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In This Issue:
From left: John Polanowicz, of the Executive Office Health and Human Services; Peter Meade, of the Boston Redevelopment Authority; BWH President Betsy Nabel, MD; BWH's Jim Wishart; State Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez; BWHC Board of Trustees Chair Marshall Moriarty; President and CEO of Partners HealthCare Gary Gottlieb, MD, MBA; Tom Sieniewicz, of Chan Krieger NBBJ; John Fish, of Suffolk Construction; and State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz.
BWHers, elected officials, news media, donors and other members of the Brigham community, including representatives of the Roxbury Tenants of Harvard, gathered under a white tent for the Brigham Building for the Future's groundbreaking ceremony last week.
"The Brigham Building for the Future represents a new era of medical discovery, where caring and curing happen under one roof and patients are at the center of it all," said BWH President Betsy Nabel, MD.
Nabel and Chair of the Board of Trustees Marshall Moriarty spoke at the June 19 groundbreaking along with several guests including Peter Meade, director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and John Polanowicz, secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. BWH nurse anesthetist and patient Jim Wishart shared his personal story about the importance of medical research.
"I challenge clinicians and scientists-through reason, intellect, imagination and passion-to improve current therapies and come up with new ones," said Wishart, who underwent brain stimulation therapy at BWH.
The Brigham Building for the Future, an 11-story, 360,000-square-foot LEED Gold-certified building, will include state-of-the-art lab and outpatient clinical space, advanced imaging facilities and underground parking. The proximity of research and patient care space is central to the emerging field of translational medicine-the rapid transition of clinical advances from the lab to the bedside and the clinic.
The facility, scheduled to open in the fall of 2016, will enable BWH to consolidate many of the leases it currently holds for research space throughout the city. The building will incorporate a number of innovative features, including a roof garden to reduce storm water runoff, a system that cleans and reuses storm water for mechanical equipment and a co-generation plant to supply the building with electricity, steam and hot water.
View a video about the Brigham Building for the Future.