UHealth Doral opening piece by piece through 2026
UHealth Doral is being rolled out in a phased approach rather than all it once.
"It [the opening date] was Sept. 16, and we've done a phased approach," said Dede Austin, assistant vice president of ambulatory services at UHealth Doral. "It's been a phased approach opening. We started with the radiation oncology on Sept. 16 and then we, each week, expanded the services. We then added multidisciplinary clinics, and we added the CTU, which is the infusion therapy area, and we've expanded to imaging. The only areas that are set to open in November are the OR – the surgery area – and the GI endoscopy area, and our central sterile processing area."
The facility at 8375 NW 53 Terr. provides community accessibility to physicians.
It is designed with the patient in mind, said David Kerman, chief medical director at UHealth Doral, to put their concerns at ease and "make it a relaxing, welcoming, warm environment where they have the opportunity to access academic-healthcare services right in their backyard. The whole purpose is really to make sure that the physicians at UHealth are accessible to everyone in Miami, and our facility in Doral gets us a little bit closer to that."
In addition to cardiology and cancer-related services, said Dr. Kerman, the facility will be having the opportunity to provide a "wide swath of different medical specialties. Gastroenterology, which is my specialty, will be there. We'll be providing endoscopic services, upper, lower endoscopies, even endoscopic ultrasounds, which is a procedure that I think has many uses."
Plans to expand services are in the pipeline.
"We'll be providing general internal medicine, which is to come," said Dr. Kerman. "We just opened the building, probably at some point in 2026 we'll have primary care there, which will help patients navigate through their healthcare journeys. In addition, there is urology and all of its subspecialties."
The goal is to bring academic-level, high-quality service closer to where people live, said Ms. Austin: to their homes, to where they have an active lifestyle. The Doral community has been growing and bringing these services closer to where people can benefit from them is ideal, she said.
Providing services to visitors from around the globe is taken into account and expected.
"We also appeal to an international community as well," said Ms. Austin. "Those that may be traveling to this area can come to another site to be able to obtain those high-quality UHealth services. It's also expanding the footprint of UHealth and going into different communities so that people can access high-quality care easier."
Staffing is fairly complete, said Ms. Austin, but UHealth is are always looking for talent to join them.
Training and preparation have been ongoing for months, said Ms. Austin. The staff practices what it calls "day in the life scenarios" in which high-risk types of scenarios that can occur in the setting are rehearsed. This is to ensure that in the event one of these episodes occurring, they have adequate training and know how to assess the situation and how to respond.
"We continue to grow in this community," said Ms. Austin. "We continue to expand our services. Soon to come, in fall of 2026 off of 87th Avenue, down the road from where we currently are located, we are expanding our services to include Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, an optical store, and physical therapy will have a presence."
The team is excited to be expanding into communities, said Dr. Kerman. "I take care of patients with complicated GI issues, inflammatory bowel disease, and people travel from around South Florida, and just opening up in somebody else's neighborhood and feeling welcomed and making sure that the Doral community has access to not just that, but all the services that you UHealth can provide, I think it's just one step closer to really being able to provide these services across all of South Florida."
