An architectural rendering of the Chan Gunn Pavilion, the new home of the sport and exercise medicine centre. Illustration courtesy of HCMA Architecture + Design
The federal and provincial governments are providing $51.5 million for three infrastructure projects under the Faculty of Medicine.
The joint funding was announced Sept. 19 at UBC by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and by the Honourable Andrew Wilkinson, British Columbia’s Minister of Advanced Education.
“State of the art research and teaching facilities are crucial elements of our national endeavor to become more innovative and more competitive on a global stage,” said Professor Santa Ono said, UBC’s President and Vice Chancellor, at a ceremony Sept. 19 in the Biological Sciences Complex. “We will get you ROI on your investment.”
A biomedical researcher himself, he joked, “In fact, I’m looking for a lab — this would be a pretty nice place to base my laboratory.”
The federal government’s $39.7 million and the provincial government’s $11.8 million will go toward:
- Renewal and replacement of the Biological Sciences Complex, providing modern research and lab space for faculty, including members of the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences and the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology who are now working in the D.H. Copp Building. Once vacated, the Copp building site will become available for development. The Government of Canada is providing $32.5 million for this project, with an additional $11.8 million coming from the Government of British Columbia, and UBC contributing $35.6 million.
- Construction of the new Chan Gunn Pavilion, an interdisciplinary hub to advance innovations in physical activity and exercise medicine. The building will be home to the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre, a joint program of the Department of Family Practice and the School of Kinesiology that is comprised of 50 sports medicine physicians, orthopaedic surgeons, psychiatrists, internists, musculoskeletal radiologists, physiotherapists, exercise scientists, sports psychologists, nutritionists and other allied health providers. The facility, to be located adjacent to the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, will replace the previous sports medicine facility in the John Owen Pavilion at Thunderbird Park. The federal government is providing $4.7 million; Vancouver physician and pain management specialist Chan Gunn and the Jack and Darlene Poole Foundation are contributing a combined $6 million; and the School of Kinesiology an additional $675,000.
- Expansion and enhancement of the Centre of Excellence for Simulation Education and Innovation (CESEI) at Vancouver General Hospital, which will help make advances in biomedical engineering by piloting new medical devices and technologies. Minister Bains said the project, which is receiving $2.5 million in federal funds, “will allow biomedical engineers to pilot new medical devices and technology.” Professor Ono called CESEI “the nexus of interprofessional education across the faculties and schools that teach the health care providers and innovators of the future.”
“This once-in-a-generation investment by the Government of Canada is a historic down payment on the government’s vision to position Canada as a global centre for innovation,” said Minister Bains. “That means making Canada a world leader in turning ideas into solutions, science into technologies, skills into middle-class jobs and start-up companies into global successes. This investment will create conditions that are conducive to innovation and long-term growth, which will in turn keep the Canadian economy globally competitive.”
“Our $11.8-million investment in the renewal and replacement of the life sciences undergraduate labs at UBC will give students the opportunity to conduct research and gain the education needed to contribute to a growing and diverse sector,” said Minister Wilkinson. “Life sciences contribute an estimated $805 million in revenues and employ 8,500 people here in British Columbia. Investment partnerships such as the one with the Government of Canada will advance research, innovation and education, benefiting students, communities and the province.”
The ceremony also included remarks by Nazde Edeer, a fourth-year biology student and President of the UBC Biological Sciences Society, who said she hopes “to apply the knowledge and experience I’ve gained in the field of medicine or public health.”