UCF Lake Nona Medical Center, a new hospital scheduled to open in March 2021 in Central Florida, recently introduced its 2021 Board of Trustees. The hospital is a partnership through HCA Healthcare North Florida Division and UCF Academic Health, and will be overseen by a board of 10 distinguished professionals who have a long history of service in the Central Florida community. 

The Board of Trustees will be led by Chair Clarence H. “Buck” Brown, III, M.D. Dr. Brown, a retired hematologist/oncologist, was the founding medical director of MD Anderson Cancer Center Orlando and later served as its president and CEO.  He also served as a member of the UCF Board of Trustees from 2013 – 2018.

Vice Chair Olga Calvet, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Palmas Services, LLC, is a long-time Central Florida community champion, serving on a number of boards and committees, including past chair of the University of Central Florida board of trustees.

UCF Lake Nona Medical Center Trustees include: Steve Pierre, M.D., Anesthesiologist and UCF Lake Nona Medical Center Chief of Staff; Carolyn Fennell, Senior Director, Public Affairs and Community Relations, Greater Orlando Aviation Authority; Vladimir Neychev, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Central Florida College of Medicine; Remberto Bitar, M.D., Pulmonary Critical Care Specialist; Margery Pabst-Steinmetz, Founder, MLP Enterprises, My Caregiving Coach and the Pabst Charitable Foundation; Marcia Katz, M.D., Pulmonologist and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at UCF College of Medicine; and Patrick Mathias, M.D., Interventional Cardiologist.

“Our inaugural Board of Trustees is comprised of strong leaders in our community who share our vision for patient care, education and research at UCF Lake Nona Medical Center,” said Wendy Brandon, Chief Executive Officer. “We are fortunate to have their expertise in business, medicine and academia to oversee our progress toward opening in March.”

Located in Orlando’s Medical City at Lake Nona, UCF Lake Nona Medical Center will provide healing for patients throughout Central Florida and beyond, educate the healthcare providers of the future and support the work of medical researchers that will lead to lifesaving care.

 Established in 2006, the UCF College of Medicine is one of the first U.S. medical schools in decades to be built from the ground up. As a new medical school, UCF’s program epitomizes innovation, high-tech learning tools and a pioneering spirit to educate young doctors and scientists in a new and better way for the 21st century. The college is unique nationally because of its large undergraduate and graduate programs in biomedicine through its Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences. The College of Medicine is a research-based medical school with a culture based on partnerships and collaboration and is a founding partner in Lake Nona’s emerging Medical City.