University Community Hospital (UCH)was founded in the mid 1960's by a group of progressive businessmen who recognized the need for hospital services in a rural, yet developing north Tampa region. Led by John S. Allen, the president of the newly opened University of South Florida, former Florida Governor Doyle E. Carlton, Tampa attorney Michel G. Emmanuel and businessmen Bruce M. Robbins Jr. and J. Ross Parker, this group was able to turn their vision into reality. Piecing together a unique financing plan and receiving an agreement of support from Hillsborough County, $6.25 million in tax-exempt bonds were sold to build the 208-bed University Community Hospital, a not-for-profit facility that accepted its first patient on July 15, 1968. Today, UCH has grown into a 475-bed facility that is home to five Centers of Excellence. The Centers focus resources on major disease areas including cancer treatment, women's health, pediatrics, diabetes management and orthopaedics, and offer patients access to the most advanced technology and treatment options.