Jason Konzelmann and Syretta Spears, who direct clinical skills and simulation centers at UCF’s Colleges of Medicine and Nursing, respectively, are among 19 healthcare simulation experts from around the world inducted into the Class of 2025 Fellows of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare.

Fellowship is a lifetime achievement award to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional contributions to simulation in scholarship, education and service. Konzelmann and Spears received the honor during the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH) last week in Orlando.

The Society for Simulation in Healthcare is the largest healthcare simulation in the world, with more than 5,000 members in 60 countries, but less than 150 experts worldwide have received fellowship distinction. Konzelmann and Spears join two other fellows at UCF, nursing professors Mindi Anderson and Desiree Díaz.

Jason Konzelmann, College of Medicine

“I was truly honored to be able to be recognized by my peers in the simulation community and the people to whom I have looked up to and learned from,” Konzelmann says. “To be recognized as one of the leaders in simulation and a member of that fraternity is really quite humbling.”

As director, Konzelmann leads UCF’s College of Medicine Clinical Skills and Simulation Center that provides simulated experiences allowing medical students to get hands-on learning in patient interaction, suturing, ultrasounds and medical emergencies. The center works with trained standardized patients and computerized manikins, giving future physicians the opportunity to practice their clinical skills in a safe environment before working with real patients.

“Simulation in healthcare allows the student to have the opportunity to apply what they are learning in the classroom to the clinical space while in an environment where they are free to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes,” he says. “So, for us in simulation, whether we’re in an academic institution such as ours or we’re in a hospital-based setting, our main goal is improving patient safety and outcomes.”

Konzelmann also works with faculty to develop simulation-based learning opportunities and help educators ensure that the students get the most out of the experience.

Konzelmann has been working with the Society for Simulation in Healthcare since 2013. He currently serves as chair of the society’s Best Practices Workshop Committee, which advocates for implementation of the best practices in simulation-based education through six online courses annually that have about 100 participants for each course.

He recently started the Assessment Affinity Group, which has the mission of promoting the development, dissemination and implementation of innovative and evidence-based assessment strategies to enhance the effectiveness and impact of healthcare simulation education and training.

“Getting involved with the society has really helped me understand more about simulation,” he says. “Having the network of people to ask a question or get an idea from or see where other schools are going helps us be at the top in simulation.”

Syretta Spears, College of Nursing

Spears has helped lead the Simulation, Technology, Innovation and Modeling (STIM) Center at UCF’s College of Nursing for nearly a decade. During that time, the STIM Center has earned two international endorsements for accreditations recognizing the high quality of simulation experiences, the expertise of faculty and staff, and the commitment to innovation.

At the STIM Center, Spears facilitates more than 11,000 contact hours annually in simulation-based experiences for undergraduate and graduate nursing students. Those experiences include interdisciplinary collaborations and innovative experiences, such as an “Escape Rescue Room” that she created and has been presented and published nationally.

“Through simulation, we are able to prepare students for clinical practice whether that is as registered nurses or nurse practitioners of varying specialties,” Spears says. “Simulation education provides invaluable hands-on learning opportunities for students to develop and practice clinical, communication, and critical thinking skills in a safe, real-world environment.”

Spears leads a team of experts to support faculty in successful simulation-based experiences at the college. That team collectively has 11 certifications of which Spears has two. She is a certified healthcare simulation educator and one of the first 25 experts in the world to become an advanced certified healthcare simulation operations specialist.

Her dedication to and impact on healthcare simulation extends beyond UCF. In the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, she serves as a certification reviewer in the simulation operations specialist advanced group and chair of the nominations committee for the Simulation Operations and Technology Section. She’s also a member of the Alliance for Workforce Identification in Simulation in Healthcare, which is advocating to establish U.S. Department of Labor Standard Occupational Classification codes for healthcare simulation professionals.

“For me, this honor is deeply personal as it is peer recognition on a global scale of my commitment to improving patient care and safety through innovation and educational excellence,” Spears says. “It is also more than a personal milestone, but a testament to the collective efforts and advancements in the healthcare simulation profession.”

This fall, Spears will help oversee a milestone at the STIM Center with its move to the Helene Fuld Health Trust STIM Center at the new state-of-the-art Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion on UCF’s Academic Health Sciences Campus.