The medical school’s vision is to be the nation’s premier 21st century college of medicine – a national leader in education, research and patient care. The school’s innovative curriculum takes advantage of the building’s cutting-edge technology. Much of the technology is a first for a medical school in Florida, and in one case it is the first-of-its kind in the nation.

“As the academic center of the emerging ‘medical city’ at Lake Nona, we had a unique opportunity and responsibility to create a building and a campus that reflects our role as Central Florida’s Medical School,” said Dr. Deborah German, UCF vice president for medical affairs and dean of the College of Medicine. “We designed our building to be iconic, to be a welcoming, life-giving magnet for the Central Florida community we serve.”

The $65 million, 170,000-square foot building was constructed within budget and on time. It includes:

  • Clinical Skills and Simulation Center, a teaching/assessment center that provides a clinical setting for students to learn and practice their skills. Each of the center’s 12 examination rooms has video recording and computer monitoring, so faculty members can observe and evaluate students in action. Computerized mannequins and standardized patients help students learn skills such as conducting physical examinations, drawing blood and determining heart rhythms.
  • Anatomy Lab, a world-class anatomy center with 22 dissection tables with ceiling-mounted computer terminals over each table so students can get easy access to anatomical information during dissection. Digital cameras allow the professor to record subject matter during a dissection and then link it simultaneously to every terminal in the lab and to lecture halls three floors down. Mitsubishi designed the computer screens above the dissection tables specifically for the college, and they are the first-of-their kind in the nation.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/universityofcentralflorida/4821425512/

  • Microscopy Lab, a 5,300-square-foot lab of the future. Here, students will be able to compare normal and abnormal tissues simultaneously using virtual digitized slides. The laboratory also allows groups of students to study traditional slides through a 10-headed microscope equipped with digital image capture and multiple video monitors.
  • Harriet F. Ginsburg Health Sciences Library, which houses medical and research reference materials for the entire Health Sciences Campus. The library has access to more than 3.2 million holdings, 98 percent in digital form. The library features an open computerized study commons plus multiple problem-based learning rooms for students and faculty members, plus an extensive collection of health information for consumers.
  • •    State-of-the-art lecture halls that put educational technology at the students’ fingertips through the use of digital cameras, projectors and high-definition imagery.

    • The college also announced Wednesday that UCF has been designated an official site where community members can will their bodies to train local medical students. Until now, people who wanted to will their bodies to medical science had to have their remains sent to the University of Florida in Gainesville or the University of Miami.

    The UCF College of Medicine’s education building is the first to start from scratch in the United States in more than 30 years. The medical school has planned the new campus, achieved preliminary accreditation, obtained full scholarships for its inaugural class of 41 students and received donated funds and land from the community to help construct the first two buildings on the Health Sciences campus in just four years.

    Monday, Aug. 2, marks the first official event at the new medical education building when the college holds its “White Coat Ceremony” for its second class of 60 students. The ceremony is a tradition in which a medical school welcomes first-year students as colleagues dedicated to patient care. The event will be held in the college’s new 356-seat main auditorium, a learning environment that also will be used for upcoming community events such as guest lectures by leading scientists, Nobel laureates and physicians.

    UCF Stands For Opportunity –The University of Central Florida is a metropolitan research university that ranks as the 3rd largest in the nation with more than 53,500 students. UCF’s first classes were offered in 1968. The university offers impressive academic and research environments that power the region’s economic development. UCF’s culture of opportunity is driven by our diversity, Orlando environment, history of entrepreneurship and our youth, relevance and energy. For more information visit http://news.ucf.edu