Celebrating the Opening of WIMR's First Tower

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) took a big step toward its goal of uniting the twin siblings of research and patient care by opening the first tower of the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research (WIMR) on September 4, 2008.

Nestled between UW Hospital and Clinics and the Health Sciences Learning Center on the western edge of the UW-Madison campus, WIMR is a multi-phase project that ultimately will consist of three towers.

The east tower is a seven-story, $185 million facility that seeks to foster collaboration between scientists in their laboratories and clinicians who deliver patient care.

Leaders representing the state, university and school were on hand for the grand opening.

"Here there are no fences," said Robert Golden, MD, an ardent champion of the WIMR project in his first two years as dean of the school. "Scientists and physicians in these buildings will be able to translate discovery into better patient care at our neighboring UW Hospital and Clinics, including the beautiful American Family Children's Hospital, and then bring these discoveries immediately next door, down the block and throughout the entire state of Wisconsin. The path from bench to bedside to curbside in the community is clear and it begins here."

Golden continued by pointing to WIMR as a logical and necessary element in the evolution of the SMPH, currently the only institution in the United States that combines the disciplines of medicine and public health in one school.

"This is the key to the transformation of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health into the most advanced and integrated basic science, clinical science and population science program in the country," he said. "The work done here will touch on every aspect of human disease. These towers will set the stage for our school's evolution into the national research leader that dramatically improves the public's health."

In her first week on the job, recently appointed UW-Madison chancellor Biddy Martin, PhD, echoed the theme of transformation.

"Today's celebration and the opening of this structure represent not an end but just a beginning," she said. "We will hold the keys to making great advances in human health. We're helping rewrite the paradigm of public health."

SMPH vice dean Paul DeLuca, PhD, who has guided the project from inception to completion, extended the school's deep appreciation to the many players who contributed to making WIMR a reality. He thanked university, state and federal partners, financial partners, and design and construction partners.

"You'll be amazed at the future we will have in the building," he assured the audience.

Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle's arrival was slightly delayed due to an early-morning tour of kindergarten classes for four-year-olds in La Crosse and Eau Claire. He used that day's journey as a metaphor for the state's dedication to education and progress.

"From kindergarten to the dedication of this building we are demonstrating Wisconsin's incredible commitment to research and the advancement of knowledge," he said. "Whether it's 15 kids sitting in a school room or the most advanced postdoctoral fellow doing the most far-reaching research, Wisconsin does support and will continue to support those endeavors. We are at a building today that represents that commitment."

A ribbon-cutting ceremony led by the governor preceded public tours of the tower's fifth floor, devoted to orthopedics and regenerative medicine research, and the sixth floor's cancer research. There, scientists in white coats and goggles were already at work, searching for the discoveries to which Golden and Doyle alluded.

The new building was designed specifically to facilitate interdisciplinary research, with open laboratories and abundant shared space. Researchers from a variety of basic and clinical science disciplines will interact with one another as well as with physicians and nurses who care for patients in UW Hospital and Clinics next door.

Work will soon begin on WIMR's second tower. The three-tower complex is expected to be completed by 2015 and will ultimately house approximately 1,500 researchers.

by Chad Hanson
This article appears in the fall 2008 issue of Quarterly.