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WSUT Top Features Archive
Biomedical/health sciences complex
Design firm chosen for next WSU Spokane building
Funding of $4.3 million for this phase was approved in the 2009 legislative session; construction funding will be sought in a future session.
The project will advance health-sciences research and education-program growth at the campus, which is expanding as a regional center for academic and clinical health sciences.
“The increased capacity the new building represents will facilitate and significantly expand our existing programs along with those of our partners at University of Washington and Eastern Washington University,” said campus chancellor Brian Pitcher.
Programs at the campus are positioned for growth both because of increasing demand for health professionals as the Baby Boom generation retires and because of the opportunities to partner with Spokane’s healthcare sector, including regional hospitals, clinics and research institutes.
The building will provide state-of-the-art biomedical research and health-sciences education facilities. It will be designed as the first phase of a potential multi-phase complex. Future phases of the building are anticipated over the next several years.
The first phase is anticipated to be approximately 55,000-70,000 gross square feet in size and include basic and clinical research laboratory space; core research and teaching facilities, including a vivarium and gross anatomy laboratory; allied health programs; space for the growth of pharmaceutical sciences; and administrative support spaces including offices, conference rooms and medical education classrooms.
Health professions/health-sciences programs at the campus include nursing, pharmacy, medicine, dentistry and dental hygiene, nutrition and exercise physiology, speech and hearing sciences/communication disorders, health policy and administration, occupational therapy, physical therapy, behavioral sciences and substance abuse research, and sleep and human performance research.
In 2008, a cohort of 20 first-year medical students and eight first-year dental students began their studies at the Riverpoint Campus in a partnership of the University of Washington, WSU and Eastern Washington University, representing the first expansion of medical and dental education in the state in more than 30 years.
Campus programs in the health professions emphasize a “team care” interprofessional approach that enhances quality of care and improves patient outcomes.
