Adventist Health System / Sunbelt Inc.

Adventist Health System / Sunbelt Inc., doing business as Adventhealth Orlando, is a tax-exempt nonprofit hospital and child entity of Adventist Health System Sunbelt Healthcare Corporation based in Orlando, Florida. The organization operates as a prime recipient of federal research grants and, less frequently, as a sub-recipient. Adventhealth Orlando does not hold federal contracts as a prime contractor, and no contracts are listed in its portfolio; its federal footprint is entirely grant-funded, centered on biomedical and clinical research in metabolic health, aging, exercise physiology, and oncology outcomes.

The organization's research mission centers on clinical investigation and translational research through its Translational Research Institute (TRI), which houses specialized metabolic testing capabilities including hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamps, metabolic chambers, adipose tissue biopsy protocols, and advanced molecular analysis platforms. Representative prime grant work includes a $7.432 million cooperative agreement from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (CFDA 93.847, award date September 11, 2025) to develop and test continuous ketone monitoring risk mitigation for SGLT2 inhibitor use in Type 1 Diabetes patients; a $248 thousand NIDDK project grant (March 1, 2026) investigating cell- and spatially-distinct skeletal muscle transcriptional aberrations in insulin resistance and Type 2 Diabetes using single-cell sequencing and spatial transcriptomics; and a $151 thousand NIDDK grant (September 1, 2026) assessing GLP-1 medicine outcomes in real-world Type 1 Diabetes patients using the Epic Cosmos database of over 943,000 Type 1 Diabetes patients. Additional prime work spans National Cancer Institute grants on chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and exercise effects on colon cancer survivors, and National Institute on Aging grants on physical activity, dementia risk, and neurocognitive outcomes.

The organization's customer base is heavily concentrated among NIH institutes. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Institute on Aging together account for 68% of the award count (31 and 27 awards respectively across the source period). The Department of Justice Bureau of Prisons Southeast Regional Office and Federal Correctional Complex Coleman account for 10 awards totaling $100 thousand in combined potential value—a small but discrete line of clinical and operational work. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute and National Cancer Institute each place multiple awards. Across 115 total awards (65 prime, 50 sub), the organization has obligated $119.1 million against combined potential value of $621 thousand, reflecting heavy realization of potential across multi-year cooperative agreements and project grants.

Adventhealth Orlando participates as a sub-recipient on 50 awards (43% of the portfolio) across consortia-led research, most prominently through collaborations with the University of Florida on Type 1 Diabetes in Acute Pancreatitis Consortium work, Pennsylvania State University on Type 1 Diabetes acute pancreatitis data coordinating activities, the University of Pennsylvania on multiple clinical trials involving tissue collection and spatial transcriptomics, and Ball State University and University of Alabama Birmingham on the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) framework. These arrangements typically position Adventhealth Orlando as a clinical site providing patient recruitment, data collection, tissue sampling, and functional assessment under PI or co-investigator oversight from prime institutions.

Activity has grown substantially in recent years: 7 awards in 2022, 8 in 2023, 24 in 2024, 16 in 2025, and 12 in 2026 to date. Twelve awards are approaching ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing recompete opportunity. Performance locations include Orlando, Florida (primary), Baton Rouge, Louisiana (on NCI grant work), and domestic multi-site consortium participation. The organization's federal footprint reflects a research hospital positioned as a translational research hub within the NIH ecosystem, with deep expertise in metabolic phenotyping, diabetes pathophysiology, exercise physiology, cancer survivorship outcomes, and aging biology.