Comprehensive Guide to UCF Primary Care Services

The University of Central Florida (UCF) is committed to providing a wide range of primary care services to its students, faculty, staff, and the surrounding community. These services are delivered through various facilities and programs, all aimed at promoting health, well-being, and accessible healthcare. This article provides an overview of the primary care services available through UCF, highlighting the different locations, specialized programs, and the university's commitment to addressing the primary care physician shortage in Florida.

UCF Student Health Services

UCF Student Health Services (SHS) offers a variety of primary and specialty care services to help keep students at their optimum health. Located on the southeast side of campus near the Libra residence halls, this outpatient facility provides primary and limited specialty care services to the UCF community. The primary Health Center is located on the main campus with satellite clinics on the Rosen College, Health Sciences, and UCF Downtown campuses.

Services Offered

A wide variety of services to support student health and well-being are available at the Health Center. Our providers are trained to diagnose and treat a wide variety of conditions, including skin conditions, cold and flu, infections, depression, injuries, and more. They can also assist with the management of chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, Crohn’s disease, and more.

General Medical Care: Your primary care physician serves as the trusted doctor for you and your family. You’ll see your primary care physician for general care, including diagnoses, treatments, regular check-ups, exams, and screenings. At UCF Health, our physicians treat each patient with personalized care. We don’t believe in a single approach toward all patients, because every person has different needs and a unique medical history. Our Orlando family physicians provide a wide range of screenings, treatments, and preventative care for our adult and adolescent patients.
X-Ray Services: Students have the convenience of having their x-rays taken here at the Health Center. Because we use the latest all-digital technology, most x-rays have an initial-read 20-minute turnaround time, so students rarely have to come back or wait for a phone call to be diagnosed. All x-rays are sent to a consultant radiologist for confirmation of diagnoses.
Laboratory Services: For a quick diagnosis, we can process limited labs in-house via our own Physician Office Laboratory. We also send specimens to outside labs as specified by your insurance plan. Lab orders from outside physician offices can not be accepted directly and will require patients to schedule with one of our providers to review the orders before transferring to our facility.
Gynecological Services: UCF Gynecological Services provides preventive and acute gynecological care by certified Nurse Practitioners. The student health fee covers most gynecological services. There are additional charges for lab tests, procedures, and treatments.
Victims Services: UCF Victims Services has offices within the ORANGE POD of the Student Health Center. Their advocates offer CONFIDENTIAL support, crisis intervention, reporting and disclosure options, safety planning, information and referrals, practical assistance, and educational programs. Our clients are informed of all their reporting and disclosure options and we empower them to make the best decision for themselves. If you or someone you know has been impacted by crime, violence, or abuse, we can help, call a confidential victim advocate at (407) 823-1200 or text (407)823-6868.
Immunizations: We offer a wide variety of immunizations for your optimum health. This includes MMR, Hepatitis B, Meningitis, HPV, T-dap, TB/PPD tests, and more. Most vaccines are covered by your health insurance. For those paying out-of-pocket, our prices are often less than local Health Department prices. Each fall, Student Health Services offers students, faculty and staff flu shots.
Sexual Health Services: We provide a variety of sexual health services including STD testing, well-woman exams, safer-sex counseling and more.
Mental Health Services: Our providers can assist you in dealing with stress, depression, anxiety, sleep issues and more.
Pharmacy: The UCF Pharmacy is a state-of-the-art facility located inside the Health Center. The store offers a wide variety of over-the-counter and toiletry products for your everyday health and wellbeing.
Dental Center: Located on the second floor of the Health Center, the UCF Dental Center is a state-of-the-art facility where quality and affordability are combined in a nurturing, soothing environment. Our focus is on patient education, serving the dental needs of our patients, and creating a positive experience.
Safe Sharps Disposal: We will provide students with a small sharps container and swap it out for a new container when you turn in a full one for safe disposal.

Satellite Clinics

Rosen Medical Center: Located inside the Residence Halls at the Rosen Campus, students have access to primary care and wellness services provided by Rosen Medical Center.
Downtown Campus Clinic: Located on the 2nd floor of the UnionWest residence building, this clinic offers primary care services for students at the Downtown campus.
Academic Health Sciences Campus Clinic: Located in the Medical Education building, this clinic offers primary care services for students at the Academic Health Sciences campus.

Operating Hours

SHS is closed for all holidays observed by the University, and hours may be slightly reduced during the summer and break periods. For the Holiday Break, please check our homepage for the most up-to-date operating hours. We strive to provide compassionate, accessible, affordable care to all patients.

UCF Health Faculty Physician Practice

UCF Health Faculty Physician Practice, formerly called UCF Health, has two locations; one in East Orlando just blocks from the main UCF campus and one in Medical City. UCF Health Faculty Physician Practice offers primary and specialty care under one roof, including internal and family medicine, cardiology, endocrinology, geriatrics, dermatology and rheumatology. The practice’s emphasis is on prevention, wellness and care management. Physicians provide academic, personalized care to the community in a variety of areas including cardiology, rheumatology, endocrinology, ophthalmology, dermatology, internal and family medicine, and geriatrics. It is open to the entire community and treats patients ages 16 and up.

Read also: Westside Primary Care Services

Primary Care Services

An important part of our Primary Care UCF Health Services is geriatric medicine. Visiting a primary care physician regularly enables you to build a trusted relationship with your doctor. The more comfortable you are with your doctor, the greater quality of care you’ll receive. For any of your health concerns, you can feel comfortable reaching out to your primary care physician. Visiting your primary care physician regularly will help you to mitigate risk factors that cause various diseases, and to maintain optimal health for years to come. Physicians who are board-certified are dedicated to learning and adopting the latest technologies and advancements in primary care. Physicians who have considerable experience providing primary care services are better suited to treat you and your family. At UCF Health, we value the genuine relationships we build with our patients. Our Orlando physicians are here to serve you with quality, expert care. Their high level of experience and skill makes them the qualified providers you and your family deserve.

UCF Health Physical Therapy Clinic

The UCF Health Physical Therapy Clinic delivers high-quality, patientcentered care delivered by licensed physical therapists and faculty members with expertise in orthopedics, sports injuries, geriatrics, neurology, pediatrics and women’s health.

UCF Health Communication Disorders Clinic

The UCF Health Communication Disorders Clinic provides cutting-edge diagnostic and treatment services to people of all ages with communication and hearing challenges. It treats patients across the lifespan - from toddlers developing speech and language to adults who have lost speech or language due to disease or trauma. The Communications Disorders Clinic offers speech therapy, audiology, assistive technology and an intensive aphasia treatment program, among other services.

Addressing the Primary Care Physician Shortage

UCF’s College of Medicine is actively working to address the primary care physician shortage in Florida. With only 73% of Florida residents reporting having a personal physician and the state ranking 45th nationally in health access and affordability, the need for more primary care physicians is critical. This is further compounded by Florida’s fast-growing population, which is projected to grow by 6 million people in just the next five years.

UCF’s College of Medicine has graduated more than 500 new physicians in the last five years, and 36% of those new graduates went into primary care specialties. Through a partnership with HCA Healthcare, UCF has Florida’s fastest growing residency and fellowship programs. UCF’s new program is designed to inspire graduates to stay in-state while encouraging more students to become primary care physicians. Doctors who provide care for communities in need are eligible for forgiveness for their medical school loans.

Read also: Primary Care Services in Torrance

Primary Care Scholarship Program

The college’s new Primary Care Scholarship Program is providing about 100 medical students with financial aid and unique clinical experiences caring for a variety of patient groups - from Special Olympians to seniors - to expose them to the broad career opportunities in internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics. The two-year grant was one of four given this year by the Health Resources and Services Administration to help address the nation’s primary care physician shortage.

Magda Pasarica, professor of medicine at the medical school, is program director and primary investigator for the primary care program. She is an M.D./Ph.D. whose specialty is family medicine. “There are so many options in my specialty alone - sports medicine, geriatrics, research. Family medicine allows you to take care of generations,” she says.

First-year UCF medical student Sarah Khan ’24 was raised in Kissimmee. She participated in the College of Medicine’s summer Health Leaders Camp, which inspired her to pursue medicine as a career. She worked at a pharmacy before entering medical school and earned her bachelor’s degree from UCF in biomedical sciences. “In the pharmacy, I saw the challenges my neighbors are facing,” she says. “This is the community that helped raise me. Doctors in this community mentored me.

Primary care scholarship M.D. student Christian Sachs is a self-described “sports guy” who spent his youth playing soccer and later coached the sport. The Sarasota native said he came to med school thinking he might want a more “hands-on” specialty than primary care. “I was able to see when medicine and sports come together,” he says. “When I was playing and coaching, we never had that level of care. If someone twisted an ankle, we had to look for someone to help us know how serious it was. It was incredible to see physicians working with the trainers to provide such a strong level of care for our high school athletes.

In its first months, the program provided multiple extra-curricular experiences for students. They visited Legacy Pointe at UCF and went on rounds with physicians providing primary care to residents at the university-supported retirement community.

Faculty Physicians

Dr. Virgil Dawson: Board certified in family medicine and sees patients age 16 and up.
Dr. Joyce Paulson: Board certified in Internal Medicine.
Dr. Naziha Slimani: A primary care specialist board certified in internal medicine.
Dr. Pierce Trumbo: A board-certified general internist with interests in medical education, public health, and quality improvement efforts.
Dr. Sharon Wasserstrom: Board certified in Internal Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine.

UCF's Academic Health Sciences Center

The rebranding comes as the latest step in the development of UCF’s Academic Health Sciences Center, which unites all of the university’s clinical programs - the colleges of Health Professions and Sciences, Medicine and Nursing as well as Student Health Services. As part of that effort, UCF will open the new Dr. Phillops Nursing Pavilion in Lake Nona’s Medical City in 2025 - next door to the medical school. Eventually it plans to bring other clinical programs to Lake Nona to foster increased interprofessional education, research and patient care.

In addition to these services, students and faculty from UCF’s Academic Health Sciences Center provide free care to medically in need residents through service learning clinics.

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