Recent App State graduate Jessica Plantamura, who earned her Bachelor of Science in Health Care Management, presented her honors thesis research “Analyzing Cybersecurity Data Breaches Across North Carolina Healthcare Providers” at the 2026 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in mid-April in Richmond, in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).
NCUR is a premier event for undergraduate research across all disciplines, offering presentation opportunities, networking and professional development, according to the organization’s website.
Plantamura, who was mentored by Health Care Management faculty Drs. Gilbert Munoz-Cornejo and Manan Roy, also plans to submit the research for publication. (Image shows Plantamura at lecturn during thesis defense with Cornejo introducing her).
“NCUR is a competitive national conference, and acceptance means Jessica's abstract made it through peer review against submissions from undergraduate students across the country,” said Cornejo. “Reviewers assess originality, methodology, and the extent to which the work contributes to the particular field, so this is an accomplishment for her.
“The research itself is timely since most studies of healthcare data breaches look at national patterns, but few drill down to the state level, and that's the gap Jessica researched. Healthcare cybersecurity is one of the biggest issues in healthcare management right now, and engaging with it will serve her well as she moves into professional practice.”
The research abstract indicated that healthcare data breaches have been studied at the national level with limited state-level analysis and examines reported healthcare provider breaches in North Carolina from 2016-2024, affecting over 13.4 million individuals. The analysis identified hacking and information technology incidents as the most common breach, with network servers and email systems as the primary compromise vectors. The study found increasing activity in data being compromised and concluded that healthcare providers should focus on network security, email security and third-party risk management.
Plantamura was also selected as the Beaver College’s 2026 student award recipient for the Health Care Management Academic Award, and plans to return to her home state of Michigan to work in health care management.
Three people stand in a row with the person in the middle holding a sunflower
Jessica Plantamura (center) received a college award from Dean Marie Huff (right) and Department Chair Meg Barth (left)