Duke to build $53M medical education facility

The Charlotte-based Duke Endowment has pledged $35 million toward the construction of the Learning Center, which officials said would provide the medical school with needed space and the latest technological advances.

“Medical education and the practice of medicine have changed dramatically since our current facilities were built,” Dr. Nancy Andrews, dean of the School of Medicine, said in a statement. “In fact, this is the first new home for medical student education since classes started in the Davison Building in 1930.”

The six-floor, 84,000-square-foot building will house teaching clinical labs and a ground floor auditorium that seats up to 400. A student life center will provide a sense of community by offering students from across the medical campus places to gather, dine, study and converse.

Because simulation activities allow students to practice and master medical and surgical skills, an entire floor will be dedicated to simulation laboratories that can transform from mock clinical exam rooms to surgery suites to emergency rooms.

Construction is slated to begin next year, with completion in 2013.