The UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital’s new entrance and atrium showcase bright colors, nature-themed art and interactive features to create a welcoming setting for children. U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Children’s Hospitals rankings once again showed that along with its ever-improving facilities, our children’s hospital’s services continue to be among the nation’s best.This recognition is a testament to the hard work of our pediatrics teams.

Released in June, the 2015-16 rankings place us in the top 50 nationally in diabetes and endocrinology (16th), cardiology and heart surgery (29th), cancer (29th), pulmonology (34th), neonatology (37th), nephrology (40th) and gastroenterology and GI surgery (49th).

Ours was one of only three hospitals in Florida to be ranked in seven pediatric specialties, and it was the highest-ranked Florida children’s hospital for diabetes and endocrinology, as well as for cancer.

“We have had an ongoing commitment to creating an environment at the UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital that earns distinction for its quality, hospitality, service and research excellence,” said David S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D., UF senior vice president for health affairs and UF Health president. “We are extremely pleased that so many of our specialties have again been honored with national recognition, which adds to other recent accomplishments such as achieving Baby-Friendly designation.”

The full rankings and methodology are available at  health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/pediatric-rankings and will be published in the U.S. News “Best Hospitals 2016” guidebook, which will be available Sept. 1.

“This ranking is a testament to the work our physicians, nurses and staff do every day to treat the thousands of children with serious illnesses who come to us from nearly every county in Florida, more than 40 states and about a dozen other countries,” said Ed Jimenez, UF Health Shands chief executive officer. “We continually raise the bar to be sure that all of them get the very best care.”