Newswise — After more than 15 years of advocacy and 22 months of construction, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy officially opened its new $62 million Pharmacy Hall building with a celebration Oct. 5 that included a wide spectrum of political, academic, and community leaders and friends of the School.
Prominently located on Baltimore's West Side, the new Pharmacy Hall is seven stories tall and includes lecture halls equipped with technology for distance learning, experiential learning facilities, and research laboratories. It also includes a dispensing laboratory with state-of-the-art robotics-a trend that allows pharmacists to dedicate more time to other critical patient care duties such as medication management therapy.
"Expertise. Influence. Impact. I can think of no better words to describe the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, and our new building is a structural sign of our School's pre-eminence and leadership in the fields of pharmacy education, practice, research, and community service in the state of Maryland and beyond," says Natalie D. Eddington, PhD, FAAPS, dean of the School of Pharmacy. "Through the advocacy efforts of our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends and with a financial commitment from the state of Maryland, our new home is finally ready."
Adds Jay A. Perman, MD, president of the Baltimore campus of the University of Maryland, "This is a building that will allow students to learn the important traditions of the pharmacy profession and embrace the new roles of pharmacists in collaborative health care. It will foster partnerships between researchers within the School and across the campus who will use this collaborative lab space to make discoveries in the areas of health outcomes research, structural biology, and translational research."
"Health care reform is now a reality and our nation needs highly trained pharmacists working closely with other health care professionals in providing new benefits to Americans," says U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, who provided the keynote address at the grand opening ceremony. "The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy's new building is a cutting-edge facility that will provide important instructional and clinical resources for the next generation of pharmacists and also allow for an expanded research role that will help develop and identify new drugs to combat diseases."
Pharmacy Hall Addition is a seven-story, 128,951-gross-square-foot, 66,115-net-square-foot education and research building outfitted with $20 million in scientific and information technology equipment. The building features two 200-seat lecture halls, 80-seat and 76-seat lecture halls, and classrooms and seminar rooms, all equipped for distance learning. To help train pharmacists with expanded health care roles, facilities in the new building are designed to evaluate how students carry out clinical examinations of patients.
A new patient interaction suite accommodates 48 students to practice patient counseling. The building also includes a dispensing laboratory with state-of-the-art robotics and four floors of open research labs where faculty will work to discover new, novel, and improved therapeutics.
The design, construction, furnishings, and scientific and audiovisual equipment costs associated with Pharmacy Hall Addition increased economic activity in the state of Maryland by $125.7 million and created 772 jobs earning $37.3 million in salaries and wages during the construction period. State and local tax revenues increased by $5.6 million.
Ultimately, Pharmacy Hall Addition will house an estimated 135 new School of Pharmacy faculty, staff, and research personnel. It will allow the School of Pharmacy to increase its operational revenues and research activities by $14.9 million.
This $14.9 million in expanded School of Pharmacy operational revenue and research activities and the 135 new jobs in the Addition will annually increase economic activity in the state of Maryland by $29.2 million and create a total of 231 jobs in the state earning $11.9 million in salaries and wages. State and local tax revenues will increase by $1.5 million annually as a result of the expansion.
The School of Pharmacy is seeking a "Gold" rating from the United States Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for the Pharmacy Hall building. If granted, it will be one of the few education and research-intensive "Gold" buildings located in an urban area.
Founded in 1841, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy is the fourth oldest school of pharmacy in the nation. Ranking ninth, the School leads pharmacy education, scientific discovery, patient care, and community engagement in the state of Maryland and beyond. The School's PharmD program expanded to the Universities at Shady Grove in Montgomery County in the fall of 2007.
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