The Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry’s Department of Family Medicine will have new digs to call its own by 2013.
To be located at the corner of Windermere Road and Richmond Street, the $17-million, four-storey building will consolidate research and academic activities for the department and feature large classrooms and small breakout rooms with state-of-the-art videoconferencing facilities.
“It’s a very exciting time. It really indicates the importance of family medicine to the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry here in London, and to our Windsor program, by being part of this new building,” says Western professor Dr. Stephen Wetmore, who took over as department chair this past September. “I think it will be a big factor in helping to draw students to family medicine training here at Western, and also to the recruitment of family physicians to southwestern Ontario.”
The building’s groundbreaking is scheduled for February 2012, with a completion date of May/June 2013.
The new building will house the main department of family medicine offices, including the overall teaching supervision for undergraduate and post-graduate students, as well as graduate students in the Master of Clinical Sciences Program and PhD program in family medicine. In addition, the building will host the Centre for Studies in Family Medicine, a small clinical trials unit, and the proposed Master of Public Health Program, expected to begin registering students this coming year.
Wetmore adds the third floor will be a shelled-in floor, with the idea of accommodating future growth if additional funds and/or needs arise.