The George T. Harrell, M.D., Medical Education Building: A National Model for Innovative Medical Education

The George T. Harrell, M.D., Medical Education Building at the University of Florida (UF) College of Medicine, which officially opened its doors on July 29, 2015, represents a significant advancement in medical education. Named in honor of Dr. George T. Harrell, the UF College of Medicine’s founding dean, this facility serves as a home for medical and physician assistant students at UF. More than just a structure, the Harrell Medical Education Building is a dynamic ecosystem designed to foster learning, innovation, and collaboration. This article delves into the building's origins, design, innovative features, and its role in shaping the future of healthcare education.

Addressing the Evolving Landscape of Medical Education

The landscape of medical education is constantly evolving, demanding facilities that can keep pace with innovative teaching methodologies and the complex needs of modern healthcare. Recognizing this need, the UF College of Medicine strategically designed the Harrell Medical Education Building to support a shift in teaching and learning. As the UF College of Medicine adapted its curriculum to the way a new generation of students learn, it was imperative that we build a new facility strategically designed to support this shift in teaching and learning. The building's inception marked a significant shift for the UF College of Medicine, which revamped its curriculum in 2012. This update aimed to provide students with earlier exposure to clinical training and a greater focus on small-group and collaborative learning.

The core problem it sought to solve was the need for a facility that could support a revamped, patient-centered curriculum, emphasizing active, team-based, and collaborative learning over traditional lecture-hall models.

From Vision to Reality: The Genesis of the Harrell Building

The story of the Harrell Medical Education Building began in the fall of 2009 with conversations about the medical school’s curriculum and facilities. It was clear that new facilities were needed, but the prospect for a new building initially seemed out of reach. At the time, the nation and the state of Florida were still reeling from the “Great Recession.”

A key figure in bringing the vision to life was Dean Mike Good, who secured the necessary funding by engaging with donors across Florida. His passion for the project inspired alumni and friends to contribute generously. In Forward Together, the 2010 five-year strategic plan for UF Health, there was an important section related to facilities. The theme was “form follows function” and the plan was for bold, forward-looking architecture that would reflect the lofty ambitions of the University of Florida and its Health Science Center.

A crucial aspect of the strategic plan was the need for fundamental change in the medical school’s curriculum. The traditional curriculum, consisting of two years of basic science in lecture halls followed by two years of clinical training, was deemed insufficient. A new curriculum was needed in which education in basic science and clinical practice would be intertwined for all four years, one informing the other. Dr. Good therefore conducted a national search for a Senior Associate Dean for Educational Affairs who would lead this effort. We were extremely fortunate that Dr. Good was able to attract Joseph Fantone, M.D., to the University of Florida.

Dr. Fantone, who joined on June 1, 2010, led the effort to create an exciting new learning plan. Over the next two years, he brought together faculty and students to create an exciting new learning plan at the UF College of Medicine. This process included three large, inclusive retreats as well as many smaller meetings of curricular design work groups. In accordance with a specific timeline, educational principles, competencies and desired learning outcomes were defined; curricular needs were assessed; and a new curriculum was designed. The new curriculum was implemented in stages, starting with the first-year class in August of 2012. Implementation of the second year began in August of 2013, and the third- and fourth-year followed in May of 2014 and May of 2015, respectively.

In fashioning this new curriculum, Drs. Fantone and Good, working with faculty and students, explored new territory by creating a patient-centered approach to medical education. This meant that, as Dr. Good put it at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, “instead of focusing on the academic disciplines of medicine, we ask our students to concentrate on the life systems of our patients that guide so much of their care. We can’t take care of patients sitting in lecture halls. Real medicine is practiced by teams of health professionals who come together in clinics, ERs, ORs or ICUs to heal patients. With that in mind, we went from passive learning - absorbing knowledge in a large-scale environment with limited opportunity to apply it - to active, team-based learning in the very small-group environments that our students will encounter as practicing physicians. Introducing patient care to our students early and often in their education means that they learn communication skills that will help them build relationships. By developing careful listening and empathic conversation skills, they will become compassionate, humanistic, patient-centered clinicians.

Architectural Vision: Form Follows Function

In parallel with development of the new curriculum, the second step was to design and construct a building that would house the innovative features of the new plan of study. On the day we first met with the architect, Mark Chen of Heery International, something fortuitous happened: the summer rains came down, just as they did at the ribbon-cutting last week. We sought refuge in the bridge that connects the Academic Research Building with the McKnight Brain Institute. Standing in the center of the bridge, Mark looked north on Newell Drive and saw the iconic UF Century Tower on the hill. Immediately below us, he saw a roughly paved parking lot, and majestic century-old Live Oak trees. In seeking shelter from the rain, Mark discovered a unique vantage point and a fresh view. On the spot, he proposed a medical education facility that would include a tower in the southeast corner of the building. This tower would serve not only as a gateway to the health science center, but as an academic connection with the University of Florida and an architectural tribute to its historic campus. Moreover, the building design would take advantage of views of the century-old trees, and the opportunity for natural light to pour in everywhere.

Todd Drake, an architect at Ballinger A-E in Philadelphia, collaborated with Mark in bringing our medical education building to life. Todd had programmed and designed the interior spaces for many important medical education buildings in the recent past, including facilities at Johns Hopkins, University of Michigan, and New York University. The goal here was to design a facility in which the form of the spaces would follow the function of the new UF College of Medicine curriculum. The resulting design of the George T. Harrell Medical Education Building is truly extraordinary and nationally unique.

Key Features and Design Elements

The 94,000-square-foot, four-story facility is designed with the students foremost in mind. The Harrell Medical Education Building serves as a national model, providing a dynamic environment for training UF medical students and physician assistant students to practice safe, effective and compassionate clinical care. What truly sets the Harrell Medical Education Building apart are its innovative features, meticulously designed to foster experiential learning and interprofessional collaboration.

Experiential Learning Theater

While form follows function throughout the Harrell Medical Education Building, perhaps the design principles are best exemplified by the UF Health Shands Experiential Learning Center, and the Lou Oberndorf Experiential Learning Theater. Previously, medical simulation centers were designed as a series of fixed spaces: an emergency room, an operating room, an ICU, a labor-and delivery suite, etc. With background as a stage manager in college, however, Dr. Good envisioned a much more flexible and efficient approach. With the architects he designed a theatrical “set” in which the needs for various simulations could occur by moving the needed components from “stage left” and “stage right.” One day, the set may be designed as an operating room, and the next day as an emergency room. Alternatively, the set might be divided into an operating room, emergency room, and ICU simultaneously. The overall theatrical set can be divided into halves, quarters or eighths.

Imagine a learning space that can transform from an operating room to an emergency room, or even an intensive care unit, all within minutes. This is precisely what the state-of-the-art experiential learning theater within the Harrell Medical Education Building offers. Equipped with retractable walls and a concealed grid, this flexible environment can accommodate dozens of configurations and hundreds of complex healthcare scenarios.

Circular Learning Studios

Gone are the days of endless rows of chairs facing a single lecturer. The Harrell Medical Education Building features two signature circular learning studios, each designed to accommodate up to 160 students. President Fuchs stated during his remarks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony that the George T. Harrell Medical Education Building reaffirms our core commitment to teaching as a university and as a faculty. He was particularly taken with our innovative two-story oval learning studios, which he called “learning cathedrals.” This sentiment struck a chord among all those assembled. Looking out through large glass windows onto magnificent century-old oak trees, these soaring ovals function both as a “theater-in-the-round” in which professors can provide background material, and as a place for small-group learning in which teams of students can teach one another. In these spaces and throughout the George T. Harrell Medical Education Building, we have indeed created a cathedral of learning.

These studios are built with collaborative, team-based learning in mind, featuring six oversized video screens and ceiling-mounted projectors to facilitate interactive discussions and presentations.

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Clinical Skills Learning and Assessment Center

Developing clinical proficiency is paramount for future healthcare providers. The building houses an expanded clinical skills learning and assessment center with 18 standardized patient examination rooms. Each room is equipped with video cameras and microphones, allowing for the recording and review of student-patient encounters.

Patient-Centered Curriculum

By emphasizing early clinical exposure and active learning, the building directly supports UF's patient-centered curriculum. Students learn in contexts where they will apply their skills, integrating biomedical knowledge with real-world patient care scenarios.

Interprofessional Collaboration

Healthcare is a team sport, and the Harrell Medical Education Building is designed to reflect this reality. Its facilities are utilized not only by medical and physician assistant students but also by other health science students, residents, fellows, and UF Health Shands providers for team and interprofessional training. The UF College of Medicine includes a vibrant School of Physician Assistant Studies that is recognized as one of the very best in the country. From the beginning, the Harrell Medical Education Building was designed with the P.A. students in mind. A flexible classroom was designed for the didactic portion of the P.A. curriculum, one that includes full class and small group configurations. The P.A. students also share the clinical skills learning and assessment center, experiential learning center, task training and patient simulation facilities.

Innovation and Technology Development

The building isn't just a consumer of technology; it's a generator. As part of this program element, the fourth floor of the building is a dedicated cross-disciplinary space for University programs, such as the school of engineering, to team with industry experts in the development of new medical education technologies.

Sustainable Design

The Harrell Medical Education Building is also a testament to sustainable design, having achieved LEED Gold certification. Stormwater best management practices including pervious paving, rain gardens and level spreaders were designed and constructed to meet local, state and LEED requirements.

Recognizing Generosity: Named Spaces within the Building

As curricular development and building design was proceeding, the third step was to raise money for the project. Dr. Good and the development team traveled extensively to meet with alumni and friends of the UF College of Medicine. Dr. James Free, a member of the first (1960) graduating class of the medical school, made a leadership gift with his wife, Carole, to name the education building after the founding dean, Dr. George T. Harrell. In gratitude to Dr. and Mrs. Free for their leadership gift, and recognizing Dr. Free's passion to advance primary care, the medical school created the H. James Free Center for Primary Care Education and Innovation, and located its physical home prominently next to the admissions office on the first floor of the new building.

Steven M. Scott, M.D. Chair of the UF Board of Trustees, and his wife, Rebecca, made a leadership gift to name the spacious and welcoming atrium of the facility, now named the Steven M. Scott M.D. and Rebecca J. As noted above, the board of UF Health Shands Hospital and Lou Oberndorf, who had created the world’s leading patient simulator company based on technology developed by Dr. Good and UF colleagues in the late 1980s, made major gifts to name the UF Health Shands Experiential Learning Center, and the Lou Oberndorf Experiential Learning Theater, respectively.

Dr. Angelo Anaclerio, a 1962 graduate of the UF College of Medicine and recipient of the UF Distinguished Alumni Award in 2014, and his wife Alberta, made leadership gifts to name the Anaclerio Clinical Skills Learning and Assessment Center, and the 1st floor Dean’s Conference Room in honor of Dr. Good and his wife Danette. The architecturally and functionally important Porter Tower was named by a leadership gift from Dr. Alan Porter, a 1971 graduate of the UF College of Medicine, and his wife Claudia, a 1975 graduate of the UF College of Nursing. Dr. Joe Rush, a former UF College of Medicine faculty member and creator of the first and most successful electronic medical textbook, “UpToDate,” made a leadership gift to name the Florence Pavlik and Joseph Rush student lounge, along with classrooms named to honor his mentors Dr. Whit Curry and Dr.

Randolph B. Mahoney, P.A., a 2003 graduate of the school and emeritus faculty member, contributed a major gift to name the Randolph B. Mahoney, P.A., School of Physician Studies Suite, which houses the P.A. Thousands of alumni contributed to the initiative, many through the Alumni Challenge, created by Dr. Jason Rosenberg, a 1995 graduate of the College of Medicine and current member of the UF Board of Trustees, or through class gifts associated with their medical school reunions.

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