Sarasota hospital breaks ground on $75 million research center
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jul 28, 2023

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System has broken ground on a $75 million research and education institute.

The institute will be five stories, 80,000 square feet and home to the health system's "expanding clinical research division, clinical and graduate medical education programs, medical library and a new, state-of-the-art simulation center designed for hands-on training," Sarasota Memorial said in a news release.

It is under construction on the site of the former Doctors Gardens medical office building, which was demolished in 2022. The site is at the intersection of Arlington Street and Laurent Place, across the street from the 901-bed Sarasota campus of Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

Sarasota Memorial is a publicly owned health care system. Its ER is a Level II trauma center. (Trauma center rankings are based on the number of patients seen each year as well as the resources available at each facility, according to the American Trauma Center. Tampa General Hospital is the only Level I trauma center in West Central Florida.)

The health system opened a hospital in Venice in 2021.

“We are so proud of the strides Sarasota Memorial has made in clinical research and education in recent years,” said Dr. James Fiorica, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System chief medical officer. “Our teaching hospital is ranked among the best in Florida, and top 40 in the nation. That recognition helps attract exceptional physicians to the region and provide highly specialized care in our community.”

Fiorica said the health system's "clinical research and education programs have tripled in size in recent years, with nearly 70 resident physicians and fellows completing residency and fellowship training each year, and more than 50 active research studies underway," according to a news release.