Florida Hospital was honored by the UCF College of Nursing and the UCF Foundation last night at the FAIRWINDS Alumni Center for its contributions to the university and the college.
The hospital recently gave a $1 million grant to establish The Florida Hospital Endowed Chair in Healthcare Simulation. This is the sixth endowed chair established in the College of Nursing, and the second chair that Florida Hospital has endowed at UCF. The first is in the College of Medicine.
Diane Chase, Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, thanked Florida Hospital for its partnership and said the chair position “is a perfect example of working across traditional academic boundaries and silos in striving for innovations, solutions and best results.” The chair will support the research and development of enhanced simulation technology to improve health care education. The position is unique in that it includes appointments to the UCF nursing faculty, the Institute for Simulation and Training, and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Gregory F. Welch, Ph.D., is the inaugural appointee to the Florida Hospital Endowed Chair in Healthcare Simulation. He is a computer scientist and engineer with a record of technological innovation and a longstanding interest in healthcare. Welch expects the multi-disciplinary nature of his appointment will allow him to generate collaboration between computer scientists and health care educators, practitioners and organizations so that UCF can develop the next generation of health care technology.