2017: Medical students get a new home

During its 70-year history, the University of Mississippi Medical Center has made contributions to the state, and the world, in medicine, science and education. Each month, we’ll recognize at least one of these major accomplishments.

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After more than a decade of planning, and perhaps decades of anticipation, the Medical Center formally opened its new medical education building with a dedication ceremony in August 2017. The five-story, 151,000 square-foot structure was almost one-third the size of the entire Medical Center when it was introduced to the public in 1955 as a teaching hospital and medical school. Now, medical students had something they had not enjoyed for many years: a single, purpose-built facility, a home of their own. Almost from its beginning 70 years ago, the school had dispersed and scattered its various parts across the campus. Its 2017 incarnation pulled them back together in a design that considered input from thestudents themselves. It embraced state-of-the art classrooms, training spaces, labs, simulation areas, video-conferencing rooms, two amphitheaters, study roomsand much more, including the all-important coffee shop. Located in a neighborhood occupied by most of UMMC’s other schools, it helps definethe north side of the campus – and the future of medicine.