The University of Kentucky (UK) Board of Trustees has approved design plans for a College of Medicine building on the Lexington campus.
The university says that plans for the project call for 380,000 square feet of space for classrooms, simulation suites, conference rooms, and office and support areas for the College of Medicine and other health care colleges.
Kentucky medical campus students now take classes primarily in the William R. Willard Medical Education Building, which was built in 1962, as well as the Charles T. Wethington Building and the Clinical Skills Training and Assessment Center.
Campus officials have not determined the precise location of the facility; they expect to announce a site in late summer or early fall.
Overall enrollment for the 2020-21 UK College of Medicine academic year was 717 including:
- 514 on the UK Lexington campus
- 92 at the Bowling Green Campus that enrolled three classes in 2020-21 and will have its first graduating class in 2021-22
- 69 at the Northern Kentucky Campus that will graduate its first class in 2022-23.
- 42 students at the Rural Physician Leadership Program–Morehead where students attend in their third and fourth years of medical school.
“Physician demand is expected to exceed supply exponentially over the next 10 years,” UK College of Medicine Dean Robert DiPaola said. “And we know the most effective way to increase the number of physicians practicing statewide is to train them. In Kentucky, it is especially dire as the medical needs across the state are among the highest in the nation, particularly in rural areas.”
