Current Research
Section of Surgical Research Service
CITING “The MOST significant advance in health care in our state ever,” U.S. Rep. Max Burns was one of many dignitaries on hand April 23 to help the Medical College of Georgia celebrate its 175th anniversary by introducing three new campus buildings to the community.
MCG chose homecoming weekend to break ground on its Health Sciences Building and Cancer Research Center and to cut the ribbon on Phase Two of its Interdisciplinary Research Building. The three facilities represent a $118 million investment in Georgia’s health sciences university.
“It’s an important moment in the life of any university when you break ground on a building and demonstrate that progress is being made,” said University System of Georgia Chancellor Thomas C. Meredith during the ceremonies. “I think this is the first time in the history of the university system that three have happened at once. This reflects how fast things are moving at MCG, the quality of its work and the national recognition of what’s happening here.”
The facilities will help MCG take enormous strides forward, he said--a process that already has great momentum. “The quality of people coming to MCG day after day after day is proof that they recognize the potential of this great medical center,” said Chancellor Meredith, referring to the many world-renowned scientists and clinicians MCG has recently recruited. “They want to be part of it. That makes me want to pop, I’m so excited.”
That sentiment was echoed by the many other state leaders on hand. Congressman Burns, who represents Georgia’s 12th District, cited his personal interest in MCG’s progress.
“My mother died of cancer in 1959 less than 500 yards from where I stand today,” he said during the groundbreaking of the Cancer Research Center. “Fifteen years later, my father died of cancer. Six years ago, my wife was diagnosed with cancer. But she is a survivor, which is what we must ensure that every cancer patient can be. [Supporting funding] for this facility was the easiest decision I’ve ever made in Congress.”
MCG President Daniel W. Rahn emphasized that the buildings aren’t nearly as important as the energy and ideas they will house. The facilities, he said, will enable vast progress in research, education and clinical care, building on a 175-year foundation of excellence. “The real celebration,” he said, “is of the unprecedented level of work by our faculty and staff that make this expansion possible.”
The Health Sciences Building, a five-story, 183,000-square-foot facility, will house MCG’s Schools of Allied Health Sciences and Nursing. The Cancer Research Center, a $54 million building scheduled for completion in May 2006, will accelerate MCG’s progress in cancer treatment, diagnosis and research.
Phase Two of the Interdisciplinary Research Building, a 94,000-square-foot structure, is now housing the researchers, laboratories and equipment that will advance research in areas such as diabetes, hypertension, biotechnology and genomic medicine. During the building’s groundbreaking, he announced to roaring applause that MCG just received its largest single competitive award: an $11 million National Institutes of Health Program Project Grant to advance the hypertension research of Dr. R. Clinton Webb, chair of the Department of Physiology.
Chancellor Meredith quoted Mark Twain in capturing the mood: “You can be on the right track, but if you just sit there, you’ll get run over,” he said. “MCG is on the right track and is moving forward.”