Premier Gordon Campbell and University of British Columbia President Prof. Stephen Toope led a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Pharmaceutical Sciences Building today.
Read the Province of B.C. news release.
Construction is currently under way for the future home of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, slated to open in fall 2012. The $133.3-million building is made possible by a $86.4-million investment by the Province of British Columbia – the second-largest infrastructure investment to UBC in a single building, after the adjacent Life Sciences Centre.
During the ceremony, Prof. Robert Sindelar, dean of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, honoured Profs. John McNeill, Frank Abbott, Bernie Riedel and Finlay Morrison, who served as deans and acting dean between 1951 and 2002, with the presentation of ceremonial shovels.
Built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification standards, the six-storey, 22,871-sq.-metre building will accommodate the expansion of the faculty’s undergraduate and graduate programs and help address the shortage of pharmacists in B.C. The undergraduate “entry-to-practice” program will expand by 47 per cent, or 72 student spaces each year, starting September 2011, bringing the total number of undergraduate students to 896 by 2015.
The Faculty’s master’s, PhD and Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) programs will also grow significantly with the completion of the new facilities. The post-baccalaureate Pharm.D. program at UBC was the first in Canada. The two-year professional degree provides advanced education in clinical pharmacy practice in hospitals, ambulatory care or community-based sites.
The building will also be home to the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD), which provides drug-development expertise and facilities to enable investigators from research universities and associated institutions to bridge the commercialization gap between academic discoveries in the life sciences and the development of new medicines.
Since its launch in 2007, CDRD’s unique academic-industry model has attracted over $75 million in funding from government and industry partners. It has also been recognized by the Government of Canada as a Centre of Excellence in Commercialization in Research.
The B.C. Government’s 2009 announcement of funding for the Pharmaceutical Sciences Building is available at http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2009-2013/2009PREM0030-000280.htm.
Background information from the 2009 funding announcement is available at http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2009/09/04/ubc-pharmaceutical-sciences-building/.
-30-
Related topics: CDRD, groundbreaking, LEED, pharmaceutical sciences, premier gordon campbell
