NEWS

Photo note: To download a photo, see bottom of release.

School of Public Health breaks ground on 125,000-square-foot research center

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health today (May 23) broke ground on a 125,000-square-foot research center that will allow the school to further advance the public’s health through research and education in infectious disease, nutritional sciences and environmental health.

The new research center, estimated to cost $38.6 million, will more than double the amount of laboratory research space available to the school. Featured will be state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms, a high-tech auditorium and office space for students, faculty and support staff in the school’s departments of epidemiology, nutrition, and environmental sciences and engineering. Once completed in 2004, the new facilities will house research on how to prevent the spread of HIV infection, how diet affects cancer risk, how to improve the quality of drinking water worldwide and other issues.

Located adjacent to Rosenau Hall’s south side between Columbia and Pittsboro streets, the new building will link the two existing buildings housing the School of Public Health – Rosenau and McGavran-Greenberg Hall – fostering collaboration among researchers at the school while creating some common and study space not afforded by the two buildings. Construction on the research center is expected to begin in early July.

UNC-Chapel Hill is leveraging both private and public funds to make the research center possible. Other funding sources are the statewide higher education improvement bonds and overhead receipts, the funds research universities receive from the federal government to reimburse the cost of conducting scientific work.

Leadership gifts of $1 million or more from the American Institute for Cancer Research; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation; and Dr. Bill Jordan of Fayetteville, a former member of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees, have provided a strong start to the school’s private fund-raising efforts for the building.

The school’s dean, Dr. Bill Roper, hosted a brief ceremony at the future site of the new center, joined by University of North Carolina President Molly Broad, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser and UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees Vice Chairman Richard "Stick" Williams.

"The events of September 11^th have made our nation and the world keenly aware of the importance of public health," Roper said. "Indeed, it is now clear that the health of each one of us depends on the health of all.

"Now, more than ever, we need to be focused on the future and we need this new facility to continue and extend the important work of our school."

State business leaders involved in raising private funds to support the project also attended the ceremony, among them Max Wallace, president and chief executive officer of Cogent Neuroscience Inc. in Durham; and Keith Crisco, president and chairman of Asheboro Elastics Corp. in Asheboro. Others were Bob Greczyn, president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, who chairs the school’s efforts in support of the university’s Carolina First campaign; and Dr. Dennis Gillings, chairman and chief executive officer of Quintiles Transnational Corp. in Research Triangle Park, and his wife, Joan, who are honorary chairs.

"This building will be the site of discoveries that lead to longer, safer, healthier lives for people in North Carolina and around the world," Moeser said. "I commend Dean Roper and the school’s faculty, staff and students for the planning that led to the new research center – and for years of excellence even before the new building was dreamed of. We can be proud that our School of Public Health in Chapel Hill has grown so quickly into a national and international center."

Established as a division of the School of Medicine in 1936, the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Public Health is the state’s first and only school of public health, first in the nation among schools of public health at public universities and fifth nationwide among schools of public health in research funding from the National Institutes of Health.

The school enrolls more than 1,200 students annually, with 190 full-time faculty members on staff. Several undergraduate degrees and numerous master’s and doctoral programs are offered, in addition to a regular complement of distance education courses accessible to the general public and members of the health-care community alike. To learn more about the school or to tap into current seminars, lectures and webcasts on topics ranging from bioterrorism and community preparedness to prenatal health and health care financing, visit the school’s World Wide Web site at www.sph.unc.edu.

The school has raised approximately $38 million during the quiet phase of the university’s Carolina First campaign, a campuswide initiative intended to position UNC-Chapel Hill as the nation’s leading public university. The school’s campaign goals are captured in four basic themes: protecting against threats to health, empowering people to lead healthy lives, improving the quality of health services and preparing leaders to advance health.

- 30 -

Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/group/pubhealthgroundbrkg.jpg

School of Public Health contact: Lisa Katz at (919) 966-7467 or lisa_katz@unc.edu

News Services contact: Deb Saine at (919) 962-8415