UNE addresses health care shortages with dynamic health education campus

Along Stevens Avenue in the Deering Center area of Portland, Maine, an interesting construction project is underway. Pushed back and out of eyesight, most passers-by may not realize its significance.

“This is the new site of Maine’s only medical school,” said James Herbert, president of the University of New England, gesturing to the rising framework of the new Harold and Bibby Alfond Center for Health Sciences.

With the addition of this state-of-the-art facility, UNE’s Portland Campus will become the most integrated health sciences campus in northern New England with more than 10 different health profession disciplines. To reflect this new era of interprofessional education, the University has renamed the grounds to the UNE Portland Campus for the Health Sciences.

“This one-of-a-kind campus will revolutionize health education and train even more top-notch health professionals,” Herbert said, noting that the relocation of the College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) to Portland will allow UNE to graduate 35 more doctors each year.

“This means more caregivers with cutting-edge practice skills to serve Maine’s aging population and underserved rural communities. For this reason, the evolution of the UNE Portland Campus for the Health Sciences is transformative, not only for the University, but also for the state of Maine,” he said.

The sustainably designed, 110,000-square-foot building will also house the UNE Center to Advance Interprofessional Education and Practice, which prepares students to work collaboratively and across disciplines to help improve patient outcomes in today’s team-based healthcare system.

“Our health professions students will benefit from amazing new learning spaces in the new facility designed for simulation, standardized patients, and digital health and telemedicine, all of which will help UNE to realize its full potential as a national leader in interprofessional health professions education,” Herbert said.

The re-envisioned campus will stand as a reminder of UNE’s commitment to the community.

“The future of medicine is team-based care,” Herbert said. “Every student that graduates from UNE’s Portland Campus for Health Sciences will be well-prepared to further the field of medicine. Now and into the future.”

Learn more about the UNE Portland Campus for the Health Sciences here.

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