UB's future medical campus looks to heal an ailing Buffalo.
When the NYSUNY 2020 bill was passed in June 2011, one of the biggest points of interest was the potential budget for the construction of the new downtown campus of the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
UB is eligible to receive $35 million in state seed money from the bill for the campus, which will be completed in 2016. The university is currently awaiting the governor's approval of its proposal for the $35 million grant.
If the grant is awarded, it will be one part of a $375 million plan that would include $50 million to be raised in private gifts to the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, $50 million to be raised from private partnerships, $40 million in research grants, $100 million from UB capital and other sources, and $100 million for medical school program fees. Tuition revenues will not be used for any part of the medical school's construction.
"We have not yet begun construction," said John Della Contrada, Assistant Vice President for Media Relations. "We are evaluating potential sites and the medical school's leadership is having preliminary discussions about facility design and needs."
Della Contrada also noted that he was optimistic about the implications of the new campus, not just for the university, but also for the city of Buffalo as a whole.
"Building a new medical school is an important step in the creation of UB's downtown campus," Della Contrada said. "It will bring thousands of people to downtown Buffalo on a daily basis, and provide new opportunities for UB faculty, students, and staff to engage with the city.
A big part of the construction of the new campus is the university's collaboration with Kaleida Health, a local non-profit health care provider. The organization is excited about the opportunities presented by its collaboration with UB.
"[The collaboration] is about leveraging, and creating infrastructure, primarily through the construction of the school," said Michael P. Hughes, vice president of marketing, public relations, and government affairs for Kaleida Health. "Being able to have researchers and physicians working together will create many opportunities for advancement in the field of health care."
Although the construction of the downtown campus is a big priority for UB, it is not the only venture in downtown Buffalo the university is making.
This year, the university will open the UB Institute for Healthcare Informatics, leveraging a $15 million investment from Dell Computers. The institute will be focused on improving patient care through more efficient sharing and interpretation of medical records.
Additionally, UB recently broke ground on construction of a new Educational Opportunity Center that will provide job training in entry-level science, as well as medical and technology fields.
While the relocation project is still being planned, there will be advancements made to the school in the coming year.
"One new medical school building is already near completion," said Suazanne G. Laychock, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Facilities at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. "It will be located next to Buffalo General Hospital, and it will hold the Global Vascular Institute."
The building in question, which will be completed in May 2012, will also be the home of a new research facility for the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
"The upper five stories [of the building] belong to UB," Laychock said. "It will be used to build a Clinical Translation Research Center."
The relocation proposal will also create more than 3,000 full-time jobs in Western New York by 2018, which includes 1,325 new jobs for UB alone. This will not only revitalize the university, but the city of Buffalo, as well.
"UB's proposal has earned unprecedented support in our region — from business leaders, to legislators to students to faith-based organizations," said Jeremy Jacobs, CEO of Delaware North Companies and chairman of the UB Council, in a statement to the UB News Center. "UB's plan is a strategy for our entire region to move forward — economically, culturally and socially. A better UB will yield a better, stronger Western New York."
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