People Group Archives: UCF Academic Health Sciences Campus, Lake Nona

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 […]

Lecturer and two-time alumnus Sotos G. Djiovanis has been in continuous clinical practice in Central Florida for more a decade. He has routinely served as a clinical preceptor, education resource nurse, and member of hospital shared governance councils. His clinical expertise spans adult and geriatric populations in both acute care and home health settings. His […]

An experienced nurse educator at the undergraduate and graduate levels, Melissa “Missy” Radecki currently serves as director of the pre-licensure undergraduate programs at UCF’s College of Nursing. Her clinical background is in adult critical care. She is a National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) item writer, an expert on NCLEX preparation and the Next Generation NCLEX, […]

Vivian Schutz is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Nursing Practice at the University of Central Florida. With more than 18 years of experience in nursing education — 12 in Brazil and 6 in the United States — she brings a deep foundation in clinical expertise and academic leadership to her role. Before […]

Education

Mona Shattell is the chair of the Department of Nursing Systems, the Hugh F. and Jeannette G. McKean Endowed Chair, and a professor in the UCF College of Nursing. An internationally recognized mental health and psychiatric nursing expert, Shattell is the editor of the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, and the author […]

Education

Carmen Giurgescu is a UCF Pegasus Professor, the Chatlos Foundation Endowed Chair and associate dean of research at UCF’s College of Nursing, which is named among the nation’s top nursing schools for NIH funding. Giurgescu is a world-renowned maternal health researcher who focuses her efforts on reducing preterm births to improve outcomes for new mothers […]