Groundbreaking ceremony highlights a new building for UGA's School of Medicine

Many of the men and women directly responsible for creating a University of Georgia School of Medicine gathered Friday afternoon on the campus in Athens for a ceremonial ground-breaking of a new facility.

After speeches giving recognition to those who used their influence and worked to gain state financial support, a select number were positioned to hold shovels at long pile of dirt.

Numerous photographs were made as those who lined up on both sides of Gov. Brian Kemp and tossed a shovel of dirt to celebrate the day.

The landscape where they stood will soon change as a 92,000-square-foot building will be erected on the campus located off Prince Avenue in what is called Normaltown.

The building for medical education and research was hailed as a needed response to the physician shortage faced by Georgia.

UGA President Jere Morehead, University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue, Gov. Kemp and Michelle Nuss, the Founding Dean for the school, all praised what this facility will provide for healthcare in Georgia.

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“Today is an exciting and transformational moment at the University of Georgia,” Morehead said, adding that UGA is in a unique position to address the healthcare needs of the state through education, research and community outreach.

Morehead, along with Perdue, Nuss and Kemp, also praised the partnership UGA has had with the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.

And Morehead also noted the work of former president Michael Adams, who first had the vision to create a medical facility at UGA and worked to devise that partnership with Augusta to get it started.

Nuss, who has a strong reputation in medical education, said the physician shortage continues to grow, not only in Georgia, but across the nation.

“Georgia needs more doctors, and they need them now,” she said.

Perdue, who has a degree in veterinary science from UGA, noted that his mother attended college on this campus when it was the State Normal School for teaching before it became the U.S. Navy Supply Corp School. The university acquired the campus in 2010.

Kemp obtained a degree in agriculture science from UGA and grew up down the street from the campus in the Homewood Hills subdivision.

The governor, who helped shepherd $50 million in state money to help fund the facility, described the new building as “an incredible milestone for our state.”

The facility will have about 67,000-square foot space dedicated to education, while the remaining area will contain biomedical research laboratories.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: New medical building at UGA hailed as boost to state's healthcare