People Group Archives: Community Health

During a clinical career spanning more than 20 years, Patti Thielemann served in a variety of settings including hospitals, out-patient programs, home health care and hospice, most recently as Director of Research at a Tampa-based hospice provider. In 2004, she transitioned to nursing education, teaching full-time for nearly 19 years at St. Petersburg College before […]

As a critical care- and case management-trained registered nurse, military veteran and dependent, and food pantry volunteer, Jennifer Crook had the opportunity to work in multiple states in the U.S., where she identified not only the existence of widespread food and nutritional insecurity, but a potentially overlooked connection between nutrition, chronic inflammation and chronic disease. […]

A registered nurse for more than 30 years and public health leader for more than 20, lecturer Fayshonda Cooks created the CommUNITY CollaborACTION Initiative, which emphasizes collaborative unity and action to improve health outcomes. Cooks is a known collaboration champion with belief in the strength and limitless potential of optimizing the assets of all to […]

Jennie Wagner, a lecturer and interim director of post-licensure programs, has previously led and taught in RN to BSN and RN to MSN programs at East Carolina University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has actively served as a board member for several accreditation agencies. Wagner is currently a board member […]

Sandra Kirkland, who joined UCF in 2022 as a lecturer, served for 15 years in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, most recently as nurse executive for the VA Medical Center in Alexandria, Louisiana. Prior to that, she served at VA medical centers in Memphis and Orlando, where she was a family nurse practitioner and chief nurse […]

Heather Peralta, who has been at the UCF College of Nursing for nearly a decade, is the Apopka Community Nursing Coalition coordinator and teaches undergraduate nursing students. Peralta is dedicated to mentoring future nurses and serving the community. She has participated in several study abroad trips with nursing students to Peru and spearheaded the creation […]

Instructor Sotos Djiovanis worked as a trauma, elective orthopedics and acute care nurse at Orlando Health for eight years, where he served as a clinical preceptor and education resource nurse, and led unit practice councils. He is currently a doctoral candidate in nursing education at Columbia University’s Teachers College, where he is researching community health, […]

Jean Davis’ passion for community health promotion grew from listening to her aunt and her mother, both nurses, discussing community health problems when she was a child. Today the Jonas Veterans Healthcare Scholar and assistant professor at the UCF College of Nursing channels her passion into research that focuses on physical activity support, promotion and […]

Immunizations, including immunosuppressed populations; evidence-based practice; the DNP role in implementing process improvement.

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