Help us dedicate the new Avera Health and Science Center on Sept. 9
Avera Health and South Dakota State University will dedicate the new Avera Health and Science Center on the SDSU campus on Thursday, Sept. 9. Dr. Julie Gerberding, a public health expert with South Dakota ties, will deliver the keynote address at the dedication ceremony.
The dedication is scheduled for 1 p.m. on the university’s historic College Green, just west of the Avera Health and Science Center. The ceremony will include comments from SDSU President David L. Chicoine and Avera Health President and CEO John Porter prior to Gerberding’s address. An outdoor ice cream social and self-guided tours of the new facility will follow the ceremony.
The $51.4 million center provides dedicated teaching and research facilities for the College of Pharmacy and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. More than 50 percent of all SDSU students will have at least one course in the 144,600-square-foot building.
The university already has realized the benefits of the building and the partnership with Avera Health, according to Chicoine.
“The levels of research in pharmaceutical sciences have grown leaps and bounds in the past three years, and these new facilities will enable both greater capacity for research and modern facilities for teaching in both pharmacy and chemistry,” Chicoine said. “This facility, as reviewers noted in the reaccreditation report for the College of Pharmacy, will provide a first-class learning environment for thousands of South Dakota State students each year.”
The Avera president and CEO also cited the importance of the collaborative work between the health care system and the university.
“This historic partnership will benefit everyone across the region,” Porter said. “Through the research conducted and the education of pharmacists, nurses and other health care professionals, this partnership will touch hospitals and clinics. The end result will be the impact on the lives and health of people in every community.”
Gerberding understands value of teaching and research in health sciences
The keynote speaker also understands the value of teaching and research in the health sciences. Gerberding, who grew up in nearby Estelline, is recognized for her six years as director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She guided the nation’s leading health protection agency through an era of rapid growth, globalization and innovative transformation. As director of the CDC, Gerberding was responsible for the agency’s $10 billion budget and 15,000 employees. During her tenure, CDC staff implemented a $1.6 billion capital improvement program, developed national scientific centers for research, emphasized preparedness programs and responded to bioterrorism and pandemic health threats.
Pioneering research on occupational HIV transmission at the University of California at San Francisco built Gerberding’s reputation in health sciences and infectious diseases. She joined CDC in 1998 as director of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion and was appointed the agency’s director in 2002. In 2005, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world for her leadership in modernizing CDC in the face of unprecedented health threats like bioterrorism and SARS. Forbes magazine listed her among the 100 Most Powerful Women in the world each year from 2005 to 2008, a testament to her leadership of CDC’s global expansion. She also received the Surgeon General’s Medallion, the highest honor bestowed by the United States Public Health Service, for actions of exceptional achievement for the cause of public health and medicine. Today, Gerberding is president of the Merck and Company Global Vaccines division.
While on campus, Gerberding also will participate in forums with students in the health sciences and with area health care leaders.
Avera Health and South Dakota State in November 2007 announced the formation of a partnership designed to enhance the education of health professionals and advance research into the treatment and cure of diseases. That announcement included a $15 million pledge over 10 years from Avera to support health sciences research and education. Avera’s pledge represents the largest single gift ever made to the state’s largest and most comprehensive university.
About Avera Health
Avera Health is the largest health system in South Dakota providing high-quality care close to home at over 300 locations in 97 communities. Avera’s unique partnership model makes possible a wide range of medical services through the expertise of specialists, sophisticated technology and cutting-edge research to meet the health care needs of local communities and providers.
About South Dakota State University
Founded in 1881, South Dakota State University is the state’s Morrill Act land-grant institution as well as its largest, most comprehensive school of higher education. SDSU confers degrees from seven different colleges representing more than 200 majors, minors and options. The institution also offers 23 master’s degree programs and 12 Ph.D. programs. The work of the university is carried out on a residential campus in Brookings, at sites in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City, and through Cooperative Extension offices and Agricultural Experiment Station research sites across the state.