Members of Dartmouth's medical community announced the name of a new clinical research facility named after former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop '37 to be built on Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center's campus at a ceremony at DHMC Thursday evening.
"We want to position Dartmouth as a leader in designing the future of health care through excellence in science at all levels," Spielberg said. "The new facilities are crucial to attracting and retaining the best faculty and students, and positioning Dartmouth Medical School as a leader in clinical and translational sciences."
The C. Everett Koop Medical Science Complex, a two-wing complex, will be adjacent to the existing Borwell Research Building. One wing will include Dartmouth's Center for Evaluative Clinical Sciences and the other wing will house doctors who specialize in neuroscience, cardiovascular science, immunology and infectious diseases.
"The design follows its function. It provides a space for close physical juxtaposition of research, education and patient care, and this will hopefully lead to a new era of more thoughtful flow of knowledge from the bench to the bedside to the community and back," DMS Dean Stephen Spielberg said.
Construction of the complex will begin towards the end of summer 2007, and should be completed by fall 2009. The project will encompass 283,085 square feet.
Funding for the $140 million project will come from several sources including a Clinical and Translational Science planning grant, DMS, DHMC and the College itself.
Koop, who attended the ceremony, is best known for his efforts to improve the safety of abortion procedures, to raise awareness of tobacco's negative health effects and to promote better AIDS education in America. He is currently the Elizabeth DeCamp McInerny Professor of Surgery and a senior scholar at DMS.
The ceremony opened with a speech by Dr. Joseph O'Donnell, who recalled Koop's contributions to public health. Dartmouth biochemistry professor Bill Culp then elaborated on Koop's accomplishments and College President James Wright thanked Koop for his friendship over the years, his commitment to Dartmouth and his dedication to medicine.
The presentation also included a biographical film that honored the former surgeon general and chronicled his life. Thayer School of Engineering professor Joseph Rosen presented The Koop Timeline Project, a website that commemorates Koop's work and highlights the future of the C. Everett Koop Institute.
Bill Clinton also sent his thanks in a DVD shown at the event.
"You have made the world a better place, and you have made a lot of the people who follow you better people," Clinton said.
Spielberg revealed a portrait of Koop that will be displayed in the new complex.
"This portrait was commissioned by Dartmouth [at] the request of students," Koop said. "To know that it will hang in the new complex, to know that its origin was students, with which I have spent so much time, is especially gratifying."