The University of Central Florida College of Medicine is an academic college of the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida, United States. The dean of the college is Deborah C. German, M.D.
The college consists of a public medical school located on the UCF Health Sciences Campus in the 650-acre (2.6 km2) Lake Nona Medical City, a health and life sciences park in southeast Orlando. The college also offers courses on UCF’s main campus in East Orlando through the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences and in partnership with the College of Nursing.
In October 2005, a local Orlando investment company, the Tavistock Group, donated $12.5 million and 50 acres (0.20 km2) of land to UCF to help establish the UCF Medical School at Lake Nona, and issued a challenge to the Orlando community to help the University raise an additional $12.5 million to boost the total amount of raised funds to $25 million. This $25 million would be eligible for a matching grant from the state; thus giving UCF the needed $50 million to create a new medical college. UCF received well over $100 million in donations, state-matching funds, and land value for the medical college’s establishment.
On March 23, 2006, the Florida Board of Governors voted 15-1 in support of UCF’s proposal to build a medical college. The College of Medicine would consist of a new UCF medical campus that was constructed at Lake Nona; located on the eastern edge of Orlando near the Orlando International Airport. Upon completion of the first phase, the base of the College of Medicine included a 113,000-square-foot (10,500 m2) building for the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, and a 130,000-square-foot (12,000 m2) College of Medicine instructional building and health sciences library.
The new College of Medicine offered an unprecedented full scholarship package to every member of its charter class; 41 students entering in Fall 2009. The scholarship, financed by various donors, amounts to $40,000 per year, half going to tuition (out-of-state fees being waived) and the other half for living expenses. Dean German spearheaded the effort to secure these scholarships, having herself received a similar scholarship at Harvard Medical School. The new school received over 4,300 applications, including at least one with a perfect MCAT score, making it the most selective medical school in the United States at that time.
The UCF College of Medicine announced February 11, 2013, that it had received full accreditation from the LCME. On May 17, 2013, 36 students in the College of Medicine Charter Class graduated with their medical degrees.
UCF’s College of Medicine is located on the University’s Health Sciences Campus in the Lake Nona neighborhood of Orlando. The 50 acre (.2 km2) campus, is located on the eastern edge of Orlando; about 30 minutes from UCF’s main campus. The Medical City also currently serves as a home to UCF’s Burnett Biomedical Sciences Building, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, Nemours Children’s Hospital, M.D. Anderson Orlando Cancer Research Institute, University of Florida Academic and Research Center,Valencia College at Lake Nona, and the Orlando Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VA).
In the future, the campus is slated to house the UCF’s College of Nursing and a teaching hospital. UCF plans to add a College of Dental Medicine by 2020. The dental college will be built on the Health Sciences Campus, and has already been approved by the University’s Board of Trustees. Other companies are also planning on building major medical research facilities in the area; over $2 billion worth of projects have been awarded.
Admission to the medical school is based mainly on GPA, Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) score, admissions essays, an interview, clinical work experience, and volunteering activities, along with research and leadership roles in the applicant’s history. Background checks on applicants is required by the Association of Medical Colleges in order to prevent individuals with convictions for serious crimes from being matriculated. In 2014, over 4,000 students applied for 120 spots. Matriculates had an average GPA of 3.80, median MCAT score of 32, and were 25 years old. 11% of those admitted had previously earned a postbaccalaureate degree.
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