ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2000, at 2:00 p.m., Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening, University System of Maryland Chancellor Donald N. Langenberg, University of Maryland Baltimore President David J. Ramsay, School of Medicine Dean Donald E. Wilson and the National Institutes of Health’s Acting Director Ruth Kirschstein broke ground on Health Sciences Facility II at the corner of Penn and West Redwood streets. HSFII, a $67 million state-of-the-art biomedical research building, will dramatically increase laboratory space and pave the way for new breakthroughs in basic science and patient care.

“Health Sciences Facility II will help us recruit and retain the best doctors, scientists, and students, and enhance our ability to compete internationally for research funding,” said Donald E. Wilson, MD, MACP, Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine. “Research grants to the School of Medicine have more than doubled in the last decade to $170 million dollars, and HSFII will allow us to continue that phenomenal growth.”

The new building will add more than 100,000 square feet of research, office and meeting space in a distinctive concave-shaped building, enabling the School of Medicine to expand its world-renowned programs to fight infectious disease and develop life saving vaccines. Two floors of the new building will be occupied by the School of Pharmacy’s Drug Design and Structural Biology departments.

“HSFII will keep the University of Maryland on the cutting edge of medical research, education and patient care,” said Governor Glendening,

who attended the outdoor ceremony on the Penn Street building site. “By giving doctors and scientists the resources to do their best work, HSFII will foster breakthroughs and discoveries that will improve health care worldwide.”

The new building will have dozens of state-of-the-art laboratories built to meet the technical demands of 21st century research. A $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be used to establish an Emerging Pathogens Research Center, which will have special containment areas for the safe study of infectious disease. Dr. Kirschstein said, “The speakers today represent the state of Maryland, the University of Maryland, the School of Medicine, the School of Pharmacy, and the NIH. This seems right to me because the science in which we put our faith is not a lonely enterprise. To the contrary, it relies on collaborations and partnerships as much for its intellectual capital as for its material assets. As I look at the good company in which I find myself today – at partners and colleagues – I have every confidence that this new building will reward our collaborations and constancy in research with remarkable, groundbreaking science.”

State funding for HSFII will total $57 million. The Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy will contribute $10 million raised through private gifts and other grants. The project is expected to create more than 600 jobs and continue the economic revitalization of West Baltimore.

“I am pleased that Governor Glendening and the General Assembly have recognized the need to expand research space and modernize the buildings that support UMB’s six professional schools,” said David J. Ramsay, DM, DPhil, President of the University of Maryland Baltimore. New buildings for the library and the School of Nursing were completed in 1998, a building shared by the schools of law and social work will be finished in 2002, and plans are being made for a new dental school building.

HSFII will adjoin the original Health Sciences Facility (HSFI), which was completed in 1995. The new building will also be connected to the Medical School Teaching Facility, Howard Hall, and the Bressler Research Building. HSFII will be located across the street from the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, and faculty members will have easy access to the University of Maryland Medical Center and the Baltimore VA Medical Center.

A reception was held immediately following the groundbreaking ceremony under a tent erected on the green outside the south entrance to HSFI. Over 200 faculty, staff, students, alumni, elected officials, and friends enjoyed a buffet reception to the accompaniment of a Celtic harp and flute duo. HSFII is expected to be completed by December 2002.