Lake Nona Medical City: A Guide to Every Hospital, Medical School and Research Center

Three hospitals, two universities and a cluster of research centers on 650 acres. Here's what's actually in Medical City, and what isn't.

By David Myers, Broker Associate · NonaOrlandoProperties.com · Last updated September 2026

Lake Nona Medical City is a roughly 650-acre cluster of hospitals, medical schools and research centers in Lake Nona, the master-planned community in southeast Orlando, Florida. It began in 2005, when developer Tavistock pledged 50 acres and $12.5 million toward a UCF medical school, which the Florida Board of Governors approved in March 2006. Its hospitals are Nemours Children's Hospital, the Orlando VA Medical Center and UCF Lake Nona Hospital. Its academic and research institutions include the UCF College of Medicine, the UCF College of Nursing, the UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center, the UF Research & Academic Center, the GuideWell Innovation Center and the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute. Lake Nona's adult full-service AdventHealth hospital, scheduled to open in December 2026, is on Narcoossee Road, outside Medical City.

“Medical City” is the name most people attach to Lake Nona, often before they know anything else about it. It's also one of the most misunderstood parts of the community. People hear the name and picture one giant hospital. What's actually there is a campus of separate institutions: a children's hospital, a veterans' hospital, a university teaching hospital, two universities, and several research and training centers, each with its own purpose and patients.

This guide is the map. It explains what each facility is, when it opened and who it serves, then covers where Lake Nona residents actually go for everyday and emergency care. Each facility links to our full post on it.

What Is Lake Nona Medical City?

Lake Nona Medical City is a roughly 650-acre health and life-sciences district in Lake Nona, Orlando, where hospitals, medical schools and research centers were deliberately grouped together.

The idea behind it was that putting patient care, teaching and research side by side speeds up all three. The district sits on the west side of Lake Nona along Lake Nona Boulevard and Sanger Road. It's a planning and marketing name, not a city or a single organization. Every institution in it is run independently.

How Did Lake Nona Medical City Get Started?

Medical City started with a medical school: in 2005 Tavistock pledged 50 acres and $12.5 million to UCF, and in March 2006 the Florida Board of Governors approved the UCF College of Medicine in Lake Nona.

Before that, this part of Lake Nona was largely pasture. Our Lake Nona history covers the years before the medical school. The school's charter class of 41 students started in August 2009, the same year the Burnett Biomedical Sciences Building opened next door. Other institutions followed over the next 16 years:

It hasn't been a straight line up. The Sanford Burnham institute, one of the original anchors, arrived with about $310 million in public and private incentives. It fell short of its hiring targets, and in 2016 the state declared it in default. The building didn't sit empty for long: UCF took it over in 2018, and it now houses the Cancer Center.

Which Hospitals Are in Lake Nona Medical City?

There are three hospitals in Medical City: Nemours Children's Hospital for kids, the Orlando VA Medical Center for veterans, and UCF Lake Nona Hospital, a general acute-care teaching hospital.

Nemours Children's Hospital

Nemours' full-service pediatric hospital opened in 2012 at 6535 Nemours Parkway, on a campus of nearly 60 acres with about 130 beds. It has a pediatric emergency department and a wide range of specialty programs. In December 2024 Nemours announced a $300 million expansion that will double the ER, add beds and build a new patient-care center with six operating rooms, with most of it due in 2028.

Orlando VA Medical Center

At 1.2 million square feet, the VA campus at 13800 Veterans Way is the largest building in Medical City. It was dedicated in May 2015 and opened in phases into 2016. It has 134 hospital beds, a 120-bed nursing home and a 60-bed residential rehabilitation program, and it is the main VA hospital for Central Florida's veterans. It serves eligible veterans only.

UCF Lake Nona Hospital

UCF's teaching hospital, a joint venture with HCA Healthcare, opened on March 1, 2021, at 6700 Lake Nona Boulevard. It opened with 64 inpatient beds, a 20-bed emergency department, surgery, a cardiac catheterization lab and birthing suites. It's small today, but it was designed to grow to as many as 500 beds.

Which Medical Schools and Universities Are in Medical City?

Two universities have campuses in Medical City: UCF, with its College of Medicine and College of Nursing, and the University of Florida, with its Research & Academic Center.

UCF College of Medicine

The medical school at 6850 Lake Nona Boulevard is the reason Medical City exists. It admits about 120 students a year, and the next-door Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences building (198,000 square feet, opened in 2009) runs graduate research programs. UCF calls the site its Academic Health Sciences Campus.

UCF College of Nursing

UCF's nursing school moved from a leased building near the main UCF campus to the new Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion, which opened on August 18, 2025. The $72 million, 90,000-square-foot building has about triple the lab and simulation space of the old location. UCF expects it to let the school graduate about 150 more nurses a year.

UF Research & Academic Center

The University of Florida's 100,000-square-foot center at 6550 Sanger Road opened in 2012. It houses UF's Orlando Pharm.D. program, about 280 students, along with pharmacology research programs.

What Research and Innovation Centers Are in Medical City?

Medical City's research and innovation side includes the UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center, the GuideWell Innovation Center and the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute.

UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center

The 175,000-square-foot building at 6400 Sanger Road was built for the Sanford Burnham research institute and has been run by UCF since 2018. It combines cancer care with research. Its partners include Sarah Cannon Research Institute, Florida Cancer Specialists (which runs a joint drug-development unit there) and the radiation oncology program of UCF Lake Nona Hospital.

GuideWell Innovation Center

This three-story, 92,000-square-foot building at 6555 Sanger Road has offices, coworking space and wet labs for health-technology companies and startups. It opened in 2016 and is still operating under the GuideWell name.

Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute

Johnson & Johnson opened the global headquarters of its Human Performance Institute in Medical City in March 2019, in a roughly 35,000-square-foot, $18 million building. The institute runs well-being and “energy management” training grounded in performance psychology, exercise physiology and nutrition. It started in Orlando in the 1990s and had an earlier Lake Nona location off Narcoossee Road.

Where Do Lake Nona Residents Get Care Outside Medical City?

For adults, most everyday and emergency care happens outside Medical City, at freestanding ERs, urgent care centers and, from December 2026, the new AdventHealth Lake Nona hospital on Narcoossee Road.

This is the practical gap in Medical City. Two of its three hospitals serve specific patients (children and veterans), and the third is still small. These are the other options closest to home:

• AdventHealth Lake Nona hospital. A full-service hospital on its own campus at 10925 Narcoossee Road. AdventHealth lists 295 beds and a December 2026 opening, with a cancer-focused medical office building next door.
• AdventHealth Lake Nona ER. A 24-room, 24/7 freestanding emergency room at 10080 Lake Nona Boulevard, open since August 2020.
• Orlando Health ER and Medical Pavilion, Randal Park. A 24/7 freestanding ER at 10155 Dowden Road, open since 2021, with orthopedic, surgical and rehab offices added upstairs in December 2023. It's closest for Randal Park and the Dowden Road corridor.
• Nemours Children's Urgent Care. Walk-in pediatric urgent care at 9368 Narcoossee Road, open weekday evenings and weekend afternoons.
• AdventHealth Centra Care. Walk-in adult and family urgent care.

For doctors' offices, fitness and wellness, see our Lake Nona health and wellness guide.

Which Neighborhoods Are Closest to Medical City?

Laureate Park is the neighborhood closest to Medical City, and Village Walk and Lake Nona Golf & Country Club are a short drive east along Lake Nona Boulevard.

Laureate Park borders the district, which gives it the shortest commute in Lake Nona for anyone who works in Medical City. East along the Lake Nona Boulevard corridor, Village Walk and Lake Nona Golf & Country Club are also close.

Medical City is also the backbone of Lake Nona's wider tech and innovation mix, which includes the Lake Nona Impact Forum, KPMG Lakehouse and the companies in our Lake Nona tech and innovation guide.

What the Neighbors Know

Lake Nona residents treat Medical City as a local asset: Nemours for their kids, the VA for veterans in the family, and plenty of their neighbors working there. They also know which ER is closest to their street, because it isn't always the one in Medical City.

If you work in healthcare, research or education, Medical City is probably why Lake Nona is on your list. If you don't, it still shapes the community around it, from the number of medical professionals living next door to the steady new construction.

Official Sources

• UCF College of Medicine: our locations
• HCA Florida: UCF Lake Nona Hospital
• UCF News: Dr. Phillips Nursing Pavilion opens
• UCF College of Medicine: UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center
• VA.gov: Orlando VA Medical Center
• UF College of Pharmacy: Orlando campus
• Johnson & Johnson: Human Performance Institute headquarters in Lake Nona Medical City
• AdventHealth: AdventHealth Lake Nona

Buying or selling in Lake Nona? Call/Text David Myers at 407.801.3286 or use the contact form.