HOSPITAL

breaking ceremony.

For Dr. Kiminobu Sugaya, a neurobiologist and founder of SynapCyte, a biotech company that’s developing a drug that targets the stem cells to treat neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s, it represents the opportunity for clinical trials.

“This is wonderful. We needed one,” he said.

For Dr. Abdo Asmar, the new hospital elevates the status of the medical school.

“This is really a dream come true,” said Asmar, program director for internal medicine and vice chair for graduate medical education at UCF College of Medicine. “Everybody that wants to come to UCF, now you can tell them that there's a teaching hospital.”

And for medical students, who dotted the field of attendees with their short white coats, it is the sheer excitement of having a hospital of their own.

“We'll be the first class to have the majority of our medical training there,” said Stephanie Erickson, a firstyear medical student. “I think it's nice what they have going on now and they can rotate you through different hospitals, but it'll be a lot more convenient for us to be able to stay in Lake Nona and not have to travel as far downtown and deal with the traffic as much.”

“I think this is amazing,” said Oriana Fermin, another first-year medical student. “That's part of the reason I chose to go to this school. It's because I feel like it's groundbreaking in all senses.”

HCA also announced on Thursday a $3 million gift to hire a renowned cancer scientist to lead UCF’s cancer efforts.

“The endowed eminent scholar in oncology chair will allow us to start from the very beginning with a nationally recognized expert who will bring together the research, which means the approach to tomorrow's cures, right here in our center as we build it,” said German.

UCF is establishing a cancer research and treatment facility in a nearby building with several partners, including HCA’s Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute. Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, which has called the building home for more than a decade, is leaving Orlando by the end of November.