UF’s College of Medicine is building a new education center in its efforts to move from a disciplined-based program to a patient-centered one.
The official groundbreaking will take place Nov. 22 at noon across from the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute. The cost of the project is estimated at $45 million.
“The building is going to be an education building for the medical students as well as the physician assistant students,” said Karen Dooley, spokeswoman for the College of Medicine.
The original building was built in the 1950s and refurbished in the 1970s, Dooley said.
“Whenever I’m in the medical buildings, a lot of it feels old and run down, so I’m really excited to be proud of it,” said Holly Carnell, a 21-year-old UF biochemistry senior, who will start medical school in Fall 2014.
Carnell said the new building — which is being built west of the brain institute on Newell Drive — will be more impressive and attract prospective medical school students.
De-Vaughn Williams, a 21-year-old UF food science and human nutrition senior, echoed Carnell.
“It’s definitely old,” he said, “especially when you get to the ground floors. It gets dreary looking. It will be really nice to have a new building.”
Dooley said she thinks a more comfortable learning environment will be beneficial to students, some of whom spend up to 12 hours a day in the facility. In addition, the building will contain more space for the growing number of incoming students.
After the new building opens, the College of Medicine will be implementing a new learning style, called “experiential” or “simulation” learning. It allows students to practice medical procedures using dummies.
“You can have all the book knowledge or classroom knowledge you want, but the more realistic they can make learning the material, the better you’ll be able to draw on that material when you need to perform,” Carnell said.
Construction is expected to be completed in Fall 2015.
“We’re optimistic we will meet our targeting date,” Dooley said. “If all goes well, hopefully the freshman will be able to be in this.”
A version of this story ran on page 4 on 10/28/2013 under the headline "College of Medicine’s new center to reflect modern approach"
