UF Health opened on Feb. 21 its new Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment, a multidisciplinary, collaborative facility that will offer specialized care and resources to children and adults with neurodevelopmental disorders and their families.

“In and around the Gainesville community, parents have had barriers to obtaining diagnoses, assessments and appropriate treatments for their children,” said Carol Mathews, M.D., interim director of the new center. “This new center will break down those barriers. We will help increase access to appropriate diagnostic services and care.”

Known as UF Health CAN, the 15,000-square-foot center located at 4101 NW 89th Blvd. in Gainesville, near the UF Health Springhill medical complex, will feature two full-time patient navigators who will help families coordinate multiple aspects of care on- and off-site with expert clinicians, including physicians, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, physical therapists and psychologists. The facility boasts a gym with a rock-climbing wall and state-of-the-art equipment for occupational, speech and physical therapy; rooms for clinical/behavioral intervention research; clinical space for telemedicine; and new offices for outreach, advocacy and support services.

Generous support from UF Health Shands, donors and UF’s “moonshot” initiative — a bold endeavor announced in fall 2018 to tackle some of society’s most urgent challenges — provided the resources to renovate the former location of the UF Health Shands Rehab Hospital.