University of Washington Medical students, as well as medical students trained through a multi-state rural healthcare partnership, now have a permanent home in Eastern Washington. The new building will be a training center for future doctors, as well as physiology, physician assistant and nursing students.
Patrick Farley, a partner at the Emerald Initiative, the group that developed the building, said it’s designed with the needs of future doctors, and researchers in mind.
“One of the crown jewels of this building being this environmental chamber,” he said. “This is a chamber that would allow the universities to conduct experiments and titrate temperature, humidity and pressure. So it’s going to simulate almost any environment in the lower 48.”
He said the building is powered almost completely by renewable energy. The ninety-thousand square-foot building also comes with a state-of-the-art anatomy lab, and space for both exercise and molecular physiology research. There’s also space set aside to expand to allow for future students and partnerships.
Leaders of the two universities, such as University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce, say the building is also a concrete step toward increasing the pipeline of medical professionals working in rural, or difficult to access communities.
“Through this outstanding collaboration, we have been really able to change the face of medical education and healthcare in our region,” she said, “in Eastern Washington and quite frankly across the state.”
She, and Gonzaga University’s president Thane McCulloh, said the partnership could lead to more medical professionals in many underserved communities.