People Group Archives: Biomarkers

Piotr Lagod is a postdoctoral scholar in the Human Health Outcomes of Exposure to Environmental Toxins Lab. His current research focuses on the negative health outcomes associated with harmful algal blooms, specifically blue-green algae and red tide, and investigates possible multisystemic adverse effects. In this research, he collaborates with a multidisciplinary team to correlate symptoms […]

Sergi Garcia-Retortillo is an assistant professor at UCF’s College of Nursing with expertise in exercise physiology, electrophysiology, exercise testing and physiological network analysis. His research centers on the emerging field of network physiology, which seeks to understand how physiological systems interact as an integrated network to sustain function. He investigates the fundamental principles regulating interactions […]

Kworweinski Lafontant is a certified strength coach and certified exercise physiologist and personal trainer who works as a graduate research assistant in the Healthy Aging Lab at UCF’s College of Nursing. Previously, as a master’s student, he served as research coordinator for the Physique & Performance Enhancement Lab at the University of South Florida. Lafontant […]

Associate Professor Rebecca Koszalinski investigates the relationships between air, water, the environment and health outcomes, and leads the interdisciplinary Human Health Outcomes of Exposure to Environmental Toxins Lab at UCF’s College of Nursing. Her harmful algal bloom research seeks to evaluate significant health care implications of potential toxin exposures. She is currently the primary investigator […]

Assistant Professor Jennifer Crook is a nationally recognized nutritional epidemiologist and nurse scientist whose work investigates how nutritional insecurity becomes biologically embedded to drive inflammation, symptom burden and cancer disparities. Her research integrates omics‑based biomarkers, nutritional epidemiology and community‑engaged methods to develop clinically actionable tools that advance cancer outcomes. In a previous faculty role at […]

Hyojung “Kay” Kim, a registered dietician nutritionist, is a lecturer at UCF’s College of Nursing where she teaches nutrition. Her research focuses on nutritional epidemiology with an emphasis on the role of nutritional and dietary factors in chronic disease risk and health outcomes. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, she investigates […]

Carmen Giurgescu is a UCF Pegasus Professor, the Chatlos Foundation Endowed Chair and associate dean of research at UCF’s College of Nursing. Giurgescu is a world-renowned maternal health researcher who focuses her efforts on reducing preterm births to improve outcomes for new mothers and their babies. Her pioneering research, which is built upon more than […]

Valerie C. Martinez, interim assistant dean for clinical affairs and clinical associate professor at UCF’s College of Nursing, is a board-certified primary care pediatric nurse practitioner and pediatric mental health specialist with almost two decades of experience in pediatric healthcare including pediatric primary care, school-based health, neonatal care, and care of medically complex children. Her […]

Healthy aging; fall prevention in older adults; and aging education.

Critical care; Verification of feeding tube placement; CORTRAK electromagnetic placement device; Evidence-based practice; Tradition-based practices/low-value care; De-implementation