Lake Nona\u2019s Medical City played host to Florida Governor Rick Scott\u2019s monthly Cabinet meeting Wednesday as \u00a0representatives from the Nemours Children\u2019s Hospital, Sanford-Burnham Research Institute, Orlando VA Medical Center and UCF College of Medicine updated state officials on the partnership that is driving the life sciences cluster.<\/p>\n
Dr. Deborah German, vice president for medical affairs and dean of the medical school, began her presentation with an aerial view of Medical City in 2007, when it was just 7,000 acres of pastureland. \u00a0and then compared the greenspace to today, as Medical City emerges as a location of medical education, research and patient care \u201cCollaborative innovation is the word of the day,\u201d Dr. German said. \u201cWe all work together here to accomplish our shared vision to be this century\u2019s premiere Medical City.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. German presented facts and figures on how the \u00a0UCF College of Medicine is quickly making a name for itself academically, pointing out that members of the charter class performed at or above national averages on the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE.) \u201cI just want you to know that you have a team of dedicated faculty, scholars and students who are doing their best in the short time that\u00a0we’ve\u00a0had, to emerge as a nationally relevant college of medicine, \u201d she said. The college\u2019s first students graduate on May 17, and will take their skills into residency programs across the country.<\/p>\n
Economic development was top of mind for the governor and Cabinet. Before the Medical City presentation, state officials presented positive economic news for Florida and the Orlando region. Florida\u2019s 7.5 percent unemployment rate is the state\u2019s lowest since October of 2008 and the greater Orlando area\u2019s 6.6 percent rate is better than state and national averages. Education and health services account for the second highest increase in local jobs, behind tourism and hospitality and metro Orlando has reported job growth for the past 34 consecutive months. Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater said he suggested holding the Cabinet meeting at Medical City \u201cto see what\u2019s making Florida great and what it is to become.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Governor\u2019s Cabinet meetings are typically held in the State Capitol Building in Tallahassee, but different locations are chosen periodically to showcase noteworthy sites throughout Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great honor to see all the great things that are happening here, whether it\u2019s the medical school, Nemours, Sanford-Burnham or the VA,\u201d Governor Scott said after the meeting. \u201cThis research is going to help families around the world. I\u2019m focused on making sure this is a great place for Floridians can get great health care.\u201d Nemours CEO Roger Oxendale said he was proud to play host to the Cabinet meeting as a way to showcase what Medical City is doing through public-private partnerships. \u201cIt\u2019s great for Nemours and it\u2019s great for Medical City to be recognized on a state level,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to providing families across Florida with even more world class specialty care, often found nowhere else in our state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such partnership was also mentioned in the topic of nursing, as the Cabinet recognized seven UCF student nurses and UCF Associate Dean of Nursing Dr. Linda Hennig as part of National Nurses Week. As part of a proclamation event, Barbara Meeks, chief nursing executive for Nemours, applauded the hospital\u2019s partnership with UCF, which is \u201cproviding very highly trained nurses who will care for all Floridians for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lake Nona\u2019s Medical City played host to Florida Governor Rick Scott\u2019s monthly Cabinet meeting Wednesday as \u00a0representatives from the Nemours Children\u2019s Hospital, Sanford-Burnham Research Institute, Orlando VA Medical Center and UCF College of Medicine updated state officials on the partnership that is driving the life sciences cluster. Dr. Deborah German, vice president for medical affairs and dean of the medical…","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":49090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[979,1238,19,202],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-49089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-college-of-medicine","tag-deborah-german","tag-nursing","tag-alumni"],"yoast_head":"\n