Jacksonville an d NORTHEAST FLORIDA
Baptist MD Anderson opened in 2015, but a
new $180-million, nine-story facility for the
cancer center will open in the summer of 2018.
Baptist operates five hospitals in the region,
including Wolfson Children’s Hospital. It also
has satellite medical campuses on Fleming
Island in Clay County and Jacksonville’s
Northside, as well as a freestanding emergency
center on the Southside.
Another specialty medical facility affiliated
with Wolfson Children’s Hospital is the
Nemours Children’s Clinic, adjacent to the
hospital. Nemours treats children with complicated
medical issues.
Nemours was created by a foundation started
by Alfred I. duPont, a businessman and philanthropist
who lived in Jacksonville for 10 years
before his death in 1935.
Beyond the proton therapy center, UF Health
operates 37 clinical sites in Northeast Florida
and also has colleges of medicine, nursing and
pharmacy at its main Jacksonville campus.
“Jacksonville and Northeast Florida continue
to grow, and our focus as the region’s premier
academic health center will be to continue to
do the same,” says UF Health Jacksonville CEO
Leon Haley.
“Jacksonville and
Northeast Florida
continue to grow,
and our focus
as the region’s
premier academic
health center will
be to continue to
do the same.”
— Leon Haley
UF Health Jacksonville
CEO
Besides health care services,
some of the world’s biggest
medical products and
services companies operate
in Northeast Florida. Johnson
& Johnson Vision Care produces the
world’s leading contact lens brand,
Acuvue, from its Jacksonville headquarters.
Johnson & Johnson came to
the area when it acquired a homegrown
Jacksonville business, Frontier Contact
Lenses, more than 30 years ago.
Johnson & Johnson Vision Care is
one of Jacksonville’s largest companies
with more than 2,000 employees and
about $3 billion in annual sales.
Another international corporation
that bought a homegrown Jacksonville
company is Medtronic, which
acquired Xomed Surgical Products.
Medtronic took over the business that
makes surgical instruments for ear,
nose and throat doctors and employs
more than 700 people. Medtronic production floor
42 JACKSONVILLE AND NORTHEAST FLORIDA SPONSORED SECTION
Nemours Children’s Clinic
One other major hospital network,
Ascension St. Vincent’s HealthCare,
operates two hospitals in Jacksonville
and one in Clay County, and employs
more than 5,000 people in the region.
St. Vincent’s is part of Ascension, the
largest nonprofit health system in the
U.S. and the world’s largest Catholic
health system.
McKesson, the fifth largest company
in the Fortune 500, came to Jacksonville
in 2013 when it acquired PSS
World Medical, a distributor of medical
supplies to physician offices across the
country. It also employs more than 700 in
Jacksonville.
Northeast Florida’s health
care industry continues to
draw new businesses to the
region. In 2017, Formativ Health
announced it would hire up to 500
employees for a new patient access
service center.
“We know Jacksonville offers an
extraordinary labor force that will
enable us to meet our patients’ expectations,”
says Formativ CEO Dennis
Dowling.
“As a company that supports the
medical community by making
their operations more efficient and
productive, Formativ Health will
enhance Jacksonville’s presence in this
all-important sector of our economy,”
Mayor Lenny Curry said when
Formativ announced the new center.
“No one can deny the momentum
that is building in Jacksonville, especially
in the health and life science
sector,” he said.
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