STATE BOARD OF GOVERNORS APPROVES UCF MED SCHOOL

By Tom Evelyn March 23, 2006

The University of Central Florida reached a long-sought milestone Thursday when the state Board of Governors approved creating a medical college at the Orlando university that will increase opportunities for medical education in Florida while boosting the state’s economy.

Pending funding from the state Legislature, UCF will begin hiring faculty and developing a curriculum for the college of medicine. The college could begin training students as early as 2008.

“The establishment of a medical college at UCF marks a major milestone that could not have been reached without the overwhelming support the university has received from the Central Florida community,” UCF President John Hitt said. “We look forward to serving the community, state and nation by providing needed doctors and improving health care.”

The Board of Governors, which met at Florida State University in Tallahassee, also approved the establishment of a medical school at Florida International University in Miami.

UCF’s medical degree program calls for a four-year curriculum that could begin clinical education as early as fall 2008 and eventually produce about 120 medical graduates each year.

The college and its degree program will capitalize on the university’s strengths in biomedical sciences, modeling and simulation, and optics and photonics. Other existing programs in materials science, psychology, chemistry, film and digital media, and nursing will also support the program.

A joint cooperation agreement signed this week by UCF and the Scripps Research Institute will foster collaborative research in some of these areas. UCF and Scripps share many common research interests, including working toward better therapies for cardiovascular disease, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

The University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine will collaborate with UCF’s medical college on research and also will help to develop the curriculum and provide student and faculty exchanges.

Florida Hospital and Orlando Regional Healthcare, two of the largest medical systems in the country, have agreed to establish 95 new medical residencies in cooperation with the UCF medical college.

The hospitals also will pay 40 percent of the salaries for 50 full-time clinical faculty members and provide support staff and clinical and office space.

UCF plans to hire another 35 basic science faculty in addition to 20 biomedical science faculty members already in place who will support the college of medicine. Another 50 clinical faculty members will serve at the college part time.

UCF has raised $100.3 million in pledges for the medical college, including state matching funds and the value of Tavistock Group’s pledge of 50 acres at Lake Nona, where the medical college will be located. The UCF Foundation announced a $1.5 million pledge Wednesday from the Dr. Phillips Institute in Orlando, and a $1 million donation from Walt Disney World was announced last week.

The donations and matching funds will pay for the construction of facilities at the UCF Healthcare Campus at Lake Nona, which will include the college of medicine, the Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences and a medical library. Construction could begin later this year.

In addition to helping address the growing physician shortage in Florida and the nation, UCF’s medical college will provide enormous economic benefits to the Central Florida region and to the state.

An economic impact study conducted by the Milken Institute and Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics shows that the medical college alone could generate $1.4 billion a year in economic activity and more than 6,400 jobs by year 10. The impact could be as much as $6.4 billion and nearly 26,000 jobs if a life-science cluster of related research and business develops around the med school, similar to the clusters that have formed in other cities.

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