ORLANDO, Fla. — The University of Central Florida College of Medicine is unveiling a new aerospace medicine clinic to serve pilots in need of medical care.
The clinic is located at the College of Medicine’s clinical practice in Lake Nona, UCF Health Faculty Physician Practice. Minutes away from the airport, staff said the location will help serve local and traveling pilots in one of the nation’s busiest aviation hubs.
“We’re looking at ways to apply different extreme environments to research so that we can use it not only for space exploration and those applications, but also for Earth-based scenarios as well — people who go into extreme environments in very remote areas of the world,” said Ed Powers, chief medical officer for the UCF Center for Aerospace and Extreme Environments Medicine.
Powers said the clinic has already soft-launched and has seen patients for aviation medicine. It offers specialized exams, screenings and referrals that connect pilots with different specialties in one area.
Powers said the clinic is FAA-designed and meets the medical requirements needed for safe aircraft operations.
“So, this is unique in that it’s based at a university — university medical center — so if we need to refer to a specialist, we have them right here in the house and we’ll reduce the wait time for a lot of these pilots to get their certifications,” Powers said.
The clinic will be unveiled at 9:30 a.m. at the UCF College of Medicine in Lake Nona. University leaders and aviation specialists will be in attendance.