May 12 debut of medical school's new home

© Bruce Damonte, 2010

With its striking limestone and glass facade facing Campus Drive, the Li Ka Shing Center now serves as the gateway to the School of Medicine.

The medical school’s new headquarters, the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge, opens its doors for a sneak peek on May 12 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The open house is a chance for the campus community to see inside the building from top to bottom, including areas that will eventually be off limits to all but students.

This new building with the red-trimmed overhanging roof, prominently placed between the Beckman Center and the Fairchild Building, will house student spaces, classrooms, a conference center, an immersive learning center for clinical skills, offices for the dean and senior administrators and the home base for simulation and teaching technology throughout the school. The building also hosts a bookstore and café that will open for business fall quarter.

Some highlights of the open house:

• Entree to student-only areas on the fourth floor: the Paul & Mildred Berg Student Commons, including a student lounge and fitness center; spectacular rooftop views from the Madam Yeung Tong Chui Ying Patio; and tours and demonstrations at Lane Knowledge Commons, Lane Library’s bookless branch for medical and graduate students. Refreshments will be served.
• More refreshments at the conference center, which includes the Paul & Mildred Berg Hall that can be configured to hold approximately 350 people in tiered seating, 360 people around dining tables or can divide into three smaller rooms seating about 120 each.
• Shopping at the bookstore, open only on May 12 and during graduation week.
• Live demonstrations at the Goodman Immersive Learning Center, a simulation facility with an entire floor of mock hospital environments.
• Tours of the learning spaces, including opportunities to see new classroom technologies and sign up for training sessions.

Staff will be on hand to provide information at the open house. Visitors can also take a self-guided tour. Medical school Dean Philip Pizzo, MD, and biochemistry professor emeritus Paul Berg, PhD, will welcome students on the fourth floor from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

The dean’s office and the Simulation & EdTech group moved into the building in March. All student spaces except the gym will be ready for use on May 12. The rest of the building, including the café, bookstore, conference center and teaching spaces, will open on Aug. 18. The LKSC will be officially dedicated in late September, when Li Ka-shing, its leading benefactor and namesake, will travel to Stanford.