- College of Medicine
The UCF College of Medicine’s clinical practice, where faculty physicians care for patients from across the community, is expanding and getting a new name. UCF Health, formerly UCF Pegasus Health, will open a second location in Lake Nona on March 16. The new facility is located at 9975 Tavistock Lakes Blvd. in the Gateway Building that UCF will share with Florida Hospital at the entrance of Medical City.
The clinic’s first location opened in November 2011 just two blocks from the main UCF campus. All physicians are also teachers at the UCF College of Medicine and are board-certified in primary care specialties like internal and family medicine and subspecialties like cardiology, endocrinology, rheumatology, geriatrics, sports medicine and nephrology. The facility cares for patients ages 16 and up and accepts most insurance plans. The Gateway location will also feature primary and specialty care. The first two physicians will be internal medicine and rheumatology specialists and the College of Medicine expects to add dermatology and other specialties soon.
“We are expanding our multispecialty practice to serve more people across our community,” said Dr. Deborah German, UCF vice president for medical affairs and dean of the medical school. “We are excited to bring needed out-patient care to our Lake Nona neighbors.”
The name change is designed to bring increased clarity as the medical school continues to forge partnerships across Central Florida and the state in medical education, research and patient care. The name is consistent with other state university health practices, including UF Health, USF Health and FIU Health. “We wanted a name that would be relevant to people across our community,” German said. “UCF Health says it all.”
Indeed, UCF’s College of Medicine came about because of community partnership. Local business, political, medical and community leaders pushed for get a medical school in Orlando and raised more than $6.5 million to provide full scholarships to the college’s charter class. The medical school now has more than 2,000 volunteer and affiliated faculty throughout Central Florida who teach, mentor and provide clinical experiences for students. Upper class students receive clerkship training in eleven hospital and clinical locations in Orlando and as far away as St. Augustine and St. Petersburg. And the medical school is working to create more university residency programs with area hospitals, including its first residency in internal medicine in partnership with the Orlando VA Medical Center and Osceola Regional Medical Center. That residency begins its second year this summer and is designed to bring more primary care physicians to the Central Florida community.
With the name change, UCF Health will also include the college’s Regional Extension Center, which has helped more than 2,700 community physicians in the selection, implementation and meaningful use of electronic health records. That conversion has helped local physicians earn almost $40 million in federal incentives. The REC recently signed an agreement to train all of Florida’s 67 county health departments on using electronic records to improve patient care and increase safety.
“Healthcare is a team sport,” German said of the medical school’s efforts. “That’s how we teach our students and how we want to provide care. We’re partnering with providers across our community to improve the well-being of all. Because as UCF teachers, scientists and clinicians at America’s Partnership University™, we know we are healthier when we work together.”
Since it opened in November 2013, the medical school’s first clinic has put an emphasis on teamwork. Primary care physicians work with their specialist colleagues on complex cases and patients with multiple medical issues can see all of their doctors under one roof – such as heart, kidney and diabetes specialists. The clinic offers educational programs such as therapeutic yoga for arthritis patients, caregiver support for seniors and seminars on topics ranging from stress management to super foods. “Our goal is to provide seamless care to our patients,” said Dr. Maria Cannarozzi, who is board certified in internal medicine and serves as medical director of the practice. “We teach together and practice together. We show the same teamwork to our patients that we show in how we train UCF medical students – our community’s healthcare leaders of tomorrow.”
UCF Health’s second location, the Gateway Building, was built by Tavistock, the developers of Medical City. UCF is leasing a portion of the building along with Florida Hospital, which is providing medical care and imaging at the same location. The two providers have worked together to develop a clinic that features one-stop shopping for primary and specialty care and makes it seamless for patients to see physicians from both locations.
Contact UCF Health at 407-266-3627 (DOCS) or https://ucfhealth.com/