Tallahassee, an academic health center of excellence, united researchers and clinicians who shared a common vision for better healthcare and medical research in the region took a big step forward on Thursday when Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare started a project in a collaboration.
Florida State University’s President Richard McCullough, Board of Trustees Chairman Peter Collins, TMH President and CEO Mark O’Bryant, and Secretary Jason Weida from the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration were also in attendance at the TMH groundbreaking.
This is the first time in the history of North Florida, according to McCullough, who quoted that this historic investment by the State of Florida in this facility promises the dawn of a healthy legacy filled with hope and opportunity for North Florida and beyond.
Spreading across 140,000 square feet, the center will contain clinical research spaces, a family residency practice, and laboratory facilities, all constructed with fastidious care that can cross the divide between academic research and patient care. Its walls will be home to roughly 30 principal investigators, with the facility expected to attract roughly $40 million in annual grant funding. McCullough spoke about some of the cutting-edge research on the horizon, promising applications of pluripotent stem cells, among them.
“This will attract the talented medical minds and scientists on a global scale to work with cutting-edge treatments for the patients. It is a fabulous opportunity for the physicians and scientists we are hopeful to recruit,” McCullough said.
It thus becomes an integral part of FSU Health – the ambitious effort to increase access to care and enhance the quality of care for the North Florida community. It thus ends up being a very strategic collaboration between FSU’s educational programs for health providers and TMH’s enormous experience in patient care. It is funded by the Florida Legislature and Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022. And it is expected to be completed by 2026 at an estimated cost of $125 million.
The center will have a reach beyond health care as, at completion, it is expected to create around 1,200 construction jobs and 350 full-time positions, generating an estimated annual economic impact in excess of $251 million.
“This is probably the most revolutionary development for Florida State since it hired Bobby Bowden,” noted Collins. It will also enhance the FSU among the top universities around the world.
Many of those projects include the construction of FSU Health-TMH Medical Campus in Panama City Beach, the expansion of FSU’s medical programs, including, for instance, a new doctoral program in the College of Nursing. “It’s an advantage to be aligned with FSU on such a pioneering effort,” O’Bryant said. “This will really help enhance and enahealth care across our region, build upon quality of life in the communities we serve, and provide education of the future.”
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