by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
UNM President Louis Caldera said despite the rain Monday morning, it was a good day for the University.
"The sun isn't out, but it's beautiful because it marks a great day in our progress as a University and for our Health Sciences Center," he said.
Caldera joined UNM leaders and Sen. Pete Domenici in hammering a stake into a bucket of dirt to celebrate the beginning of construction on the 165,000-square foot Domenici Center for Health Sciences Education.
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The center was named after the senator because he has been a supporter for the Health Sciences Center and the University through federal funding, Caldera said.
Domenici said he was privileged to move the University ahead step by step with the center. He said the center will "educate all our young men and women in all of those great challenges that affect our wellness and the future of our well-being and our health."
He said the dedication ceremony, an event attended by about 75 people, was to celebrate medicine and its breakthroughs. He is confident there will be more medical breakthroughs in the future, he said.
"We will find out the root causes of almost every difficult and serious disease that affects our people," Domenici said. "I actually believe we will find a way to cure them in the next 20 years."
Rebecca Coalson, a UNM medical student, said it is crucial for all professions in the health care industry to work together to achieve a better quality of life for patients.
The center will allow students of nursing, pharmacy and medicine to work together in the same facility, she said.
"It will no doubt be an invaluable resource and meeting facility for all members of the UNM Health Sciences community," Coalson said. "I can easily see that it is a place that will represent and embody innovation, academic excellence and the hope that we are coming ever closer to seeing medicine as a cooperative profession rather than an individualistic career choice."
Dr. Phil Eaton, retired executive vice president of the Health Sciences Center, said the education center will place UNM in the forefront of education and health care.
"With a building like this," said Eaton, pointing to mounds of dirt behind him, "we join all the other 120 health science centers in meeting the needs of America."
The $49 million center will include state-of-the-art anatomy laboratories, he said, which will educate students about the human body and disease much easier than in the past.
The center will also have a bookstore, a 300-seat lecture hall, virtual clinical settings and a food court.
Eaton recommended the center be named after Domenici. The president and the UNM Board of Regents approved the decision.
Eaton praised elected officials for finding funds for the building.
"Without the vision of our elected officials in Santa Fe and in Washington, you and I would not be here realizing the benefit of these seven years of planning for the future of training of health professionals in New Mexico for tomorrow," he said.
