LEXINGTON, KY — University of Kentucky (UK) leadership, state leaders, and Turner Construction Company hosted a ceremonial topping out celebration for UK’s new Michael D. Rankin MD Health Education Building. The building will house programs in the colleges of Medicine, Public Health, Health Sciences, and Nursing as well as the Center for Interprofessional and Community Health Education.  

Construction began October 2023 on the 509,000-square-foot facility located at the intersection of University and Huguelet drives. UK alumni, faculty, staff, and students from the health colleges had the chance to sign the final steel beam prior to the ceremony.

“The topping out of the Michael D. Rankin Health Education Building marks more than a construction milestone. It’s a celebration of collaboration, purpose, and pride,” said David Opalka, Vice President and Construction Executive for Turner Construction Company. “Every beam and slab was placed with intention, creating spaces designed not just for beauty, but for function, flexibility, and the future of health care education in Kentucky. Thank you to our entire project team, design partners, and tradespeople, whose dedication and craftsmanship brought this vision to life. Together, we’ve built more than a structure. We’ve built a foundation for the breakthroughs and learning that will shape tomorrow.”

The project was authorized by the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly, which allocated $430 million for the construction of the facility and is providing $250 million in state bonds for the project. The construction phase was approved by the UK Board of Trustees in June 2023.

One of the greatest challenges facing the Commonwealth is the current and growing shortage of health care providers, including physicians, nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, athletic trainers, medical laboratory scientists, speech language pathologists, audiologists, public health officials, and other health care professionals. These shortages are especially prominent in rural areas.

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The new facility will give the University of Kentucky an important means in solving the health care workforce shortage. This larger space will increase UK’s training capacity by up to 1,200 students, which translates to more health professionals armed with the skills to create a healthier Kentucky.

Currently, 77 percent of the space will be dedicated to academic, shared, and collaborative spaces for students and faculty, including 25 percent devoted to classrooms and learning labs and 34 percent for simulation and experiential learning.

The new Rankin Health Education Building will allow for substantial growth, including:

• The College of Medicine will expand its medical education program in Lexington from approximately 138 students per year to up to 200 students per year, a 44 percent increase in enrollment capacity. This gives the UK College of Medicine an overall enrollment of more than 1,000 medical students across all its campuses, making it one of the largest medical schools in the country.
• It will also enable the College of Nursing to significantly increase enrollment in its traditional Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and Advanced BSN programs in order to address the statewide nursing shortage.
• The new facility will allow the College of Health Sciences to increase enrollment by 30 percent, with more than 460 students across 10 professional programs. Included in the Rankin Health Education Building will be physical therapy, physician assistant studies, communication sciences and disorders, athletic training and clinical nutrition, medical laboratory science, and the rehabilitation and health sciences Ph.D. program, along with additional new academic programs.
• The College of Public Health will expand enrollment by 50 percent, focusing on expanding undergraduate pathways to prepare future public health and health provider professionals. This growth will address critical workforce needs and provide students with enhanced opportunities to pursue careers dedicated to improving community health.
• The Center for Interprofessional and Community Health Education, which helps develop an effective and collaborative health workforce for Kentucky and beyond, will be able to impact 50 percent more students annually, who will be prepared to provide team-based care as professionals.

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The Rankin Health Education Building includes shared hallways, classrooms, educational labs, and spaces that intend to advance the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and perspectives, leading to research studies, development of new treatment approaches, and implementation of evidence-based practices that improve patient outcomes. For example, medical, health science, and nursing students will be able to simulate real-life, patient-based experiences through the standardized patient program.