UofU breaks ground on $185M School of Medicine building

The University of Utah has broken ground on a new state-of-the-art home for its Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine. The $185 million facility has been made possible, in part, by funds from a landmark gift of $110 million from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation. The gift provides support not only for the building, but also medical education programs and cardiovascular research.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}

The new 185,000-square-foot building will become the hub of the University of Utah’s nationally recognized health sciences campus. Once open, the facilities will accelerate the school’s ability to provide the highest-quality medical education, advanced research and patient care, while the added support from the foundations dramatically increases the school’s endowment and powers critical research.

Construction of the UofU’s new medical education building was approved by the Utah State Legislature in 2017 with a $50 million commitment, and an additional $60 million appropriation was approved earlier this year. More than $50 million in added philanthropic pledges for the project have also been secured. Completion of the project is expected in 2025.

“The incredible impact of the University of Utah’s health sciences program in education, research and care across the Intermountain West is a source of great pride for the entire state,” said Gov. Spencer J. Cox. “This new facility will make a major difference in our ability to address the growing need for top-tier doctors in the state, especially in our rural areas.”

“I have long believed that no state or region can become truly great without a world-class medical center at its nucleus,” said Spencer F. Eccles, namesake of the school and chairman and CEO of both the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation. “We hope this seminal grant — the largest ever awarded by our foundations — will help ensure the university not only provides the highest quality medical education for the doctors who serve Utah and the entire Intermountain West, but also furthers the excellence of healthcare for all our citizens and impacts the future of medicine through its groundbreaking research.”

Plans for the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine building are focused in three major areas according to a release from the university:

Global Health. With significant funding from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the building’s Global Health Pavilion will enable faculty and students to expand their innovative efforts to provide healthcare to more people in need, both within and beyond the boundaries of the U.S.  It will provide a central hub for many global health-focused groups that are currently scattered throughout the UofU campus, enabling groups to continue to improve the quality of healthcare in less-developed areas.

Core Medical Education (Core Med). Intermountain Healthcare has awarded a grant for the building’s core medical education spaces, including adaptive classrooms that are increasingly important as medical curriculum changes over time. The building will also include a new, state-of-the-art Advanced Simulation Center and Anatomy Lab.

Collaboration Spaces. Nearly 15 percent of the building will be “common areas,” designed to foster collaboration among students, faculty and the state’s medical community. It will house the school’s Center for Interprofessional Experiential Learning, weaving important interaction between working medical professionals, students and faculty into medical education.

“This building is being designed to advance innovation in medical education,” said Dr. Sara M. Lamb, vice dean of medical education at the University of Utah. “It will enable us to continue to be a ‘proving ground’ in educating top-flight medical students who will carry medical sciences and patient care forward. The solutions created at this school and the generosity that made it possible will not only improve health outcomes, but also extend lives and improve the quality of life for countless individuals and families.”

“The University of Utah is fortunate to have benefitted for many decades from the visionary leadership of the Eccles family,” said UofU President Taylor Randall. “This iconic new building anchoring our University Health campus reflects the remarkable, generous legacy of the Eccles family and foundations that spans more than 70 years at the U. Their remarkable gift is already enabling our Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine to move further forward as a world-class integrated academic medical institution.”

“Thanks to this extraordinary grant — and now the construction of the new medical education building it is helping fund — others in our community are also coming together to shape the future of healthcare in Utah,” said University of Utah Health CEO Michael L. Good.  “With significant investments in global health, population health, genomics, simulation, discovery and more, this is a true turning point for our institution to impact Utah, the Mountain West and the U.S.”{/mprestriction}