Kyle Benkel traded his UCF football jersey for a white coat – even though his new uniform, recognizing him as a physician-in-training, came in a plastic bag instead of a ceremony. Benkel was one of 120 new College of Medicine students who began training this fall at a time dramatically changed by COVID-19. There was no White Coat Ceremony with each student coated in … [Read more...]
Joining Healthcare When Patients Need Them Most
The taskforce of healthcare workers battling COVID-19 got a much-needed boost with the addition of 137 newly trained physicians who are ready to enter practice. Residents and fellows from the UCF-HCA Healthcare graduate medical education partnership graduated recently and are joining hospitals across Florida and the nation, entering private practice or advancing to additional … [Read more...]
This Is What Love Directs Us to Do
UCF medical students Lake Lindo and Joshua Salzman have known each other since kindergarten; they grew up together in Orlando and played YMCA basketball together. And recently, Lindo, who is black, and Salzman, who is white, knelt next to each other on the College of Medicine’s green for eight minutes and 46 seconds to honor the life of George Floyd and protest police … [Read more...]
UCF Scientists Seek Novel Material to Kill COVID-19
Masks that protect doctors and nurses from COVID-19 only block the virus before it reaches their faces, but UCF researchers are working to create a protective coating that would include a novel mask material that would catch the virus and kill it within seconds. Sudipta Seal, an engineer specializing in material science and nanotechnology, initiated this project … [Read more...]
Women and Men Taste Fat Differently, Med School Research Finds
There may be a scientific reason why men binge on bacon. UCF College of Medicine researchers have discovered that female sex hormones make women more sensitive to the taste of fat, helping them better regulate how much of it they eat. “Our assumption is that the more you can taste it, the more sensitive you are to it,” said Naima Dahir, a Ph.D. candidate at the … [Read more...]