GALVESTON — The University of Texas Medical Branch’s
newest facility, the Health Education Center, has won a Best Project Award of Merit from a national construction
news publication.
The award for the state-of-the-art building on the Galveston
Campus will be featured in the Sept. 28 issue of Engineering News-Record. The award will be presented at a
virtual ceremony on Oct. 23.
“UTMB’s new Health Education Center stands second to
none. Our students in medicine, nursing and health professions are learning and working in a setting that
closely simulates today’s clinics and hospitals, while our training staff have the very best tools in
science and technology to impart their knowledge,” said Dr. Ben Raimer, UTMB president ad interim.
“There are very few places in this country that afford the kind of educational experience now available at
UTMB, and this prestigious design award confirms that.”
The five-story, $91.6 million education
center opened in 2019 and features a simulated hospital that includes an ambulance bay, flex study areas for
students and debriefing rooms for faculty and students, as well as collaborative instruction areas.
“This facility is a jewel and this award validates that we
have created an advanced learning environment for students in all of our schools who will be tomorrow’s
caregivers and medical researchers,” said Dr. Janet Southerland, vice president of
Interprofessional Education Institutional Effectiveness and the Health Education Center.
The Health Education Center includes:
- 77-Bed Simulated Hospital, that includes five floors of cutting-edge simulation facilities, two simulated operating rooms 10 ICU rooms.
- 16 patient exam rooms and 16 individual patient rooms for adult, child, infant and maternity simulations.
- Three large skills labs that have 30 physical examination spaces and more than 60 manikins that mimic real-life medical conditions.