The Academic Health Sciences Center at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) has begun a multimillion-dollar renovation project in Johnson City that will create a headquarters for interprofessional education and research.
The university says the project will transform Building 60 on the Mountain Home Veterans Affairs campus into the Interprofessional Education and Research Center. The educational facility will include simulation labs, research space, classrooms, student study space and more.
The repurposed building will not belong to any single health sciences college, but instead represent a space where students, faculty and staff from all five such colleges at ETSU can work and learn in a team-based environment. The ETSU Academic Health Sciences Center includes the Quillen College of Medicine, the Gatton College of Pharmacy, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, and the College of Clinical and Rehabilitative Health Sciences.
“With national attention being directed at affordable and effective healthcare delivery, the health profession programs at ETSU believe it is critical to develop practice-ready graduates who will be able to work effectively in healthcare teams to improve the health of the region and the world beyond,” says Dr. Wilsie Bishop, ETSU’s chief operating officer and vice president for Health Affairs.
The project is expected to cost about $13 million, and the facility is set to open by summer of 2018. The architect is Red Chair Architects.
