New Building on the Medical School’s Horizon

Medical School celebrates groundbreaking for new research building, its first new building in 30 years

Digging in at the ceremonial groundbreaking for the UT Medical School at Houston's new research building are, from left, Peter Davies, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice president for research at the health science center; John McFate, president of the Student Senate; Stanley G. Schultz, M.D., dean; Judianne Kellaway, M.D., president of the Medical School's Alumni Association; and Brad Howell, Development Board chairman.

The University of Texas Medical School at Houston is well on its way to achieving yet another milestone in its 35th anniversary year. Medical School Dean Stanley G. Schultz, M.D., and the Medical School family welcomed guests April 12 to the school's Fifth Floor Gallery to witness the ceremonial groundbreaking for the school's new research facility. Faculty, staff, students, alumni, Development Board members and Texas Medical Center friends gathered for the occasion.

The new research facility - the first building the Medical School has constructed in the last 30 years - will be built on the site of the now demolished John H. Freeman Building, adjacent to the Medical School Building on the corner of Fannin Street and John Freeman Boulevard. A fund-raising program will kick off soon to equip the building.

Construction on the six-story, 208,500 gross square-foot building is due to be completed by fall 2007 at an estimated cost of $78 million. The facility will house four floors of research programs that will catapult the Medical School into the forefront of new and promising areas: the neurobiology of human development, the molecular biology of human pathogen, physiological genomics or systems biology, and structural biology.

The building also will be home to the Medical School's new, state-of-the-art animal care center, which was destroyed by Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. The center will be located on the top two floors.

Development Board vice chair Phil Conway, left, and chair Brad Howell, center, greet John H. Byrne, Ph.D., associate dean for research at the Medical School and the June and Virgil Waggoner Distinguished Professor.

This architect's rendering shows how the new research building will join the existing Medical School.

"Each person present today is part of our history and part of our future," Schultz said in his opening remarks. "Today's ceremony marks a new day and a new future for this Medical School. I thank each of you for sharing this moment with us."

The dean acknowledged James T. Willerson, M.D., UT Health Science Center at Houston president, who was unable to attend the ceremony due to legislative business in Austin.

"Special thanks to our president, Jim Willerson, who deserves enormous credit for his tireless efforts to secure much needed funding for this undertaking and his unwavering commitment to the educational and research missions of this Medical School," Schultz said.

Vice President for Public Affairs Gwin Morris, Ph.D., spoke on behalf of Willerson. "This is a project that has Dr. Willerson's highest support and highest attention, and he congratulates you on this milestone," Morris said regarding Willerson's efforts to secure, federal, state and local support to rebuild the Medical School.

"Research is one-third of our mission statement, but it's far more than that. It is our opportunity to collaborate in the quest to conquer disease - to treat it, cure it and ultimately prevent it," Morris said. "If we are successful in this noble quest, then the cost of this building and all of the time and attention that each one of us will give to it will be inconsequential because the results will be so significant."

Schultz also recognized the construction project team led by Joe Vaughn of Vaughn Construction. Vaughn's company also underwrote the groundbreaking ceremony.

Thrusting golden shovels into a symbolic "sandbox" on stage were: Schultz; Brad Howell, Development Board chairman; Peter Davies, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice president for research at the health science center and professor of integrative biology and pharmacology at the Medical School; John McFate, president of the Student Senate and a third-year medical student from Irving, Texas; and Judianne Kellaway, M.D., president of the Medical School's Alumni Association and director of the residency program in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science.

The 55,000 square-foot Freeman Building, which was dedicated in October 1972 by former President George H. W. Bush when he was the United Nations ambassador, was named for one of the founders of the Texas Medical Center.

With the demolition of such a historic fixture like the Freeman Building, the adage "out with the old and in with the new" took on new meaning for faculty, students and alumni. "It was a little sad for me because of the origin of this wonderful school, but I'm very excited about the project and all the great new things that will go on in that building," said Kellaway, who is a 1987 graduate of the Medical School.

Schultz also reflected on the old research building. "It was only two stories in stature, but it was huge in our mind. It was the Medical School, our first and only building during our infancy," Schultz said. "After two months of careful demolition and the removal of 130 18-wheeler truck loads of debris, the Freeman Building is gone, but it should never be forgotten."

By Jacqueline Preston, Development