Ania Lipat is a postdoctoral scholar in the Healthy Aging Lab at UCF’s College of Nursing. Throughout her educational training, she has gained extensive experience in gait analysis with a specific focus on aging and chronic pain populations. During her studies, she has helped develop and assess novel quantitative gait technologies for preclinical models of knee osteoarthritis, worked on interdisciplinary NIH-funded projects aimed at understanding age- and pain-related effects on mobility, and investigated neurophysiological sources of mobility impairments in older adults with chronic pain. Her recent work has focused on applying machine learning methods to physical function data to advance understanding of the aging process. As part of her dissertation, she developed a novel ‘gait age’ measure using machine learning methods to predict age based on spatiotemporal gait performance.

Education

• Ph.D. Health and Human Performance, University of Florida
• MS in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida
• BS in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida

Selected Editorial Activities

• Reviewer, Experimental Gerontology
• Reviewer, Journal of Pain

Selected Awards & Honors

• Top Student Presenter, Institute of Exercise Physiology and Rehabilitation Science Annual Meeting, 2025
• Allen, Holyoak, & Varnes Endowed Scholarship, College of Health and Human Performance, University of Florida, 2024
• Biological Sciences Minority Investigator Travel Award, Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting, 2023
• Potter-Chafin Scholarship, College of Health and Human Performance, University of Florida, 2018
• Dr. Linton E. Grinter PhD Fellowship, The Graduate School, University of Florida, 2017

Selected Professional Activities

• Member, United States Association for the Study of Pain
• Member, Gerontological Society of America
• Member, American Society of Biomechanics