Building tomorrow’s doctors

Donation bolsters new Medical Education Building project

By Karen Dooley

Scott and his wife, Rebecca, of Boca Raton, pledged their gift in October to support construction of the 94,000-square-foot building, to be located between the McKnight Brain Institute and the Health Professions/Nursing/Pharmacy Complex.

The Scotts’ gift will fuel the college’s $45 million building project, which is designed to support a revised medical education curriculum.

“A more modern curriculum was required to meet the demands of rapidly advancing technologies and the changing health care landscape,” said Michael L. Good, dean of the College of Medicine. “Our current learning space, built more than 35 years ago, does not reflect today’s needs.”

In honor of the Scotts’ contribution, the College of Medicine will name the specially designed atrium in the new building the Steven M. and Rebecca J. Scott Commons.

Last year, a gift from H. James Free, M.D., a member of the College of Medicine’s first graduating class of 1960, and his wife, Carole, jumpstarted the project, and they requested the new facility be named in honor of George T. Harrell, M.D., the college’s founding dean who passed away in 1999. The new facility will provide the latest in information technology as well as modern teaching laboratories, space for small-group and interdisciplinary team-based learning, and expanded use of simulation, virtual reality and standardized patients for both education and assessment.