Summer 2025 | Accomplishments
Celebrating excellence: Awards and honors recognizing standout students, faculty and staff.
FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Staja Booker, PhD, RN, attended the inaugural World Congress on Racial & Ethnic Health Disparities in St Lucia in January, where she made a presentation entitled Developing a Culturally Congruent Pain Self-Management Intervention for Black/African American Older Adults.
Michael Bumbach, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, RN, had his AI-powered avatar simulation program featured in an AI Minute! segment on WUFT NPR in April. The VR simulation program incorporates artificial intelligence into classroom learning and develops interdisciplinary collaboration important in clinical settings.
Clinical Assistant Professor Bryce Catarelli, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, was nominated for UF Teacher of the Year from the College of Nursing. She was featured on a UF Health podcast discussing a newly developed unit-based mentorship program born from a College of Nursing/UF Health demonstration project. Along with UF Health’s Lara Thompson, she published an article in Nurse Educator that highlights the real-world challenges new nurses face in high-pressure settings. She was also featured on an “Ask a Nurse Educator” segment for Nurse.com in April.
Assistant Professor Hwayoung Cho, PhD, RN, served as a guest editor for a special edition of the journal Applied Sciences. She also was part of a study recently published in BMC Public Health. The study was titled Development of an electronic health record-based Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) risk prediction model for women, incorporating social determinants of health.
Clinical Assistant Professor Lisa Domenico, PhD, RN, was inducted as a Fellow of the International Academy of Addiction Nursing during the International Nurses Society on Addiction’s annual conference in Orlando. The prestigious honor recognizes her leadership and impact in addiction education, management, practice and research.
Associate ProfessorJennifer Dungan, PhD, MSN, BSN presented new research at the Fourth International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence in Nursing (AINurse-25), held in conjunction with the 23rd Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Conference in Pavia, Italy. Co-authored with Sarah Baltes, BSN ’24, and Lisiane Pruinelli, the study is titled Leveraging FI-LAB for EHR-Based Frailty Phenotyping and Mortality Risk Assessment in Liver Transplant Candidates.
Professor Miriam Ezenwa, PhD, MSN, BSN, RN, FAAN, was selected as a 2025 University of Florida Research Foundation Professor. Each year, UF honors a select group of its most productive and promising faculty based on their outstanding research accomplishments, innovative work and potential for even greater impact in their fields. This honor includes a three-year award with an annual salary supplement and a research grant, funded by UF’s success in generating intellectual property and licensing.
UF College of Nursing Dean and UF Health System Chief Nurse Executive Shakira Henderson, PhD, DNP, MS, MPH, EMBA, IBCLC, RNC-NIC, was the featured speaker at the May Eye Opener Breakfast, entitled In Pursuit of the Future-Ready Nurse. She was also featured on an episode of “Tell Me About It” on WUFT where she spoke about the college’s Elevate 2029 strategic plan. Recently she also attended her first board of directors meeting for the U.S. Center for SafeSport, whose mission is to build a sports community where participants can work and learn together free of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and misconduct. She was officially installed as treasurer on the Florida Association of Colleges of Nursing Board of Directors on July 1 and was invited to present the college’s vision for the future of nursing at the summer retreat of the UF Foundation Executive Board in West Palm Beach.
Marcia Johansson, DNP, APRN, interim associate dean for academic affairs for graduate clinical education, received the Presidential Citation from the Society of Critical Care Medicine during their 2025 congress in Orlando. It is her second time receiving the honor, winning it in 2022 as well. The presidential citation is awarded to a member who has made extraordinary contributions of time, energy and resources to the society.
Assistant Professor Tamara Macieira, PhD, RN, was featured on WCJB TV20’s UF Innovation Tech Tuesday segment, where she spotlighted the work of her team at Moxie. Moxie aims to find smarter ways to document nursing information in electronic health records, create tools that help nurses make better decisions and use advanced technology like artificial intelligence to improve patient care. Moxie would ultimately give nurses more time with patients.
Clinical Lecturer Kasey Nestor, EdD, MSN-Ed, BSN, RN, CNE, successfully defended her dissertation titled Challenges Implementing BSN Faculty Formal Mentoring Programs: Perceptions of Academic Nurse Leaders. She completed a Doctor of Education in nursing education at the University of West Georgia.
Associate Professor Lisiane Pruinelli, PhD, MS, RN, FAMIA, was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, or FAAN, an elite honor recognizing her leadership in advancing health and nursing innovation. She served as guest editor for a special issue of the Journal of Nursing Scholarship titled Transformative Role of Artificial Intelligence in Nursing. The issue highlights groundbreaking research and perspectives on how AI is reshaping nursing practice, education and leadership. She received a 2025 ASTS-Gift of Life Socio Economic & Racial Disparity Grant. The grant was awarded based on Pruinelli’s proposal as the first to investigate the presence and impact of stigmatizing language in multidisciplinary liver transplant evaluation summaries using GatorTronGPT, a type of artificial intelligence designed to analyze and interpret complex clinical language. The two-year study will identify and quantify language patterns and correlate them with outcomes to reveal potential biases. She also contributed to numerous articles including A predictive tool to forecast the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score: the “MELDPredict” tool, published recently in the Journal of Medical Artificial Intelligence;The Overlooked Dark Side of Generative AI in Nursing, which raises alarms about some of the common pitfalls possible with generative AI; and ECG-based cardiac arrhythmia classification using fuzzy encoded features and deep neural networks, which presents a new AI-based method to detect arrhythmias using ECG data.
Karen Reed, DHSc, MSN, RN, CNE, CRRN, associate dean for academic affairs undergraduate education and a clinical associate professor, was selected for the 2025-2026 cohort of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Elevating Leaders in Academic Nursing Program. The ELAN fellowship strives to strengthen and expand leadership skills among nurse academic leaders in baccalaureate and graduate nursing education programs.
Clinical Associate Professor & Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs Denise Schentrup, DNP, APRN, FANP, and Clinical Associate Professor Christina Bricker, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, FAHA, received a $5,000 grant from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners for implementing a teleretinal screening program in an effort to improve diabetic retinopathy screening rates in the rural community. Last year, UF Health Archer Family Health Care was able to purchase a retinal camera through the contributions of an anonymous donor and Dr. Mark Atkinson, the former director of the UF Diabetes Institute. This funding will support the implementation of the program and support individuals with limited resources to obtain retinal screenings.
Ellen Terry, PhD, was selected to participate in the UF Academy Leadership Development Program for the 2025–2026 cohort — a highly competitive opportunity designed to support personal and professional growth among emerging university leaders.
Associate Professor Sunny Yoon, PhD, RN, recently published an article in Current Oncology entitled Patient-Reported Perception of Exercise and Receptiveness to Mobile Technology in Cancer Survivors Living in Rural and Remote Areas.
Please join us in congratulating the following faculty members in their new leadership roles:
Associate Dean
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Karen Reed, MSN, DHSc, RN, CNE, CNL, CRRN
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs – Undergraduate Education
(Interim title removed)
Department Chairs
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Lisiane Pruinelli, PhD, MS, RN, FAMIA
Interim Chair, Biobehavioral Nursing Science Department -
Brenda Dyal, PhD, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
Interim Chair, Family, Community and Health Systems Science
Program Directors
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Michael Aull, MSN, RN, CEN, CNEcl
Director, BSN Program – Jacksonville -
Michelle Plourde, MSN-Ed., RN, CEN
Director, BSN Program – Gainesville -
Kasey Nestor, MSN-Ed., BSN, RN, CNE
Director, Kirbo Innovation and Simulation Lab -
Allison Peters, DNP, RN, CNOR, NEC
Director, RN-BSN Program -
Ellen Terry, PhD
Director, PhD Program
Faculty Leads
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Jennifer Mauney, DNP
Faculty Lead, Office of Professional Development -
Reathea Felder, DNP
Faculty Lead – Community Capacity Building -
Kimberly Castillo, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, CNE
Faculty Co-Lead – Global Engagement -
Lisa Domenico, PhD, RN
Faculty Co-Lead – Global Engagement
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Star Booker, Ellen Terry, Raga Bjarnadottir, PhD, MPH, Michael Maymi, DNP, APRN, CPNP-AC, CCRN, CNE, Michael Bumbach and Sandra Citty, PhD, RN, APRN-BC were all recently recognized for their dedication to excellence in teaching, research and clinical practice. Star Booker, Ellen Terry and Raga Bjarnadottir were promoted to associate professor with tenure. Michael Maymi and Michael Bumbach were promoted to clinical associate professor and Sandra Citty was promoted to clinical professor.
Four UF College of Nursing faculty members were honored with Florida Nurses Association Icon Awards during the FNA Annual Membership Assembly. The awards recognized excellence in various aspects of nursing practice, research and education, celebrating the contributions made to the profession. Read More.
Raga Bjarnadottir – Nursing Innovation and Creativity Icon Award
Bryce Catarelli – Nurse Educator Icon Award
Lakeshia Cousin – Community Action Icon Award
Tamara Macieira – Nursing Research Icon Award
The annual Elevate & Celebrate Award Ceremony honored the outstanding contributions of our dedicated Gator Nursing team during Nurses Week. The recognitions included the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurse Educators and internal faculty and staff awards.
Faculty and Staff Awards:
Kasey Nestor, Michelle Plourde – Innovation Award: Teaching
Tamara Macieira – Innovation Award: Research
Lisiane Pruinelli – Impact Award
Anna Hoffman – Commitment to Excellence Award
Dany Fanfan – Community Engagement Award
Bryce Catarelli – Care, Lead, Inspire Award: Faculty
Rachel Rivera, Mirela Vasconcelos – Care, Lead, Inspire Award: Staff
Michelle Aragon, Sharon Milton-Simmons – Dean’s Hidden Figures Award
Daisy Awards:
Bryce Catarelli, Christelle Isaac, Quetina Jones – Extraordinary Nursing Faculty, Undergraduate
James Poole – Extraordinary Nursing Faculty, DNP
Clinical Lecturer Karen Schofield, MSN, RN, APRN; Clinical Assistant Professor Jordan Budwick; Clinical Lecturer Laura Gardner,MSN, RN, CNE; Clinical Lecturer Christelle Isaac, MSN-Ed, RN, CNE; Clinical Assistant Professor Anita Stephen, PhD, MSN, BSN, RN, CNL, CHSE; and Bryce Catarelli had their article Reconnecting With Purpose: Leveraging Alumni as Guest Instructors in Open Lab published in Nurse Educator.
STAFF ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Kianna Barnett was named the UF Professional Advisor of the the Year for the College of Nursing. She also participated in the Navigating Nursing School event presented by the University of Florida Chapter of the National Society of Black Women in Medicine. In May, she also celebrated her nursing school graduation and pinning.
Anna Larson, RN, received the Certified Healthcare Simulation Operations Specialist certification for simulation.
Lyndsay Ulmer recently completed her master’s degree coursework for UF’s Student Personnel in Higher Education program. She graduated with a master’s in education on Aug. 9.
STUDENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
PhD students Hyehwan Yang and Magali Rezende de Carvalho and DNP student Meredith Fischer recently attended the 2025 AACN Student Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. Students attending the two-day event were immersed in didactic program sessions focused on the federal policy process and nursing’s role in professional advocacy.
Meredith Fischer was selected as a 2025 Graduate Nursing Student Academy Hall of Fame recipient. The honor recognizes GNSA members who have made significant contributions to the organization. Fischer has dedicated her time to working on social policy issues at the state and national level.
Mariella Marfori, a DNP student, was part of the winning team at the recent 2025 PDC Summit Student Design Challenge. The team developed a health care professional-friendly design for a facility planned in Atlanta. PhD students Lisa Gawronski Johnson, Keliy Fordham and Mendy Dunn also represented the UF College of Nursing in the challenge.
DNP students Isabel Hamro and Stefanie Lugo were selected to join the prestigious 2025-2026 GNSA Digital Innovators Program.
