By HFT Staff

The University of Tennessee Health Sciences has broken ground on the $350 million College of Medicine Interdisciplinary Building. The building will expand the university’s capacity to train the physicians and other healthcare professionals Tennessee needs. 

Funded primarily through a $311 million appropriation from the state legislature, the 300,000-square-foot building will transform how students learn, train and collaborate while expanding the number of future physicians, physician assistants and other healthcare professionals prepared to serve communities throughout the state. 

The College of Medicine Interdisciplinary Building will help UT Health Sciences meet the growing demand for healthcare professionals in Tennessee. The College of Medicine will increase its medical class size from 175 to 250 students per cohort and double its Physician Assistant Program enrollment from 30 to 60 students per year. 

Across health professions programs, the building is expected to support the education of approximately 1,450 additional health professionals during its first five years. 

The building will serve as the first dedicated home of the College of Medicine, the largest of UT Health Sciences’ six colleges. It will also bring students from multiple health professions together in an environment designed around collaboration, hands-on training and technology. 

Flexible classrooms, advanced simulation spaces and shared gathering areas will give students more opportunities to learn alongside one another and practice the teamwork required in modern healthcare. A second-floor Interdisciplinary Commons will serve as a shared gathering and collaboration space for students from different programs. Technology-enabled spaces will also connect students and educators across Tennessee. 

The building is designed with students at the center. Study, gathering and collaboration spaces will be distributed throughout the building, creating opportunities for students to work together, study independently and connect between classes. Advanced simulation and immersive technology will allow students to practice caring for patients in a range of settings before they enter clinical practice. 

The new facility will also give the College of Medicine the space and flexibility to grow as medical education evolves, helping ensure students are prepared for a healthcare environment that increasingly depends on collaboration across professions. 

The building will be located at the corner of Madison Avenue and Dudley Street on the university’s Memphis campus. HOK, a global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm, and Memphis-based brg3s architects designed the building. Flintco is leading the building’s construction. 

The project is supported by a $50 million private fundraising goal, including $39 million for the building and $11 million for programming. To date, more than $20 million in private support has been committed. 

Construction is expected to be substantially completed in 2029, with full occupancy by 2030.