Lake Nona Medical City is a health and life sciences park in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is located near

Orlando International Airport Orlando International Airport is a major public airport located 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Downtown Orlando, Florida. In 2021, it handled 19,618,838 passengers, making it the busiest airport in the state and seventh busiest airport i ...

and within the

master-planned community A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

Lake Nona Lake Nona is a 17-square-mile master-planned community in Orlando, Florida recognized as a model for “How to build a great American City”. The community is known for focused initiatives on community, technology, mobility, and wellbeing. It is ...

. The city is home to the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

's Health Sciences Campus, which includes the university's College of Medicine and

Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences The University of Central Florida College of Medicine is an academic college of the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida, United States. The VP of Health Affairs and dean of the college is Deborah C. German, M.D. The col ...

. In the future, the campus will also house UCF's

University of Central Florida College of Nursing The University of Central Florida College of Nursing is an academic college of the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida, United States. The dean of the college is Mary Lou Sole, PhD, RN, CCNS, CNL, FAAN, FCCM. According to '' ...

, the

University of Central Florida College of Dental Medicine The University of Central Florida College of Dental Medicine is a planned academic college of the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida, United States. Approved by the UCF Board of Trustees in May 2011, the college still needs ...

, and a

teaching hospital A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...

. The medical city also includes the

Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute Sanford Burnham Prebys is a 501(c)(3) non-profit medical research institute focusing on basic and translational research, with major research programs in cancer, neurodegeneration, diabetes, infectious, inflammatory, and childhood diseases. The ...

, Nemours Children’s Hospital, a University of Florida Academic and Research Center, and Valencia College at Lake Nona. In addition, the Orlando Veterans Administration Medical Center, began seeing clinical patients from February 2015.

History

The concept of the medical city began in October 2005 when the

Tavistock Group Tavistock Group is a Bahamas-based private investment organization founded by Joseph "Joe" Lewis in 1975. Lewis is the primary investor in the company. The company is headquartered in the offshore financial center of The Commonwealth of The Ba ...

donated $12.5 million and of land to the University of Central Florida to help establish a medical school. In March 2006, the

Florida Board of Governors The Florida Board of Governors is a 17-member governing board that serves as the governing body for the State University System of Florida, which includes all public universities in the state of Florida. After its predecessor, the Florida Board ...

voted to approve UCF's proposal to build a medical college at Lake Nona, and the school greeted its first students in fall 2009. In 2012, UCF purchased an additional of land at Lake Nona to construct a teaching hospital. Orlando VA Medical Center

Development

The medical city is surrounded by education facilities, five million square feet of commercial and retail space, and a mix of residential options. Upon completion of construction of the various projects, UCF's Health Science Campus will accommodate as many as 5,000 upper division, professional, and graduate students and faculty members in the health-related programs, and include up to two million square feet of research and instruction space. It is estimated that the medical city will create up to 30,000 jobs and have a $7.6 billion impact on the economy over the next decade. Lake Nona is a master-planned community. Forty percent of the community has been reserved for open green space and lakes. Lake Nona’s amenities include a planned city park, 44 miles of planned trails, a number of community parks and of lakes and waterways.

References

External links

* {{University of Florida Medicine, College of University of Florida Healthcare in Orlando, Florida Greater Orlando 2005 establishments in Florida