Breaking ground: a new home for the Pensacola campus
October 2016
The College of Medicine’s Pensacola Regional Campus will be moving to a new home in the not-too-distant future. Campus Dean Paul McLeod participated in a groundbreaking ceremony Oct. 6 for a 33,000-square-foot facility to be located on the University of West Florida campus.
The medical school’s Pensacola campus will be located on the second floor of the new building. The building also will host a new Physician Assistant Partnership Program, to serve as a home for FSU PA students during their clinical-training year in Pensacola.Mollie Hill, director of community clinical relations; Ermalynn Kiehl, dean of the UWF College of Health; FSU Vice President for Research Gary Ostrander; UWF President Judy Bense; Paul McLeod, dean of the FSU College of Medicine Pensacola Regional Campus; and Jim Zedaker, founding director of the FSU Physician Assistant Program.
“Our medical students have benefited from the partnership we have with the Pensacola medical community, and many of them have returned to this community as practicing physicians,” FSU President John Thrasher said. “Taking this step to work with our friends at UWF is a great opportunity not only to share resources, but to expand our efforts to identify students in Northwest Florida who identify with our mission – not only in medical school, but in our developing new PA program as well.”
The building, to be known as University Park Center, also will serve as the home of UWF’s new football program.
“Not only will it provide permanent facilities for our UWF football team, fostering ownership and enhancing future recruiting efforts, but it also creates a space for interprofessional collaboration in health education, research and practice between UWF and FSU,” said UWF President Judy Bense.
FSU medical students have been completing clinical rotations since 2003 in Pensacola, where McLeod is the founding dean.
Photograph (from left): Mollie Hill, director of community clinical relations; Ermalynn Kiehl, dean of the UWF College of Health; FSU Vice President for Research Gary Ostrander; UWF President Judy Bense; Paul McLeod, dean of the FSU College of Medicine Pensacola Regional Campus; and Jim Zedaker, founding director of the FSU Physician Assistant Program.