Vanderbilt’s Medical Facilities Set To Expand
Published May 23, 2008
Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt will begin a three-year, $203 million expansion in 2009.
For more than a century, Vanderbilt Medical Center has stood out as an international leader in medical education, research and patient care.
Today, VMC is proactively finding new ways to meet the health-care needs of a growing community.
In an effort to accommodate patients, faculty and staff, hospital officials recently announced plans to transform half of Nashville’s oldest indoor shopping mall – 100 Oaks – into a state-of-the-art health and wellness facility.
The 440,000-square-foot facility, set to open in 2008, will serve as a second major campus to VMC’s 21st Avenue location.
“As we continue to experience phenomenal growth, it’s prudent for us to look elsewhere to decompress our current location growth and reserve what is left for hospital-based programs and laboratory research,” says C. Wright Pinson, MBA, M.D., Associate Vice-Chancellor for Clinical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer at VMC.
He says the new location lends itself to easy access and visibility from Interstate 65, while maintaining close proximity to the 21st Avenue campus.
While some VMC clinics will relocate to the 100 Oaks facility, other departments, including radiology, primary care and pediatrics, will expand to offer services at the new space.
Pinson says the first-class campus will include new technology that will improve wait times for patients, while ample on-grade parking will help relieve the confusion that often accompanies midtown parking.
A shuttle bus service also is planned between the two campuses to serve faculty and staff who have responsibilities at both locations.
The medical center isn’t the only Vanderbilt facility making headlines.
In 2009, the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt will begin a three-year, $203 million expansion.
The eight-story, 340,000-square-foot addition will include obstetrical services and 16 to 20 labor and delivery rooms, along with a newborn nursery and additional pediatric and intensive-care beds.
“Growth is the sign of a dynamic medical center, and this expansion is the logical next step in the success story that is the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital,” says Harry R. Jacobson, M.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs.
The organization is making waves in the scientific community as well, with the recent implementation of an anonymous database of genetic and clinical information.
Using banked blood samples, experts hope to identify patterns and parallels between patients with similar diseases or who have taken similar medications.
“The establishment of this database will allow researchers to more effectively and efficiently conduct important genetic research, which, in turn, will help improve care for patients, so it’s a win-win for everyone,” says Gordon R. Bernard, M.D., assistant vice chancellor for research.
Officials hope the database will ultimately help identify the genes that can lead to predictive tests and preventive therapies for many, if not all, diseases.
Story by Melanie Hill
Photo by Brian McCord
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