The University of Mississippi Medical Center issued the following statement.
The state-of-the-art structure that is the academic home to
Mississippi’s flagship medical education program officially received its
new name today: the Phil Bryant Medical Education Building.
During
a ceremony on the University of Mississippi Medical Center campus, Gov.
Bryant and First Lady Deborah Bryant unveiled a new sign on the front
of the building.
Working
with the Legislature, Gov. Bryant was instrumental in securing funding
for the 151,000-square-foot, $76 million building. That support includes
$10 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funding
through the Mississippi Development Authority to launch the effort, as
well as the governor’s help in securing $66 million in state bonds.
“There
is no expression of gratitude that seems proper for this unique and
auspicious occasion,” Gov. Bryant said. “My joy cannot be represented on
an individual level, but as a collective accomplishment of everyone who
had a hand in bringing this day to reality.
“The
naming of this remarkable facility will soon fade into history, but its
results will benefit Mississippians for generations to come.”
Administrators
with the University of Mississippi thanked Gov. Bryant for supporting
the mission and future of the School of Medicine.
UM
Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter saluted Gov. Bryant for his “unwavering
commitment, vision and passion for helping generations of Mississippians
lead healthier lives.
“This
building and the resulting expanded classes will stand as a part of his
legacy,” Vitter said. “Indeed, today is a tremendous celebration in
honor of Gov. Bryant and a momentous milestone in the history of our
Medical Center and for the state of Mississippi.”
Students
began classes in the new building shortly after its August 4, 2017
dedication. It was designed especially for components of the School of
Medicine, which was originally in the Medical Center complex that opened
in July 1955. Over the years, demands for space have grown, and, as the
Medical Center expanded, the medical school splintered into a network
of disconnected sites, including some makeshift offices and labs.
The
Phil Bryant Medical Education Building includes a cutting-edge
simulation training area, which was made possible in part by grants
totaling nearly $5 million from the Hearin Foundation. It is also
equipped with a mock operating theater, funded by the UMMC Alliance and
the Manning Family Fund for a Healthier Mississippi, plus virtual
reality spaces with high-fidelity task trainers, a clinical skills
center, flexible-use spaces and more.
At
roughly 185 doctors per 100,000 residents, Mississippi is the most
medically underserved state in the nation. Addressing this issue has
been one of Gov. Bryant’s highest priorities. His commitment to
increasing the state’s number of physicians was a focal point of his 2013 State
of the State address in which he observed that having more providers
will create better health care access for Mississippians, resulting in
lower costs.
The
governor for years has broadly supported medical education efforts in
the state. During the 2012 legislative session, Gov. Bryant signed House
Bill 317 into law to establish more medical residency programs
statewide, a move intended to allow more Mississippi-trained physicians
to remain in the state.
That
same year, Gov. Bryant championed and signed legislation creating
Health Care Industry Zones to spur expanded access to health care and
grow health care jobs.
The
governor’s commitment to bringing more physicians to Mississippi and to
growing the state’s health care economy “extends back to his term as
lieutenant governor,” Vitter said.
“He
recognized the crucial need to train additional doctors as well as the
tremendous impact this medical school will have upon our state for
generations to come.”
Medical
school leaders began increasing class sizes several years ago in
anticipation of the new building. The entering class grew from about 145
students to 155 this year, and will eventually top off at approximately
165.
It’s
projected that the larger class sizes accommodated by the Phil Bryant
Medical Education Building will generate about $1.7 billion in economic
impact by 2025, and that the additional physicians trained will support
more than 19,000 new jobs by the same year. The economic impact of
practicing UMMC-trained physicians is more than $6.3 billion annually,
and those physicians are estimated to support more than 60,000 jobs in
the state.
“Gov.
Bryant was the champion of the effort that resulted in this new
education building for our School of Medicine,” said Dr. LouAnn
Woodward, UMMC vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the
medical school. “The future physicians who study the art and science of
medicine in this building will truly make a difference in the lives of
Mississippians.”
31 comments:
They missed a golden opportunity to rename the psychiatric ward of the hospital.
This is absolutely nuts. As if Phil Bryant knows one single damned thing about the practice of medicine, the medical training needs of the nation and state or funding and maintaining a medical training facility. So, his handlers told him he ought to say he was behind getting some grant money for Ole Miss and somebody wrote some stuff to indicate his support and he signed and read it out loud.
Reading that BS might almost lead an outsider to assume Bryant has been involved on a ground level in some sort of advancement of medical knowledge and expectation of superior breakthru in the advances in medical applications. What a crock!
A year from now, ask anybody (including Bryant) why his name is up there on that building and the only answer you will get is 'Damn if I know'.
This is just a small way that the Univ. of MS can repay its tremendous debt to our great leader, Gov. Phil Bryant. Hotty Toddy
Maybe they'll discover the cause of bitterness and anger in jealous old men who post on the Internet nothing but venom and bile.
YUK
Jeez, you used to have to be dead to get something named after you. Then all you had to do was be retired. Now the naming rights are for sale to whatever politico can direct them the money.....note all of the Cochran and Lott Halls on several campuses.
I realize most good, tax paying, citizens don't give a damn about this type of thing but it burns me up. Why they hell should we be naming schools, buildings, departments, etc. after elected officials? They use your money to fund projects and pay off campaign donors and get rewarded by having their name on buildings. Is there a politician alive that isn't an egomaniac?
You refer 'The Chokwe Lumumba Medical Education Center'?
Guyton wrote the world most used Medical Physiology textbook while at UMMC. Hardy performed the world's first heart and lung transplants while at UMMC. This could have been a great opportunity to remind the world of great work that USED to be done in Mississippi.
They might as well name the school after Chris McDaniel.....
This is gross.
It make not sense to name it after Bryant when he opposed expansion of Medicaid to give more people health coverage.
We can put out all the new doctors we want but if half of MS is uninsured it won't matter worth a damn.
Yellow knit shirts, black knit britches......
I have no particular problem with Phil, but this sort of thing is just wrong.
This isn't China or North Korea, where they teach that everything government does is a benevolent gift from the dear leader. Here, elected officials are public servants, spending our money. It's 100% part of the job description to get new buildings built and new projects started. There's nothing remotely extraordinary or heroic about it.
If you want to name maybe one building or overpass after a person has finished a lifetime in office, fine. Whatever. But that isn't what's happening here. This is the same thing universities do with big donors: "Get us the money and we'll name it after you." Fine if it's your money; not okay if it's mine.
I figure it's a negotiating move. UMMC asks for (fill in the blank) and the Gov. says, "Well, geee, for something like that, you'd have to name a building after me or something!"
Dr. Arthur Guyton, author of the most widely used physiology textbook, Dr. James Hardy, pioneer surgeon of one of the first heart transplants done in the world....all UMMC distinguished faculty and alum....Phil Bryant, has a masters degree from MC and can play the spoons.
This is nothing new, google a good ole boy named Huey Long. Lots of stuff named after him in Loozanna.
I remember several years ago reading an article in the Clarion-Ledger about how Phil donated a large number of turkeys at Thanksgiving to a local charity and heaping praise on him for his generosity. It turned out that one of Phil's big-money buddies bought the turkeys and had them delivered in Phil's name. This naming of the building is no different except the taxpayers delivered the UMMC building in his name.
More evidence of the old saying, "When it's everyone's money, it's no one's money".
Expanding and improving medical education and development opportunities in the state - and developing health care corridors - was a HUGE part of Phil's first year. The corridors haven't taken off like he'd hoped, but MS is cranking out more docs in a brand new facility and has increased residency programs in the state. Docs end up where they train. Phil successfully pushed for more docs to train here. It will take 10-12 years from when it passed to really come to fruition, but MS's health care access will be markedly better because of Phil Bryant's work on it. I have no problem with them naming this after him.
Congrats to dumbest and most useless governor our state has seen.
2:19- Agree totally
We are talking about this BS when his pupperteer is screwing the economy.
So that's why Feel pushed to fire Jones and then hire Vitter.
"Maybe they'll discover the cause of bitterness and anger in jealous old men who post on the Internet nothing but venom and bile."
Seems his daughter has taken time from her, "Ummm, Ahhhh" $200k job to opine. GO EEEGuls....
We also have the Ross Barnett Rez.....so keep that in mind.
7:43 is right. As if the embarrassment of naming the reservoir after Ross Barnett isn't awful Then again, how many buildings and schools are named after the worst President in US history, Barak Obama?
Wasn't it Kenny Stokes who used to sponsor the renaming of some street (in honor of a friend) on an almost weekly basis? When you have a building, a long street in a poor neighborhood, or an airport named after you...you have arrived.
Gov. Bryant should have declined and suggested it be called Guyton/Hardy.
Not only is humility essential in a gentleman, the Governor was just doing the job he was hired by us to do.
To have a building named for you, you should have personally donated a substantial amount of the money AND headed raising the remaining funds. Even then, those who do often choose to honor someone of exceptional achievement.
And, Guyton/Hardy would catch the attention and thus , interest, of more pre-med students.
If you've paid even minimal attention to Governor Bryant, his facebook page, his press announcements and his media appearances over the past six years, you know the man has not a humble bone in his body. You'll need all ten fingers and toes to count his use of the word "I" on each occasion.
"I was pleased to attend (this) where I spoke on (subject) and I got elected to chair (this) and I will continue to do (this) while she and I traverse this great state where everybody is happy to see ME and now I am leaving for Washington where again I will sit down with the president and tell him of MY plans."
"Expanding and improving medical education and development opportunities in the state - and developing health care corridors - was a HUGE part of Phil's first year. The corridors haven't taken off like he'd hoped, but MS is cranking out more docs in a brand new facility and has increased residency programs in the state. Docs end up where they train. Phil successfully pushed for more docs...."
You actually believe what you typed above? Phil Bryant had a vision of 'health care corridors'? Phil Bryant actually had a vision of more doctors being trained here so that more doctors would wind up here practicing in ten, fifteen years? Do you believe that crap?
Will there a pair of bronzed, glass encased cowboy boots in the lobby near the coffee and donut bar?
Well, hell! St. D has an exhibit of nurses uniforms from a hundred years ago and a picture of the Pope on the wall...
Things should never be named after politicians while still in office. Also, perhaps Dan Jones refused to do this and that is why Phil wanted him fired.
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