By UCF College of Nursing
College of Nursing Joins Interdisciplinary Center at Hub for Medical Innovation
As part of its vision to reinvent 21st-century higher education, UCF is leveraging its strengths in healthcare to create an Academic Health Sciences Center on the 50-acre state-of-the-art UCF Health Sciences Campus at Lake Nona Medical City in Orlando.
This unique, interdisciplinary center is bringing together UCF’s College of Medicine, College of Nursing, and a new College of Health Professions and Sciences to improve collaboration and partnership opportunities as well as better position faculty, staff and students for the future.
This is Big
UCF is combining the expertise of clinicians, the expansive intellect of researchers, the ideas from innovators, and the academic excellence of students across all health disciplines at one of the nation’s largest universities. Together, UCF will realize its collective potential to make a significant impact in solving society’s greatest healthcare challenges.
“The Academic Health Sciences Center will serve as a foundation to transform health sciences education and foster innovation,” said Dr. Deborah German, vice president for health affairs overseeing clinical-related operations at the Academic Health Sciences Center and dean of the College of Medicine.
Organizational changes took effect July 2, 2018, with the three colleges reporting to Dr. German for clinical operations and the provost for academic operations. Also effective July 2 is the formation of the College of Health Professions and Sciences (CHPS), which includes Social Work, Sports and Exercise Science (now renamed Kinesiology), Physical Therapy, Athletic Training, Health Sciences, and Communication Sciences and Disorders.
“This is an exciting evolution for nursing education at UCF,” said Mary Lou Sole, dean of the College of Nursing who also served on the university’s interdisciplinary health sciences task force.
“The Academic Health Sciences Center will bring increased opportunity for interprofessional education, research and partnerships to enhance instruction, research and practice. Our students will be more prepared for their role as providers, innovators and leaders to ultimately improve the health of our global community,” Sole added.
Health Sciences Campus
The College of Medicine is already located at the UCF Health Sciences Campus at Lake Nona. Plans are being made for programs within the Academic Health Sciences Center to eventually relocate there in the coming years.
In addition to the benefits of being a part of the Academic Health Sciences Center, the new location will help the College of Nursing meet growing demand for nurses nationwide and in Florida where the state expects a shortage of 50,000 RNs by 2025.
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