AdventHealth Innovation Challenge

Cristy Cummings, Ph.D.| Associate Professor, MSW Program Director, Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work 

Dr. Cummings earned a PhD in social work from Michigan State University, with a dissertation on help-seeking behavior of male victims of sexual assault. Her MSW degree with a concentration in Mental Health and Addictions and her Bachelor of Arts degree in women’s studies were received from Indiana University South Bend. 

Her teaching interests include research, practice, theory, gender and sexuality, the human-animal bond, and field education. Dr. Cummings’ primary area of research focuses on victims' interface with health, criminal justice, and social service organizations, and help-seeking behaviors, especially of victims of sexual violence. Gender, especially in relation to masculinity as a barrier to seeking services, plays a prominent role in her current work. Her research aims to understand and reduce disparities and to work towards communities in which victimization is neither gendered or blamed on the victim. She is interested in participatory action research and community engaged methods.

Martin Luytjes, Ph.D.| Associate Director Blackstone LaunchPad, Assistant Director of Innovation Crowley Center 

Professional experience includes ten years of Corporate Banking, the last five with SunTrust. Following that, he worked on entrepreneurial ventures as well as teaching at the collegiate level at Florida International University (FIU), where he was also a founding faculty member of the Pino Center for Global Entrepreneurship.

Luytjes then took a leave to open two Chicken Kitchen franchises in Miami, building them and selling them after six years, returning to FIU and then completing his Doctoral work.

Moving to Ponte Vedra Beach in 2012, he rebuilt the entrepreneurship program at Jacksonville University for three years, including the inception of the JU Dolphin Pitch Contest and the rekindling of the Davis Entrepreneurship Organization.

Luytjes has been teaching at UNF for four years, focusing in Entrepreneurship curriculum. He  later co-authored a grant to start the UNF Blackstone Launchpad (BLP) in August 2023 and now runs the BLP while continuing to teach. Other entrepreneurial programs at UNF he participated in include the Florida Veterans Entrepreneurship Program (FVEP) and the Swisher Growth Cohort for Underrepresented Entrepreneurs.

Stephanie Hooper, MPH| Instructor of Public Health

Stephanie L. Hooper is an Instructor in the Department of Public Health in the Brooks College of Health (BCH), teaching Foundations of Public Health, Promoting Physical Activity and Healthy Eating, and Personal and Public Health. Outside of the classroom, she serves as the faculty advisor to the UNF Public Health Alumni Network (PHAN), a group of professionals that are dedicated to service, education, and student engagement. Additionally, she is a co-faculty lead for a Brooks College of Health student group titled the Brooks Ambassadors, a selection of exemplary BCH students that represent the college at recruitment and community events and are provided with mentorship and leadership training. Within the community, she is the Chief Scientific Officer for a Jacksonville-based company centered on health and wellness. As such, she coordinates research studies focused on health behaviors, supplements, and products, often with a particular focus on sleep and stress. Prior to attaining her Master of Public Health and becoming an instructor and research coordinator, she worked for over ten years in community pathology laboratories as a certified Histotechnologist (HTL).    

Rachel Achorn, Ph.D| Assistant Professor School of Communication

Dr. Achorn is a health communication, interpersonal communication, and media effects researcher. More specifically, she is interested in understanding the role of media in encouraging adolescents’ and emerging adults’ disclosure of sexual assault and mental health problems. Her hope is that her research will help university administrators and nonprofit practitioners use the findings to create more effective campaigns encouraging those affected by sexual assault to disclose their experiences in order to seek out social support and access health resources. Dr. Achorn has published her research in the Journal of Health Communication, the Journal of Children and Media, and the Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research. She has presented her research at conferences for the International Communication Association, National Communication Association, and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.