Article published September 11, 2009
Work to begin on $25M pharmacy facility for UT
Building being added to its health science campus
The 54,000-square-foot building, in an artist's rendering, above, will be built at the former Medical College of Ohio campus.
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By MEGHAN GILBERT
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The University of Toledo's pharmacy dean can't wait for construction of the new college on the medical campus to begin.
Moving the pharmacy program into new state-of-the-art facilities on the UT Health Science campus, formerly the Medical College of Ohio campus, will create "tremendous benefits" for student and faculty collaboration and the improvement of patient care, pharmacy college Dean Johnnie Early said.
"I've had trouble sleeping the last couple days and part of it is, I wake up thinking about the marvelous things that formally begin [today]," he said.
An official groundbreaking ceremony at 11:30 a.m. today will kick off construction of the $25 million facility scheduled to open for next school year.
The 54,000-square-foot building will be constructed in an area that's basically been waiting for development between the Block Health Science Building and the Health Education Building.
Two new floors will be built on top of an existing foundation that now has basement research areas already used by the pharmacy program, said Chuck Lehnert, UT's vice president for facilities and construction."It was always built structurally to hold another two floors," he said. "It's really an extension of the Health Education Building."
The $25 million building is being paid for mostly through bonds. The UT Board of Trustees approved the project a year ago.
Mr. Early said being on the same campus as other medical professionals will help with educational efforts that build team approach to patient care among the physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other health-care professionals.
And the new location will streamline research projects by the pharmacy staff and those on the medical campus, such as their work in diabetes, and will open the door to more, Mr. Early said.
"There will be so many more opportunities for collaborative research," he said.
The current pharmacy building, Wolfe Hall, opened on the main campus in 1998. It will continue to serve prepharmacy, students who will spend their first two years on the main campus.
Once accepted into the pharmacy college, they will spend the rest of their UT years on the health science campus.
The college has more than 1,500 students for the third straight year, Mr. Early said.
Back in 2000, there were just 850 pharmacy students, he said, and the additional new space will help as the program grows.
"It's going to be amazing, what it does for us not only with location but its features," Mr. Early said.
The building design includes lighter materials such as metal plating that's designed to blend in with the campus and to work with the existing foundation, Mr. Lehnert said.
"The health science campus is a fairly contemporary campus in architecture and we're trying to make sure we stay in that tradition," he said.
It's also similar in style to the UT Orthopedic Center that opened in 2007 and will be energy-efficient like all new construction on campus, Mr. Lehnert said.
A new 500-seat auditorium also is under construction on the health science campus for both the pharmacy and other medical students to use.
It's being built in the split area of the Y-shaped Collier Building to the northeast of the Block Health Science Building.
Contact Meghan Gilbert at:
mgilbert@theblade.com
or 419-724-6134.
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