University of Central Florida
05/18/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/18/2026 11:53
UCF Graduates 109 New Physician Knights
Holly Moots '17 '24PhD spent 13 years at UCF, fulfilling her dream to become a physician-scientist who can advance medical care for Floridians. Jemual Shaylor '21 is a U.S. Naval officer who will care for our nation's heroes. Isabella Castellano '22 and Paxton Threatt met during medical school, got engaged and are now going onto Johns Hopkins - one of the nation's top hospitals - for residency training.
All were among 109 College of Medicine graduates who became Physician Knights on May 15 and promised to become what their dean calls one of "the Good Doctors - a UCF tradition."
This year's M.D. program commencement was the medical school's 14th and the last for Vice President for Health Affairs and founding Dean Deborah German, who announced earlier this year she will transition from the role she has held for 20 years.
Deborah German oversees her last College of Medicine Commencement ceremony as vice president for health affairs and founding dean."Graduates, today you become alumni of an innovative medical school committed to improving health for all," she said. "Through your time here, you learned, you grew, and you cared for patients with courage, dedication, and grace. I couldn't be prouder of the work you have done."
With this year's commencement, UCF's young medical school, which opened in 2009, has prepared 1,421 physicians to care for Floridians and the nation at large.
Holly Moots '17 '24PhD is the third Knight to earn an M.D. and Ph.D. since the College of Medicine opened in 2009.Inspired by Her Research Mentor
Moots is the third M.D./Ph.D. graduate in UCF's history. She enrolled at the university in 2013 to pursue her bachelor's degree in biomedical sciences and began her combined doctoral degree in 2018. Now she will go to Lakeland Regional Hospital for internal medicine training - her first choice for residency because of the hospital's focus on innovation, research and clinical trials.
"I've spent almost half my life at UCF," she says. "Graduating is incredibly exciting, but it feels strange to close such a long and meaningful chapter."
She said her medical training at UCF was most shaped by her research mentor, Otto Phanstiel, a College of Medicine cancer researcher. "He exemplifies the qualities I aspire to carry into medicine through the way he communicates, collaborates, and approaches every interaction with humility, curiosity, and a drive for excellence," she says. "His influence has shaped how I hope to approach research, teamwork, and patient care throughout my career."
Founding College of Medicine faculty member Jose Borrero pins his mentee, Jemual Shaylor '21."Most Monumental Moment of My Life"
Shaylor will do his residency training at Naval Medical Center San Diego. He hopes to become a hand surgeon. Medical school military officers are promoted when they receive their M.D. degree, and UCF's tradition is to honor that promotion at commencement. After receiving their diplomas, military officers are pinned with their new rank by a faculty member of their choosing.
Shaylor was inspired to enter military service by Jose Borrero, a U.S. Air Force flight surgeon during Vietnam before becoming a founding faculty member at the College of Medicine. Now retired, Borrero continues to serve as a mentor to UCF medical students. He returned to commencement May 15, pinned Shaylor and proudly saluted the young military physician. Shaylor describes the pinning as "the most monumental moment of my life."
Paxton Threatt is an aspiring anesthesiologist and Isabella Castellano '22 plans to become a pediatrician.Connecting with Others
Castellano and Threatt met playing volleyball during their first year of medical school, then started a band with other M.D. students. They went through the fear of "couples matching" into residency - unsure if they would be selected to train at the same hospital or even city.
Today they're simultaneously planning their move to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and their wedding. He'll practice anesthesiology because it combines his love of chemistry and connecting with people.
"There's a small window that you have to talk to patients before surgery, but it is one of their most vulnerable moments in which you really have an ability to make this individual feel comfortable," he says. "That is a very special relationship to me."
She's training to be a pediatrician.
"My biggest dream and aspiration is to be an advocate for children and for families," she says. "I think that through Johns Hopkins there will be a lot of opportunities to do so and go into communities to be helping and educating children."
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University of Central Florida published this content on May 18, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on May 18, 2026 at 17:53 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]