The mission of the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences (BSBS) is to provide quality undergraduate and graduate programs in the biomedical sciences and build excellent research programs focused on cancer and cardiovascular, neurological, and infectious diseases. Our faculty are working to take science from the bench to the bedside. In addition to conducting cutting edge research in biomedicine with potential application to curing major diseases, the School is committed to helping to develop a technology-based industry in Florida. Active partnerships formed with other units at UCF such as the College of Optics and Photonics, the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the NanoScience Technology Center will facilitate interdisciplinary research and education programs in the innovative applications of photonics, bioinformatics and nanoscience to biomedical problems.
Construction of the Burnett Biomedical Sciences building at the UCF Health Sciences Campus at Lake Nona is complete. The five story building with a major transgenic animal facility and Biosafety level 3 laboratories is occupied by research teams headed by a number of faculty members. This research facility is the first of several buildings that will create a biomedical cluster that will include not only the Burnett Biomedical Sciences building, but also our recently occupied College of Medicine Medical Education Building, the Sanford-Burnham Institute for Medical Research, a new Veterans Administration Medical Center and the Nemours Children’s Hospital, all of which will establish vigorous biomedical research programs. Collaborations with these research institutions and major Central Florida Hospitals should facilitate the translation of laboratory findings into new cures for patients in Florida and beyond.
BSBS currently has 40 faculty with a projected growth to over 50 in the next two years, over 2400 undergraduates, and more than 130 graduate students in our MS and PhD programs. BSBS facilities provide over 250,000 square feet of research space in addition to the multiple teaching laboratories and offices located on the main campus.
BSBS updated its undergraduate curriculum to better prepare students for admission to medical/health profession schools and graduate programs in the biomedical sciences. The School offers three BS degree programs: Biomedical Sciences; Biotechnology; and Medical Laboratory Sciences. The first two BS degree programs meet the admission requirements of all medical/health professional schools. The BS Biotechnology produces the highly trained scientists that will meet the workforce needs of the biotechnology industry in Florida and the nation. Our Medical Laboratory Science Program prepares tomorrow’s medical laboratory technologists. The School also provides a Pre-Health Professions Advisement Office (PHPAO) to prepare UCF undergraduates for admission to medical/health professional schools. In 2009, 65% of the students who used the PHPAO’s services were accepted to medical school compared to only 46% nationally.
Graduate programs include the MS program in Biomedical Sciences, both thesis and non-thesis, an MS Program in Biotechnology, and a new MS Professional Science in Biotechnology. The interdisciplinary PhD program in Biomedical Sciences prepares tomorrow’s biomedical research scientists. To help provide management personnel for the emerging biotechnology industry in Florida, in collaboration with our College of Business Administration, BSBS started MS/MBA and PhD/MBA programs.
The Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences is committed to excellence in undergraduate and graduate education and to building innovative interdisciplinary research programs to discover solutions for important biomedical problems that will help find cures for major diseases and to provide a highly creative environment to foster our educational programs.