The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) has received approval from the UC Board of Regents to begin planning a new Health Sciences Biomedical Research facility on the Health Sciences campus in La Jolla. The facility is necessary to accommodate recent and projected growth in research activities in the School of Medicine and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The Regents gave a green light for planning to proceed at their March 20 meeting in San Francisco.
When complete, the proposed facility will add approximately 150,000 square feet of research and support space for UC San Diego Health Sciences’ substantial biomedical research programs, including a new multi-department program in Genomic Medicine and an expanded department of neurosciences. The architecture firm selected is Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP.
“With the continuing success of our stellar research faculty and a number of new recruitments bringing exciting new scientific programs to our campus, our research funding has increased nearly 60 percent in the past five years,” said David A. Brenner, M.D., UC San Diego Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences. “First-rate, modern facilities are paramount to support our research enterprise, which is dedicated to understanding more about human disease at the fundamental level, so that we can improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease for all patients.”
The UC San Diego School of Medicine currently ranks 14th in the nation in National Institutes of Health research funding, and consistently ranks 1st or 2nd in the U.S. in research funding per faculty member. UC San Diego is ranked as the nation’s 5th leading public research medical school by U.S. News and World Report.
Estimated cost of the project is between $118 and $135 million. Preliminary planning for the proposed Health Sciences Biomedical Research Building will include site selection and identification of infrastructure support; determination of facility size and detailed space program; schematic design; detailed cost estimates and schedules; and identification of funding. At the conclusion of the planning phase, the campus will return to the Regents to request final approval to proceed with the project.
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Media Contacts: Debra Kain, ddkain@ucsd.edu or Leslie Franz, lfranz@ucsd.edu
619-543-6163