Dr. Rachel Carrico (she/her) believes that art serves an essential function in the lives of all people, including as a tool for justice. Her recent book, Dancing the Politics of Pleasure at the New Orleans Second Line (University of Illinois Press, 2024), documents how parades contribute to community health by building intergenerational networks of care in response to public health crises such as gun violence at the COVID-19 pandemic. A secondary area of Carrico's research concerns “natural” disaster and the performing arts, which grows from her experiences in post-Katrina New Orleans. Carrico is an assistant professor of dance studies in the UF School of Theatre + Dance. 

Aaron Colverson is a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of Florida, with partnering research in Neuropsychology. He endeavors to build cross-disciplinary competency between these disciplines in the context of gerontology. Aaron began a hybrid postdoctoral/leadership-training fellowship in fall 2023 with the Global Brain Health Institute and Memory and Aging Center of the University of California, San Francisco. He graduated from Berklee College of Music with a BM in Professional Music focused on jazz violin performance and is a Research Associate with the University of Florida’s Center for Arts in Medicine (CAM), contributing to numerous projects of the CAM’s Interdisciplinary Research Lab. Contact: acolverson@ufl.edu

Dr. Daisy Fancourt is Associate Professor of Psychobiology & Epidemiology and a Wellcome Research Fellow at University College London. Her work focuses on the effects of social, cultural and community engagement on health. Daisy has received over £17 million in funding and her work has been recognised with awards from the British Science Association, Leverhulme Trust, Wellcome Trust, British Academy, British Federation of Women Graduates, American Psychosomatic Society, Arts and Humanities Research Council, Royal Society for Public Health and NHS England. Daisy is currently a consultant to the World Health Organisation on arts and health, recently publishing an evidence synthesis of 3,500 studies on arts and health that was named the Global Aesthetic Achievement of 2019. She also works closely with NHS England and Public Health England on the evaluation of social prescribing and leads the MARCH Mental Health Research Network, bringing together over 1300 researchers and community organisations focusing on community assets and mental health. Daisy has been named a BBC New Generation Thinker and a World Economic Forum Global Shaper.

Virginia (Ginger) Pesata, DNP, ARNP, FNP-BC, NEA-BC, FNAP: Dr. Pesata is a nurse educator, practitioner, and researcher with experience in home health, hospitals, academic medical centers, and universities. She holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice from George Washington University and dual Master of Nursing degrees as a Family and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. Board-certified in both areas, she serves as Assistant Program Director and Associate Professor at South University and a Research Scholar at UF’s Center for Arts in Medicine. Her research focuses on nursing leadership, HIV, health literacy, global health, and the arts in health. A Fellow of the National Academies of Practice, she recently received South University’s Faculty Research Award.

Contact: pesata@ufl.edu

Michelle Tillander is an artist/educator whose research explores digital media technologies. In 2009, she co-developed with Dr. Roland the UF online MA in Art Education. In 2023 she presented Flows and Undercurrents of Change in Art Education, her keynote for the Visual arts Program for Pinellas Schools. Tillander’s cross-disciplinary research grant (SEF 2022) was published with colleague Dr. Wolf, the research uses visual thinking strategies as a way to improves radiographic observational skills in veterinary students. Explore the publication. 

Tillander’s art, ranges from drawing and photos, to installation work. Her most recent artworks explore forever chemicals; ALS, IPF, and dementia are all serious issues that require awareness and understanding. Tillander holds a Ph.D. in Art Education from the Pennsylvania State University, and an M.F.A. in photography from ODU/NSU. Follow Michelle's current projects here.