About the HSC
Overview
The University of Florida Health Science Center (HSC), celebrating its 50th year in 2006, includes the Senior Vice President for Health Affairs Office and the colleges of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health & Health Professions and Veterinary Medicine. The HSC is the country’s only academic health center with six health-related colleges located on a single, contiguous campus. The colleges teach the full continuum of higher education from undergraduates to professional students to advanced post-doctoral students, enrolling over 6,000 students each year.
Health Science Center, Gainesville Campus
The HSC is also a world leader in interdisciplinary research, generating 52% of UF’s total research awards. Five major health-related research centers and institutes are designed to create synergies and collaborative research opportunities. Research activities at the HSC reflect a depth of purpose by focusing on the translational nature of biomedical research following the continuum from fundamental research to clinical research to patient care.
The HSC is closely affiliated with Shands HealthCare, part of the University of Florida Health System, with eight hospitals including the academic hospitals Shands at UF with 630 beds in Gainesville and Shands Jacksonville with 696 beds in Jacksonville, Florida. Together with clinical programs and services across all HSC colleges, the UF&Shands partnership is helping to create Florida’s future healthcare workforce.
Health Science Center, Jacksonville Campus
The Senior Vice President for Health Affairs Office includes several administrative units that provide leadership and support to all HSC colleges, centers and institutes. Among these are Academic and Administrative Affairs, Finance and Planning, HSC Libraries, Information Services & Technology and the Student Health Care Center.
The HSC includes two primary campuses in Gainesville and Jacksonville Florida as well as numerous educational, clinical and research affiliates across the state.
back to top HSC Vision
We are a Health Science Center in which all components work together for the common good. We seek to optimize our collective expertise in order to improve patient care, education, discovery, and the health of the community. We aspire to be a preeminent academic health center.
HSC Goals
- Education - To continually strive for the highest quality educational experience for our students. To bring innovation, passion and excitement to education. To bring our search for knowledge and our focus on excellence to the educational process.
- Research - Increase research awards by 2010, through the creation of research-based, multidisciplinary, cross-college programs.
- Patient Care - Create specialized clinical services centered on quality, innovation, and market dominance.
Selected HSC Initiatives
- The University of Florida Cancer and Genetics Research Building, adds to Florida’s biotechnology efforts and is a prototype for interdisciplinary research. The 280,000-square-foot facility houses the UF Genetics Institute, the UF Shands Cancer Center, the Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research and the C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory.
- The University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute (UFPTI) located at Shands Jacksonville opened and treated their first patient in August 2006. UFPTI is a 98,000-square-foot facility providing conventional radiation cancer treatment and proton therapy. UFPTI includes clinics for the pre- and post-therapy and on-treatment evaluation of cancer patients, planning suites, an infusion and anesthesia suite, psychosocial and dietary services, a research office, and faculty offices. At capacity, the facility can treat up to 200 patients.
- Shands at the University of Florida Cancer Hospital opened November 1, 2009 and supports the academic medical services offered by Shands and UF. The new hospital houses 192 private inpatient beds for a variety of patients, including those receiving diagnostic and therapeutic oncology services. In addition, the Shands at UF Emergency Department and Trauma Unit and a critical care center for emergency- and trauma-related services are located there.
- The University of Florida Biomedical Sciences Building will serve as a center for animal research into genetics and cancer. The $85 million facility is slated for occupation in September 2009.
- UF, HSC and Shands programmatic priorities include the areas of Cancer, Brain, Genetics, Biotechnology, Aging, Children, Transplant, Heart and Diabetes.
- Also see Selected Interdisciplinary Research Initiatives.
