Healthcare & Life Sciences

Join a Growing MedTech Industry

Companies that create independence-granting and lifesaving healthcare solutions extend throughout Florida’s West Coast. From its headquarters in Sarasota, CAE Healthcare has been solidifying its position as a global leader in medical patient simulation technologies since 2010. Florida is also one of the top medical manufacturing states in the nation with more than $6 billion in revenue in 2020.

A Complete Life Sciences Ecosystem

Whether you are a clinical laboratory technician, a chemist or a healthcare worker, Florida’s West Coast has more than 35,000 life science jobs (and counting). Sarasota Memorial Healthcare System is one of the top 125 hospitals in the world and is the largest employer in the county with more than 6,500 healthcare workers. Organizations like Florida Healthcare Association and BioFlorida can lead you to a fulfilling and well-salaried career with companies like the Roskamp Institute — a biotech laboratory founded in the Bradenton area that is a world leader in cutting-edge treatment for debilitating diseases of the mind. Lakewood Ranch is also home to CORE (Collaboration Opportunities for Research and Exploration), where life science-related businesses like the Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute recently opened a state-of-the-art cancer research center.

Breathe Life into a Healthcare Career

If you lack the degrees and credentials to get the life science job in Florida that you want, you can earn them in Sarasota and Manatee counties. And what better place to do so than the sunny campuses of Florida State University (FSU) College of Medicine in Sarasota, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) in Lakewood Ranch, and the State College of Florida (SCF) Manatee-Sarasota with campuses in Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch, and Venice.

SCF offers associate degrees in biotechnology, dental hygiene, occupational therapy, radiology and respiratory care, as well as associate and bachelor’s degrees in health services and nursing. FSU offers rigorous in-class and residential programs to become medical doctors, physician assistants and more. And LECOM is part of the largest medical campus in the U.S., with multiple pathways to becoming a primary care physician, pharmacist, or dentist in its state-of-the-art laboratories.