East Carolina University leaders broke ground Thursday on a planned seven-story, 195,000-square-foot Center for Medical Education Building financed by the state of North Carolina. The project promises to make space for much larger incoming classes by the end of the decade. It is financed with $265 million from the state of North Carolina.
East Carolina University Chancellor Philip Rogers addresses a crowd of about 200 Thursday at the groundbreaking for the Center for Medical Education Building. (ECU photo)
The groundbreaking took place during the two-day meeting of the ECU Board of Trustees. Remarks were made by ECU Chancellor Philip G. Rogers and Dr. Michael Waldrum, dean of the medical school and CEO of ECU Health, along with University of North Carolina System President Peter Hans and fourth-year medical school student Shantell McLaggan.
Years in the planning, the project moved closer to reality in 2021 when the North Carolina legislature approved and the governor signed into law a state budget that earmarked $265 million for the new center.
The chancellor thanked state leaders, members of the ECU Board of Trustees and the UNC System, Brody School and ECU Health leadership and department chairs, alumni and donors, faculty and students. He also thanked the design team and construction contractors and said the day was a celebration of the start of a journey that will impact countless families in eastern North Carolina and beyond.
“There is a shortage of primary care doctors in our country that’s acute for rural Americans. East Carolina University stands in the breach, training today’s medical students who will choose to practice primary care in underserved areas tomorrow,” said Rogers. “We thank our state’s elected leaders and the people of North Carolina for their trust in our commitment to improve rural health and well-being. We pledge to steward this public investment in service of our medical students – the next generation of highly trained physicians giving patients throughout our state life-saving help and hope.”
Last year, the president of the American Medical Association spoke out against the nationwide physician shortage that’s left more than 83 million people in the U.S. without sufficient access to a primary care physician. Rural communities are hit hardest.
The Brody School of Medicine is among the nation’s top schools for graduates who choose to practice primary care in medically underserved areas in the state. It is No. 2 in the nation for graduates who choose to practice family medicine.
ECU Brody School of Medicine Dean Michael Waldrum gives remarks at the groundbreaking.
“The Brody School of Medicine and ECU Health have a great culture, which is foundational to our important rural mission,” said Waldrum. “The Center for Medical Education Building will directly support the mission by providing a state-of-the-art environment in which medical students can train right here in one of the largest rural regions in the nation. It is incredibly exciting to know we will have a modern facility intentionally designed to ensure our students, faculty and staff can continue to benefit from a high-quality medical education experience that supports them and our state.”
When it opens in 2027, the Center for Medical Education Building will provide state-of-the-art classrooms, anatomy labs and simulation technology integrated with flexible spaces, collaboration rooms, small group student spaces and green infrastructure. Sections of the building will be designed as living rooms for four blended cohorts of medical school students. Common spaces will serve as a “home” for students to study, gather and recharge.
“This facility is 100% designed with students in mind,” said Dr. Jason Higginson, the school’s executive dean. “Recruiting the most promising future doctors means pledging the highest quality medical education and facilities. We see that pledge coming to life here in these renderings.”
“Medical school is so rigorous. Success depends both on labs and hands-on learning environments along with quiet and comfortable spaces that host hours and hours of quiet study. Our students need all of it before they begin treating patients in clinical settings. They have it here at the Brody School of Medicine.”
In more than a half century of training eastern North Carolina physicians, ECU has bestowed more than 3,500 degrees in medicine. Expansion will allow the school to admit more incoming students – from fewer than 100 this year to as many as 120 after expansion.
Construction will begin at the northeast corner of the medical school footprint starting in March. The Center for Medical Education Building will open during the 2027-2028 academic year.
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