There was general agreement that the state needed a teaching hospital, but located in a large city, such as Jacksonville, Miami or Tampa.

Included among the nation's 50 top academic medical centers, Shands at UF is recognized in 12 clinical specialty areas in 2012's comprehensive report for excellence.

Specialty Ranks: Urology (20), Pulmonology (31), Neurology & Neurosurgery (32), Cancer (36), Nephrology (37), Gastroenterology (41), Cardiology & Heart Surgery (47).

[4] The Shands Transplant Center at the University of Florida is also ranked 19th in the nation.In January 2008 the University of Florida, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, and Shands formed a partnership to develop world-class programs in cancer care, research, and prevention.

The partnership will extend Moffitt's innovative model of comprehensive patient care to UF and Shands cancer programs.

The joint construction of this facility cost roughly $450 million and includes operating rooms, cardiac catheterization labs, two intraoperative MRI suites, as well as inpatient heart and neuromedicine intensive care units and floor beds.

It offers seven dedicated neuromedicine operating rooms, including two with intraoperative MRI and two hybrid endovascular/cerebrovascular ORs with the latest imaging capabilities.