The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy celebrated the completion of a new education and research building on the campus of the University of Mississippi Medical Center with a dedication ceremony yesterday. The new facility will provide the Oxford-based school a central home in Jackson. Dr. Leigh Ann Ross, associate dean for clinical affairs in the School of Pharmacy, said the building will provide a sense of community for the school’s faculty and students in Jackson. “The most important thing is, it will bring us all together. It will increase our face-to-face interaction, and that is going to increase morale, both for students and faculty,” Ross said. 

Students in the School of Pharmacy spend three years of pre-pharmacy training and two years of professional training in Oxford before transitioning to Jackson for their third professional year. The new classroom and research building, which is the newest addition to the Medical Center, will be home for those students at UMMC as well at faculty and researchers with the Department of Pharmacy Practice. Students spend their final professional year undergoing advanced practice training at clinical sites across the South. The school has been offering the Doctor of Pharmacy, or Pharm.D., since 1998. The new building’s cutting-edge amenities also promise to enhance learning and research, thanks to fully equipped research laboratories and unique classrooms outfitted with video-conferencing technology. “This technology provides us the ability to be innovative in our educational offerings,” Ross said. 

Located on the northeast side of campus, the two-story, 29,692-square-foot building includes 17 classrooms, three research laboratories and a 173-seat auditorium. With a modern design that complements the look of most other facilities on campus, the building features expansive windows overlooking the Norman C. Nelson Student Union and the Guyton Research Building. The basic science laboratories on the second floor support a second mission of the facility: research. “Specifically, the laboratories are designed to handle between four to eight researchers and they provide an environment to perform a broad spectrum of translational research,” said Dr. John Cleary, professor of pharmacy practice. 

Source: UMMC Public Affairs