[COM] Uni of Adelaide - Med School | 70m | 15lvl | $120m
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 4:20 pm
From the Advertiser:
Gillard announces $100m for new cancer centre and medical school for Adelaide to revitalise West End
Brad Crouch
adelaidenow
June 15, 20131:31PM
ADELAIDE'S West End will be home to the largest health and biomedical precinct in the southern hemisphere with two major new buildings for North Terrace, next to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital.
The University of Adelaide will get a new medical school while the University of South Australia will have a new Centre for Cancer Biology thanks to $100 million in Federal Government grants announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Adelaide today.
Construction on both will start next year.
The medical school will open in 2016 and the cancer centre in 2017.
The University of Adelaide will match the Federal Government's $60 million for the medical school which will bring the schools of medicine and nursing together.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Warren Bebbington said the university will seek to have the dental school also included, though this would push the cost from $120 million to around $200 million.
The new medical school will cater for 1550 students and 230 staff, ending criticism students would be too far from the hospital when the new RAH opens in 2016.
The Federal Government's $40 million for the UniSA cancer centre will see 250 researchers housed in a new building investigating blood cancers, such as leukaemia. The Uni of SA will match the $40m but a spokesperson said it was investigating funding options for the remaining $20m.
The two new buildings will be built next to the $200 million SA Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) which is now under construction, on land donated by the State Government.
Ms Gillard said the funding was an investment which would attract top researchers to Adelaide.
"This will be the biggest precinct of its type in the Southern Hemisphere," she said.
Premier Jay Weatherill said the precinct would ''attract the best and brightest to be part of the South Australian story."
He also noted the influx of students, researchers and staff would revitalise the West End.
"You can't throw 5000 or 6000 people into part of the city without changing its culture," he said.
"This precinct will enhance our ability to attract investment, students, clinicians and biomedical researchers to South Australia."
The existing skate park will be moved to another city location which is yet to be decided.
Prof Bebbington said the medical school had been located next to the RAH on Frome Rd for 130 years and the two worked together as ''a single organism''.
"This means that organism goes on and will grow and flourish into the future," he said. "That historic partnership will continue seamlessly and without interruption.
"Being next to SAHMRI means we can centralise teaching, research and patient services in a single location."
UniSA Vice-Chancellor Professor David Lloyd said: "The West is awake in Adelaide."
"The Centre for Cancer Biology will continue to forge extensive and close relationships with industry so we can find treatment solutions for cancer patients - our goal is to develop the Centre as one of the very best in the world."