Yale invests millions in research facility

Yale Daily News Yale announced formal plans last week to begin construction of a $176 million research and education building for the Yale School of Medicine, part of a $500 million commitment to the YSM over the next decade. The new facility will increase YSM's laboratory space by 25 percent. The massive investment comes on the heels of an equally staggering $500 million investment in Science Hill just one month ago. All told, Yale has committed -- within the last 26 days -- about $1 billion to promote basic sciences, engineering and clinical research programs. In contrast to Yale's announcement of the $500 million investment in science and engineering last month, which was publicized with much pomp and circumstance, the Medical School plans were released quietly. Yale President Richard Levin and Medical School Dean David Kessler informed the Medical School faculty and staff Thursday morning of their intention to pump $500 million into YSM's facilities, as well as the Yale Corporation's approval last weekend of the construction of the Congress Avenue facility. Excavation of the site will begin next week, and the target completion date is March 2003. "I couldn't be happier," YSM Professor Ralph Horwitz said. "This represents an enormous commitment by the University to scientific research at Yale. It is certainly a striking historic event for Yale, and it's the single largest investment in a single facility in the history of Yale." The Congress Avenue facility will house six floors of laboratories for disease-based research, core facilities for genomics and magnetic resonance imaging and up-to-date teaching facilities. The additional $324 million will go toward the renovation of existing laboratories. Horwitz said the expectation is that YSM will spend $30 million to $35 million each year on these renovations over the coming decade. Levin noted that this investment is necessary for Yale to stay at the forefront of biomedical engineering. "There are truly outstanding scientists there, and there's an exceptionally strong program in medical education," Levin said. "The new building pushes both of these forward. There will be brand new labs for anatomy histology for the medical students. This is long overdue. Our teaching labs are quite antiquated over there."