Lake Nona's Medical City Taking Shape on Orlando Medical News

Lake Nona's Medical City Taking Shape

By: LYNNE JETER

UCF Medical School Students to Begin Classes This Fall

It's a medical marvel.

Lake Nona's medical city is emerging not only as Orlando's fastest-growing, most innovative master-planned community encompassing 7,000 acres, but also as a "Project of Promise" featuring Nemours Children's Hospital, M.D. Anderson Orlando's Cancer Research Institute, Orlando VA Medical Center, University of Central Florida's new College of Medicine and Health Sciences campus, Burnham Institute for Medical Research's east coast campus, and a University of Florida research facility dotting the Lake Nona Gateway Interchange in the 600-acre Science & Technology Park.

Even better: Lake Nona's commitment to creating thoughtfully designed, sustainable and responsible communities via participation in the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, the national benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

The VA Piece

The newest construction project stirring dust is the Orlando VA Medical Center, which broke ground Oct. 24 on 1.3 million square feet of medical care and administrative space. The $656 million high-tech medical complex on 67 acres will include a 134-bed hospital, a 118-bed community living center, a 60-bed domiciliary, an outpatient clinic and a veterans' benefits mini service center. The facility will also debut the latest in digital technology and modern amenities, including larger private rooms, family visiting areas, and personal wireless devices and Internet connections. The new venue will increase accessibility to healthcare for Central Florida's nearly 400,000 veterans.

Inaugural MD Class

Soon after the University of Central Florida (UCF) gained approval for the College of Medicine in 2006, planners began working to incorporate it into the school's new Health Sciences Campus, which consists of more than 2 million square feet of instructional and research space on 50 acres.

Slated to open in 2009, the nearly 200,000-square-foot Burnett Biomedical Sciences building will play an integral role in the College of Medicine. The five-story facility will house biomedical researchers who focus on advancing the understanding of human disease and developing innovative ways to treat some of the world's most prevalent and serious health problems, including cancer, cardiovascular, infectious and neurodegenerative diseases.

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando's Cancer Research Institute (CRI) will occupy 30,000 square feet of space on the fifth floor, paying the university $2.5 million to occupy space for up to five years while M. D. Anderson–Orlando's own independent research facility is being built in the park.

The inaugural class of 40 medical school students will begin classes this fall, with the four-year medical program eventually expected to produce 120 doctors annually. Orlando Regional Healthcare, which hosts more than 150 fourth-year medical students from across the nation, plus 36 students from the Florida State University College of Medicine, has partnered with UCF to allow medical students to participate in clinical training at Orlando Regional hospitals.

The program, which will focus on the school's existing strengths in biomedical sciences, modeling and simulation, and optics and photonics, will be supported by programs in materials science, psychology, hospitality management, chemistry, film and digital media, and nursing.

World-Class Collaborative Research

Established on the west coast in 1976 as a non-profit medical research institute focusing on cancer research, Burnham Institute for Medical Research has grown into one of the world's most-consistently top-ranked organizations for the impact of its research publications.

The first phase of the east coast campus will include a 175,000-square-foot facility comprised of research and administrative wings. Over the next decade, the institute plans to employ more than 300 scientists and support staff focusing on diabetes, obesity, metabolism and heart disease, led by scientific director Daniel P. Kelly, MD. The University of Florida is also planning to locate a research facility to be shared with the Burnham Institute.

Little Children

A new Nemours Children's Hospital will finally come to fruition after a lengthy and costly Certificate of Need (CON) battle. Tucked on 60 acres, the pediatric healthcare campus will feature a new $3 million children's clinic, an ambulatory diagnostic center, extensive research and education facilities, and also a new 95-bed, 550,000-square-foot children's hospital valued at $400 million, along with a planned Ronald McDonald House.

Nemours' hospital is expected to open in 2012 and will work in collaboration with UCF's College of Medicine, Burnham Institute, and the new VA Hospital, also slated to open in 2012.