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Alumni Spotlight:
Republished with permission from Cleveland Magazine. PHOTO CREDIT: Photo by Casey A. Cass University of Colorado
Ulyana
Horodyskyj ’03
ere is bold and then there is Ulyana Horodyskyj ’03.
By age 23, the Padua Franciscan
High School graduate had already traveled to all seven continents.
She’s conquered Earth’s tallest
mountain, subzero temperatures
in Antarctica and even hiked
19,341 feet on Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro.
“Sometimes you would get that sense that on the other side of the door it was really space,” said Horodyskyj, who appeared on Cleveland Magazine’s February 2003 “Big Ideas” cover. “ ey did a really good job at making it seem authentic.”
But it was the tiniest of spaces that may have been the most challenging — 30 days locked inside a 636-square-foot pod with three others as part of NASA’s Human Exploration Research Analog project. In October 2016, Horodyskyj served as mission commander of the isolation experiment at Johnson Space Center in Houston, which studied human behavior for future long-duration space missions.
Dina Sparano ’98
In honor of Heart Health Month, alumna and Cardiologist Dina Sparano ’98, MD was featured in February’s Cleveland Magazine.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. It is responsible for the deaths of almost twice as many women as all types of cancer, including breast cancer. ankfully, the disease is also one of the most preventable.
Memorial Hospital, along with two fellowships in cardiovascular medicine and electrophysiology at the University of Chicago Medical Center. She is currently the Associate Program Director and Director of Lead Management for Electrophysiology at
UH Cleveland Medical Center. She is also a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University.
Photo by Casey A. Cass University of Colorado
Horodyskyj also runs Science in the Wild, a travel company that designs, charters and guides explorational trips to places like Nepal and the Arctic for an authentic scienti c experience.
“For the everyday person, the citizen who doesn’t have a science background, these trips are for them,” she said.
One of 120 semi nalist for NASA’s 2017 astronaut class, the 31-year-old credits her Cleveland upbringing as the catalyst for her adventurous career. “I got my launch as a scientist at a very young age,” said Horodyskyj.
Dr. Sparano is a graduate of John Carroll University and Rutgers- Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She completed her residency in internal
medicine at Northwestern
Dr. Sparano, who works for University Hospitals in Northeast Ohio, is reminding everyone to make heart-healthy choices.
“We must continue to educate the females in our lives. Be your own best advocate when it comes to your health – know your numbers, and also your risk and your family history. More importantly, learn from it. Let’s inspire our daughters and grand- daughters to take steps to rewrite family health history with the outcomes for which we all hope,” Dr. Sparano said.
Autumn Skoczen/Ellie Mellie Photography
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