В Айове открыли новый медицинский кампус стоимостью 250 млн долларов

IOWA CITY — Realizing a vision planted with a ceremonial shovel three years ago, hundreds of University of Iowa officials, faculty, staff, and students on Wednesday dedicated a new $250 million Health Sciences Academic Building that reached completion over the summer. “I remember about three years ago — in fact it was the fall of 2023 — we stood out on the ground somewhere with shovels, and lifted up some sand … and we imagined the beginning of this project,” UI President Barbara Wilson said. “That was three years ago, and I don't think any of us could have visualized at that time what we would create, what we would be able to do in a space like this.” Aptly situated at the seam of the main UI campus and the UI Health Care enterprise, the six-story 263,000-square-foot Health Sciences Academic Building will connect academic and research work with the clinical operation that serves more than a million patients annually. “Think about the educational opportunities, the research opportunities, and the clinical opportunities,” Wilson said. “Bringing those units together is going to transform the way we do the work that we do. “This is a phenomenal moment.” The new health sciences building was first announced in January 2022 as a way to both replace the outdated facilities housing some of its most popular academic programs and make space for a new inpatient tower expected to cost more than $1 billion and add hundreds of beds. By uniting under one roof its Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, and Department of Health, Sport and Human Physiology, the university is able to raze its nearly 60-year-old Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center. That building, which opened in 1967, housed Iowa’s No. 2-ranked audiology and No. 3-ranked speech-language pathology programs. Under its new roof and new name, the UI Speech, Language, and Hearing Clinic has conducted more than 700 audiology visits and more than 1,400 speech-language visits in the past six months. Bringing it all together On an academic and research level, housing Communication Sciences and Disorders in a more central location with two other departments makes sense, according to department executive officer Eric Hunter — noting its faculty members have active projects across 12 academic departments. “That kind of approach is really built into the architecture of the building,” he said. “Having all three of these programs still walking distance from a nationally known medical center and a short walk across a beautiful river to a wonderfully diverse academic campus, that approach has really been seen a lot in our history.” Six decades ago, the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center “was this very thing.” “It brought together something that other programs weren't doing at the time,” he said. “Let's bring the research, the education, and the clinical care all under one roof. And now we get to do it on a larger scale.” The new facility’s largest department — Health, Sport, and Human Physiology — enrolls more than 2,600 undergraduate students across six majors, along with up to 110 graduate or doctoral students across five programs. Including minors and certificate programs, the department engages more than 3,000 students a semester, according to department executive officer Gary Pierce. “This new broader building will provide state-of-the-art research labs, teaching labs, lecture halls, and classrooms — experiential learning spaces equipped with the latest technology for innovative, creative learning, discovery, and real-world applications,” Pierce said. “A few of those new exciting spaces in our department include the food and nutrition science teaching lab, sport and recreation management podcasting studio, the exercise oncology clinic, an outdoor adaptive playground for our child life and therapeutic work program, and newly redesigned state-of-the-art research labs and teaching labs in human anatomy, physiology, exercise testing, and also our community health collaborative and pediatric play lab.” Physical therapy space With its new digs, the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences hopes to continue grow — having nearly doubled its enrollment from 90 two decades ago to 170 today. “Our students are typically in class from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and many stay into the evening to study,” department executive officer Rich Shields said. “One of the features I’m most excited about is the student lounge, where they can gather between classes, study together or share lunch as a group.” Also ranked No. 2 in the nation, the new UI physical therapy space might amplify its impact, according to Shields. “Yes, our physical therapy program is highly ranked, and we are proud of that,” he said. “But our greatest measure of success has never been about our ranking. Rather, it is about what our graduates do — the patients they help, the communities they strengthen, the discoveries they make, and the people they inspire.”