Biotech and Lake Nona Medical City in Orlando

Lake Nona Medical City is the group of university, hospital and research buildings in Orlando around the UCF Health Sciences Campus, a 50-acre complex for medical education and biomedical research about 25 miles south of the main UCF campus (UCF College of Medicine).

The UCF campus at Lake Nona holds the College of Medicine Medical Education Program, the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences and the UCF College of Nursing (UCF College of Medicine). UCF lists its neighbors within walking distance as the UCF Lake Nona Medical Center, the UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center, the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, a Veterans Affairs Medical Center, a Nemours Children's Hospital and the Johnson & Johnson Performance Institute. The college describes the district as an emerging Medical City just minutes from Orlando International Airport (UCF College of Medicine facts).

The hospitals at Lake Nona, their emergency departments and patient phone numbers are covered in the Orlando healthcare guide, and the simulation centers in the Orlando healthcare simulation guide; this guide covers the research and life science industry side of the district.

The main Lake Nona research building is UCF's Burnett Biomedical Sciences building, which opened in fall 2009 with 198,000 square feet over five stories at 6900 Lake Nona Blvd. (UCF College of Medicine).

UCF says the Lake Nona building houses a major transgenic animal facility and three Biosafety Level 3 laboratories, and UCF calls it an ideal environment for students interested in advancing medical research (UCF College of Medicine). Its main phone is 407.266.7001.

The Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences organizes its Lake Nona research into five divisions: cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic, immunity and pathogenesis, molecular microbiology, and neuroscience (UCF College of Medicine). The College of Medicine reports research funding of $18.1M for fiscal year 2023/24 on its facts page (UCF College of Medicine facts).

That funding figure is the newest the college has posted, and the same page still shows UCF enrollment for spring 2023, so readers comparing Lake Nona research dollars year to year should treat the 2023/24 number as dated and check with the college for a newer report. The page also still describes a Lake Nona Town Center as on the way.

The University of Florida College of Pharmacy runs its Orlando campus, the Research and Academic Center in Lake Nona, at 6550 Sanger Road, Orlando 32827, where it offers the four-year Doctorate in Pharmacy (UF College of Pharmacy).

The Lake Nona campus accepts approximately 70 students each year in the fall semester, with a total program enrollment of about 280 students in Orlando, and the Pharm.D. is the only academic program offered there, according to UF (UF College of Pharmacy). The degree can be completed entirely in the Central Florida and Orlando area.

Two research units sit at the UF Orlando campus. The Center for Pharmacometrics and Systems Pharmacology trains doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows in drug development and regulatory science and uses systems biology to study drug activities, targets and clinical effects (UF College of Pharmacy). The In-Space Biomanufacturing for Human Health Innovation Hub, called the InSpa Bio Hub, was set up through a UF strategic funding initiative to run biomanufacturing experiments on how space conditions affect biological systems, UF lists (407) 313-7031 for the campus faculty and staff administrative offices and (407) 313-7102 for building and facilities.

UCF's four-story Medical Education building, opened in summer 2010 with 170,000 square feet, holds the college's library and teaching labs at Lake Nona (UCF College of Medicine).

The Lake Nona Medical Education building houses the Health Sciences Library, the Bioskills Center, the Clinical Skills Center, the Simulation and Learning Lab, the Microscopy and Virtual Lab and the Anatomy Lab (UCF College of Medicine). The UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center sits beside the UCF Lake Nona Medical Center at 6400 Sanger Rd., phone 407.266.5000 (UCF College of Medicine).

UCF says it works with HCA Healthcare and the Orlando VA Medical Center to sponsor residency and fellowship programs, and it names Nemours Children's Hospital, the Orlando VA Medical Center, the Johnson and Johnson Human Performance Institute and the USTA Home for American Tennis among its Lake Nona neighbors (UCF College of Medicine facts). The UCF pages name the Johnson & Johnson site two slightly different ways, Performance Institute on the campus page and Human Performance Institute on the facts page; both refer to the same Lake Nona neighbor.

A practical note for visitors: the UCF campus page links to parking and shuttle information for the Health Sciences Campus, and the College of Medicine general phone for the Lake Nona campus is 407.266.1000 (UCF College of Medicine).

BLS counted 4,944 private jobs in Orange County research and development in the physical, engineering and life sciences in 2025, plus 428 in biotechnology research, 827 in medical equipment manufacturing and 451 in pharmaceutical manufacturing (BLS QCEW).

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages counts jobs for Orange County as a whole, including Lake Nona and the rest of Orlando, and it has no Lake Nona Medical City category. The rows below are the official industries closest to biotech and life sciences, with titles from the BLS industry list (BLS industry titles). The physical, engineering and life sciences research row also includes engineering research outside biotech, so it overstates life science work alone.

Hospitals are by far the largest group in the table: private hospitals in Orange County averaged 35,778 jobs in 2025, up 1,119 from 2024, and federal government hospitals in the county had another 3,784 jobs at an average annual pay of $120,004 (BLS QCEW). Biotechnology research proper is small by comparison, 31 Orange County establishments and 428 jobs, though it pays an average of $142,441 a year.

Building sizes, addresses and program numbers for Lake Nona come from each university's own pages, and job counts come from the BLS QCEW county file, which BLS updates each year (BLS QCEW).

Institution figures here are the institutions' own and are attributed to them: UCF for its Lake Nona buildings and research funding (UCF College of Medicine facts), and UF for its Orlando pharmacy campus (UF College of Pharmacy). No city or county government publishes a separate count of Lake Nona Medical City employers, so no headcount for the district itself is given.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the UCF College of Medicine and UF College of Pharmacy Lake Nona pages and the BLS QCEW 2025 annual file for Orange County.