Building for the Future
The Need for Capital Construction
In 2003, National Jewish Health dedicated its newest building, the Molly Blank Conference Center, which was built for meetings and educational symposiums and to provide more offices for faculty. Even with this addition, National Jewish Health still has an aging campus. A new research and patient-care building will allow us to better serve patients, relieve congestion, relocate scientists from a deteriorating old research building and recruit additional faculty.
Cramped Clinics
Our patient visit numbers have had double-digit annual growth over the past years. The new building will provide additional examination rooms and allow us to relocate our outstanding rehabilitation department from cramped quarters in the basement of the Andrew Goodman Building to more appropriate space on the second floor of the new building. The anticipated continued growth of our patient-care programs mandates additional clinical capacity and remodeling of our existing adult clinics.
Limited Lab Space
The institution is in desperate need of space for new laboratories. Nationwide, outstanding research institutions strive to obtain approximately $300-325 of external research support per square foot of research space. At National Jewish Health, we exceed $500 per square foot of research space due to our success in obtaining research grants and our limited space.
Outmoded Facilities
Many of our current laboratories were built to house decades-old equipment. For National Jewish Health to compete in today’s high-tech research environment, we need modern laboratory space designed to better fit up-to-date equipment and research techniques.
Competition for Faculty
To retain and recruit stellar faculty members, National Jewish Health needs to be able to compete with other top academic medical and research facilities around the country. If we are not able to offer state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, we will suffer a “brain drain,” with the best and brightest physicians and scientists choosing to work elsewhere.
Research support has grown 30 percent in the last four years.
Nationwide, outstanding research institutions strive to obtain approximately $300-325 of external research support per square foot of research space. National Jewish Health far exceeds this!
Clinic volume has grown 50 percent over the past four years. We have outgrown our adult clinic space.
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