The Medical School broke ground Friday on a new $71 million research center as the Board of Visitors Buildings and Grounds Committee met to discuss further expansion.
The new Carter-Harrison Research Building will provide laboratories, research support and office space to medical investigators working in the areas of cancer, immunology and infectious diseases.
The 102,000-square-foot facility will be located behind Jordan Hall and is expected to be completed in the summer of 2008.
"This new building is for research where scientists and doctors will use their knowledge and findings to eventually help patients," University Health System spokesperson Peter Jump said. The Center "is for the benefit of all patients everywhere, and what we learn in the areas of immunology, infectious disease and cancer can be used all over the world."
In addition to the new building for the Medical School, the University Health System has unveiled plans to add 129 beds to the University Hospital by 2011 to ease crowding.
"There's no question the biggest problem facing our Medical Center is capacity," said R. Edward Howell, vice president and chief executive officer of the University Medical Center.
There are currently 550 patient beds at the University Hospital, which has an average deficit of six beds, according to materials presented at the Board meeting.
The new construction plan also will further Medical Center ambitions to expand graduate medical education by allowing for 25 new residents and doctors in training as well as additional teaching space.
"We are stepping up in a very big way our graduate training center," Howell said. "It is our aspiration to be the pre-eminent place for graduate medical education."
The Board also discussed progress on the plans for a new Nursing School building to be constructed across from McLeod Hall.
The Nursing School will use the building to expand enrollment to levels commensurate with student and employer demands for nursing graduates.
"There's enormous demand for the education we offer at a time of great public need," Nursing School Dean Jeanette Lancaster said.
The Nursing School, which currently confers 123 nursing degrees annually, is only able to offer admission to 17 percent of first-year and 20 percent of transfer applicants. The Nursing School anticipates a 25 percent increase in enrollment after construction, Lancaster said.
Various Medical School faculty members and researchers turned out for the research center ground-breaking ceremony Friday. Members of the Carter and Harrison families, whose donations will finance the construction, also were present. Medical School Dean Arthur Garson presented them with white lab coats as a symbol of his appreciation.
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