Shands at the University of Florida

Shands at the University of Florida is a teaching hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida and is one of eight hospitals in the Shands HealthCare system.

Part of the University of Florida Health Science Center, Shands is affiliated with the University of Florida College of Medicine and was founded in 1958. The hospital is a 570-bed tertiary care facility with 142 intensive care beds. Shands is a Level I trauma center and a leading organ-transplant center.

The J. Hillis Miller Health Science Center—named for the former University of Florida president—has expanded since 1956 into the most comprehensive academic health center in the Southeast. The "center" now encompasses six colleges, a statewide network of affiliated hospitals and clinics including Shands Hospital at UF as the flagship teaching hospital and the neighboring Veterans Affairs Medical Center of Gainesville. The UF Health Science Center comprises the following Colleges: Dentistry, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine. The University of Florida is one of only a handful of universities to have all these health-related professional schools—including veterinary medicine—and to house most of them under one roof. Shands is as a structure connected to the Stetson Medical Sciences Building and the Academic Research Building—both research lab buildings—the Dental Tower, and buildings housing Nursing and Pharmacy. In addition, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center is connected via an underground passage to the ground floor of Shands. Other institutions include the McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida, one of the world's largest research institutions devoted to the challenges resulting from brain and nervous system disorders.

In 2004, Shands at the University of Florida once again joined the prestigious ranks of America's top medical institutions in the 15th annual U.S. News & World Report guide to "America's Top Hospitals." Included among the nation's 50 top academic medical centers, Shands at UF is recognized in 12 clinical specialty areas in 2004's comprehensive report for excellence. Specialty Ranks: Digestive Disorders (22), Urology (22), Ear, Nose & Throat (25), Geriatrics (25), Kidney Disease (28), Pediatrics (28), Gynecology (32), Cancer (34), Respiratory Disorders (37), Heart & Heart Surgery (41), Neurology & Neurosurgery (44), and Orthopedics (48). The Shands Transplant Center at the University of Florida is also ranked 19th in the nation.