People Group Archives: Gerontology

Senior Lecturer Chaka Brittain is a nurse practitioner, educator and scholar whose work focuses on hospice and palliative care, serious illness communication and culturally responsive end-of-life care. Her scholarship explores topics including cultural humility, spirituality in healthcare, advance care planning, and improving communication between clinicians, patients and families facing complex medical decisions. She has presented […]

Tamara “Tammie” Luman is a senior instructor and two-time alumna in UCF’s College of Nursing. Luman has more than 25 years of experience in nursing practice, healthcare education and higher education, including classroom instruction, simulation, clinical education, skills laboratory and online learning. Prior to UCF, she held faculty and nurse educator roles in higher education […]

Instructor Cheryl Howard is a nurse educator who is passionate about creating engaging, student-centered learning environments that help nurses build confidence, strengthen clinical judgment, and develop into leaders within the profession. Howard has taught a variety of undergraduate nursing courses in the classroom and online, and facilitates NCLEX reviews to help nursing students develop clinical […]

Marissa “Mari” Mackiewicz is an assistant professor at UCF’s College of Nursing and a nurse scientist whose work focuses on ensuring all older adults have access to healthcare. Her research interests include substance use disorders and unmet oral health needs in older adult populations. Prior to joining UCF, Mackiewicz held post-doctoral positions at the University […]

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 […]

Jethro Raphael Suarez is a biomedical engineering researcher in the Healthy Aging Lab at UCF’s College of Nursing. His research focuses on the static balance performance and physical activity levels of older adults. Additionally, he applies his engineering expertise to develop cost-effective rehabilitative assistive devices designed to enhance mobility and improve quality of life for […]

Nurse, researcher and educator Michael Joseph “MJ” Dino specializes in health informatics, gerotechnology, educational technologies, robotics, human-computer interaction (HCI), extended reality (XR), artificial intelligence (AI), and academic integrity. He is part of the Delphi Group, which pioneered the new definition of Nursing and Nurses at the International Council of Nurses, and past president of the […]

Lisa Linville is the director of the Leadership and Management MSN program at UCF’s College of Nursing. She has held administrative, legal and clinical roles in health care systems for more than 25 years and has taught in graduate nursing programs for more than 15 years. Her legal experience includes medical malpractice, health care law […]

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 […]

Two-time alumnus Isaiah Moser is a lecturer at UCF’s College of Nursing Cocoa campus. Prior to his academic appointment at UCF, Moser was a paramedic and travel nurse at various hospital systems in Florida. After becoming a board certified adult gerontology acute care nurse practitioner, Moser transitioned his clinical practice to acute care where he […]