel leads UCF RESTORES — a clinical research center dedicated to changing the way PTSD is understood, diagnosed and treated. She and her team have pioneered advancements in trauma management using innovative technologies as part of an intensive outpatient program.
Impact to Industry: Beidel’s use of virtual reality to treat people with PTSD has led to the development of treatments that are two to three times more effective than standard psychological treatments. UCF RESTORES also recently launched the Resiliency Command Center — a first-of-its-kind mobile behavioral health facility that provides a safe environment for evidence-based care to first responders at the scenes of crises across Florida.
Ladda Thiamwong
Florida Blue Endowed Professor for Healthy Communities
Collaborating with psychology, kinesiology and engineering faculty and students, Ladda Thiamwong developed low-cost, portable technology to help reduce falls and fear of falling for older adults, and improve quality of life.
David Eddins
Professor of Communication
Sciences and Disorders
Advancing Hearing Tech and Diagnostics: A classical psychoacoustician and clinical audiologist, David Eddins is nationally regarded for his research addressing hearing impairments and discoveries leading to the improvement of diagnostic tools and hearing enhancement devices. He’s ramping up his pioneering work to develop assistive technology solutions that improve the quality of life for people with hearing challenges — and creating more effective tools for the clinicians treating them.
Impact to Industry: The developments taking place in Eddins’ newly created Communication Technologies Research Center have implications for children and adults facing hearing challenges that stem from trauma, disease and neurodevelopmental disorders — as well as people with age-related conditions and patients like professional singers or athletes who rely on voice, respiratory and speech health.
Simulation Centers of Excellence
Across health-related programs at UCF, our cutting-edge facilities provide realistic environments and clinical settings by leveraging innovative technologies to advance faculty research, enhance student education and improve patient outcomes. Explore some of our most significant centers of excellence in rehabilitation, medical and nursing simulation:
Reimagining Rehabilitation Training
UCF College of Health Professions and SciencesThe Rehabilitation Innovation Center features lifelike simulation tech called Dr. Hologram — which can “beam in” live or prerecorded patients — to elevate training for graduate students in disciplines from physical therapy and athletic training to speech-language pathology and more.
Preparing Future Medical Professionals
UCF College of MedicineEquipped with training simulators and medical manikins, the Clinical Skills and Simulation Center is used to teach students clinical assessment and intervention skills. It also provides space exclusively for faculty research and development in virtual reality and simulation technologies.
Innovating to Aid Nursing Education
UCF College of NursingFrom simulated birth suites and pediatric-age manikins, to mock-ICU settings and more, the STIM (Simulation, Technology, Innovation and Modeling) Center creates a variety of evidence-based simulation experiences using real and simulated medical devices to prepare nursing students for clinical practice.
Partnerships Improving Care for All
At UCF, we continue to partner with industry to combat a critical shortage of nurses, physicians and other compassionate, highly skilled health professionals — both in Florida and across our region.
The Orlando area has become known as a medical destination, attracting industry, esteemed professionals and patients from around the country. UCF’s strategic proximity to industry — especially our Health Sciences Campus at Lake Nona Medical City — helps us cultivate these powerful, longstanding and mutually beneficial partnerships.
40+
Years of partnership with AdventHealth, dating back to when we established our bachelor’s in nursing program at UCF
Headquartered in Central Florida, AdventHealth has long been a partner to UCF, both philanthropically and clinically — from student clinical placements to collaborative faculty research and innovation.
As one of our inaugural Pegasus Partners, AdventHealth committed $5 million to support our new, larger and even more technologically advanced College of Nursing — and to provide tuition assistance and additional paid internships for UCF nursing students.
2021
The year UCF Lake Nona Hospital opened as a partnership academic hospital between the UCF College of Medicine and HCA Healthcare
The UCF College of Medicine and HCA Healthcare established a partnership academic hospital that provides 24/7 emergency care, as well as comprehensive inpatient and outpatient services.
This hospital offers unparalleled learning opportunities for tomorrow’s health leaders and supports UCF researchers’ work in advancing treatments and developing cures for diseases. Our partnership also includes a wide variety of fellowship and residency programs.
1st
Pediatric medicine-focused Pegasus Partner for UCF, as we continue our commitment to preparing much-needed pediatric physicians with Nemours Children’s Health
As the namesake for our Department of Pediatrics in the UCF College of Medicine, Nemours Children’s is mutually invested in training, recruitment, research and innovation. Together, we’re committed to preparing the next generation of compassionate pediatric physicians to provide high-quality healthcare for kids.
Nemours Children’s also participates in many of our residency and fellowship programs, which are among the fastest growing in the state — and every UCF medical student receives their pediatric training with them.
16
Sports make up UCF Athletics, and all student-athletes receive quality care through our longstanding partnership with Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute
Our multifaceted partnership with Orlando Health includes serving as the official medical provider for UCF Athletics, collaborating on faculty research and supporting student innovation, like developing and implementing AI technology for surgery assistance.
As one of our inaugural Pegasus Partners, Orlando Health committed $5 million to support our new, larger and even more technologically advanced College of Nursing — and to provide tuition assistance and additional paid internships for UCF nursing students.
Delivering High-Demand Healthcare Talent
From nursing and medicine, to health professions and sciences, UCF graduates are consistently in demand — especially in-state, as we continue aiding Florida’s shortage of nurses, physicians and other healthcare workers.
Paired with real-world experiences alongside top industry partners, our challenging, robust curriculum equips students to meet the demands of today while preparing to fill the roles of tomorrow. And as exciting fields of the future emerge, our students and graduates are already in the lab contributing to research that raises the standard of care and medicine — on Earth or even in space.
1 in 4 of Florida’s Nursing and Health Professions Graduates Come from UCF
making us the state’s leading producer of talent for a much-needed workforce
(State University System)
No. 4 Best Online Bachelor’s Programs in Psychology
in the nation, demonstrating our commitment to offering pathways to success and a high-quality education
(U.S. News & World Report)
100% Match Placement for UCF Medical School Students
(2025)
No. 1 Producer of Speech-Language Pathology Graduates
in Florida
(2025, State University System)
100% Overall National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) Pass Rate
(2023-24)
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.”
Invent Your Future at UCF
As a UCF student, you’ll enjoy exceptional opportunities to learn from industry’s foremost experts — in the classroom, in the lab and in the field — across our many sought-after degrees. A rewarding career and fulfilling future start here.
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