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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
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VANCOUVER – The new hub of British Columbia’s education network for medical professionals – a state-of-the-art building that will attract and support the best and brightest students and researchers – was opened today at the University of B.C. by Premier Gordon Campbell.
The 51,000-square-metre Life Sciences Centre, with enough floor space in its five storeys to fill more than six football fields, will allow the UBC faculty of medicine to almost double its enrolment. Its tele-learning facilities will link classes at UBC, the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George and the University of Victoria. Other life sciences disciplines will also be housed in the new building.
“The Life Sciences Centre takes medical education and research in B.C. to the next level, providing a setting where the doctors and other health professionals of tomorrow will learn next to researchers who are discovering future treatments and cures,” said Campbell. “In four years’ time, more than 700 medical students will be studying here, with close to 200 more connected electronically from Prince George and Victoria. As a result, more British Columbians will have access to excellent medical care from doctors trained in their region of the province.”
The medical training portion of the new building contains two large lecture theatres; 37 small problem-based learning rooms; and flexible, high-use teaching labs to allow the expanded medical education program to be offered efficiently. Sophisticated audiovisual and e-learning technology will allow for interactive, simultaneous learning in all three medical program sites.
“We’re not only increasing the number of medical graduates, almost doubling to 224 by June 2009, we are also providing excellent facilities and will see students trained in a wider range of communities than ever before, including those outside the Lower Mainland,” said Advanced Education Minister Shirley Bond. “Educating more doctors in B.C. is part of our commitment to expand training in a variety of health professions, opening up opportunities for B.C. students to have great careers and helping to ensure healthy communities.”
The Life Sciences Centre will also be home to the Centre for Disease Modelling and the Centre for Blood Research, as well as bringing together education and research in such subjects as anatomy, biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology and medical genetics.
“This centre is a clear representation of government’s support for health education and integrated life sciences research,” said UBC president Martha Piper. “These outstanding facilities will not only provide a forum to accelerate and strengthen learning, but will also serve to attract and retain top academics here at UBC.”
The centre can accommodate 2,900 students and staff, including medical students and professors, researchers and assistants, graduate students, and facilities and administration staff. Two hundred first-year medical students are studying in the centre, an increase of 72 from the previous year’s enrolment.
In January, 24 of those medical students will move to the northern medical program at UNBC, and another 24 to the Island medical program at UVic to continue their education. The northern medical program will address special issues for northern communities, including aboriginal health. The Island medical program will add expertise in biomedicine and geriatric issues. When they graduate, all the students will receive their medical degrees from UBC.
Funding for the $134-million Life Sciences Initiative, announced in March 2002, came from the Ministry of Advanced Education's budget for capital projects.
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