At 9 years old, Gianna Santoni ’26 entered Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando with second- and third-degree burns. Years later, she returned to help care for children. Now, with a UCF biomedical sciences degree and research experience shaped by the university’s partnership with Nemours, she’s building a future in medicine.
Her ambition began with the people who cared for her.
Santoni was riding aboard her father’s four-wheeler when an overheating gas tank scalded her. During treatment at Nemours, she found herself captivated by the hospital staff’s kindness and expertise.
“Just being in the hospital space, I was enthralled by the amazing world of these kind and intelligent people.”
“They welcomed me with such kindness,” Santoni says. “Just being in the hospital space, I was enthralled by the amazing world of these kind and intelligent people.”
That experience sparked her purpose: to become a doctor and help others as they helped her. At UCF, Santoni pursued a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences through the UCF College of Medicine, with minors in medical anthropology and health sciences.
Her academic honors include a Pegasus Gold Scholarship, two AP Scholar with Distinction awards and an AP Capstone Diploma. She also advocated for the well-being and inclusion of Orlando’s homeless and disabled communities. Santoni’s intelligence, compassion and drive would eventually ensure that Nemours Children’s Health would see her again, but under far more empowered conditions.
Finding Opportunity Through Research
During UCF’s 2026 Student Research Week, a focal point for High Impact Practices, Santoni found people to invest in her ideas.
The annual event showcases undergraduate and graduate research and creative scholarship, giving students opportunities to share their work and build connections that can help prepare them for graduate study, medical school and other careers.
Santoni was among the first students to attend the launch of UCF’s Corporate Clubhouse, a new initiative that gives industry partners a front-row seat to student research while connecting students, faculty and industry and community collaborators. Attendees included representatives from Nemours, Lockheed Martin and Blue Origin.
There, Santoni met Jennifer Wolf ’22MNM, UCF’s executive director of partnerships and the initiative’s creator. Santoni’s research interests center on how medicine affects specific populations, cultures and communities. Wolf’s interest in her work gave her encouragement to keep going.
“Research can be isolating,” Santoni says. “You don’t know anyone cares until someone says so.”
Another connection helped turn that encouragement into opportunity.
Lloyd Werk, vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Nemours Children’s Health and a professor of pediatrics at UCF’s College of Medicine, learned of Santoni’s interest in adverse childhood experiences and polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome.
He connected her with the Nemours Summer Undergraduate Research Program (NSURP), refined her proposal and mentored her project. The 10-week biomedical research experience gave Santoni hands-on experience she says she’ll carry into medical school and beyond.
The Power of Mentorship
For Werk, who has been with UCF since 2007, investing in students carries forward the guidance that shaped his career.
“… being engaged in programs like [NSURP] … helps students advance their careers and shapes their future professional lives.” — Lloyd Werk, UCF professor
“I’ve benefitted from mentors investing their time and wisdom in my development. It’s very meaningful to know someone believes in you,” Werk says. “The literature shows that being engaged in programs like this one as an undergraduate helps students advance their careers and shapes their future professional lives.”
Student Research Week and the Corporate Clubhouse gave him a chance to encourage future investigators to begin that work early. His mentorship also reflects the broader possibilities of the Nemours Children’s Health-UCF Pegasus Partnership and Nemours’ commitment to student development and research.
Nemours was established as the UCF College of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics in April 2024, and the partnership has evolved through PedsAcademy, a hospital-based internship program through which UCF teacher candidates provide instruction tailored to children with chronic illnesses, helping them continue learning during treatment. Nemours also offers volunteer opportunities, the Ginsburg Scholars Program and funded scholarships through NSURP.
For Santoni, those connections made a lasting difference.
“He has been influential in everything and helped me every step of the way,” she says of Werk.
The learning goes both ways.
“Whether it’s how to approach mentees or the various ways I can support them, I’m always learning from my students,” Werk says. “By encouraging them to engage in research, I help create opportunities for discovery.”
Limitless Partnership Possibilities
Santoni’s journey continues and has already been marked by some powerful full-circle moments. In January 2023, she returned to the same Nemours Children’s Hospital where she had been a burns patient, this time logging over 200 hours as a Child Life volunteer.
She graduated in 2026, following in her parents’ footsteps, both UCF alums. Her mother, Martha Santoni ’96 ’99MBA, earned a bachelor’s degree in health services administration and a master’s degree in business administration. Her father, Alberto Santoni ’95 ’00MS, earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in industrial engineering.
Her path toward medicine now draws on experiences as a patient, volunteer and researcher — and on mentors and industry professionals who helped her see how far she could go.
Her story shows what UCF partnerships can make possible: a student brings the ambition, and a connection opens the next door. Through Student Research Week and the Corporate Clubhouse, UCF brings students, faculty, and corporate partners together to ask bigger questions, make discoveries, and create transformative learning experiences.
For Santoni, that means continuing toward a future she first imagined in a hospital room — with the knowledge, experience and support to build it. A moment of misfortune became a full-circle journey of inspiration, education and achievement.
Elevating student success and fueling discovery and innovation are two pillars of UCF’s historic Go For Launch campaign. Partnerships are at the heart of this $3.5 billion collective effort to prepare UCF Knights — and the communities and industries they serve — to boldly meet the challenges of the future.
Interested in sponsoring Student Research Week or participating in the 2027 Corporate Clubhouse? Contact Jennifer.Wolf@ucf.edu.
