UF Health Celebrates Groundbreaking for Orthopaedic Surgical Center

January 17, 2025
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UF Health officials and community leaders gathered early January to break ground for the UF Health Orthopaedic Surgical Center, a more than 24,000-square-foot medical facility that will support outpatient services for total joint replacements and other orthopaedic procedures while expanding access to patients in Alachua County and Northeast Florida.

“We reflect anew on our longstanding commitment to health, hope, and healing,” said Stephen J. Motew, M.D., M.H.A., FACS, president and system CEO of the UF Health clinical enterprise. “We’ve collectively embraced this since our program in orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine began back in 1960. Today, we celebrate a new chapter in our journey.”

The UF Health Orthopaedic Surgical Center will incorporate advanced technology, such as a new surgical robot called the da Vinci 5, to perform more precise, less invasive procedures. UF Health will be the first health system in the Southeast to use the da Vinci 5 for this sort of surgical support.

“The UF Health Orthopaedic Surgical Center demonstrates our commitment to provide a world-class environment of healing for our patients and families,” said Traci d’Auguste, chief operating officer for UF Health Shands.

The location will house eight operating rooms designed specifically for orthopaedic surgery. UF Health practitioners at the center will use the most advanced surgical technology to help patients have the best possible experience.

“This new facility will allow us to perform surgeries that traditionally have required a trip to the hospital and an overnight stay,” said C. Parker Gibbs Jr., M.D., chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at the UF College of Medicine. “We will manage the outcomes of injuries sustained by weekend warriors, like all of us, as well as Florida Gators athletes.”

In February 2025, the UF Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Institute, situated adjacent to the new surgical center, will mark its 20th anniversary. OSMI currently cares for more than 100,000 patients annually.

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