The university officially broke ground on its largest capital investment to date at UMKC’s Hospital Hill campus last Wednesday, Sept. 11.
The newest addition to UMKC’s dental and medical programs is expected to launch new opportunities and growth for the school. During his speech, Chancellor Mauli Agrawal said this venture is “just the beginning” and hopes to lead the university to Carnegie R1 status this spring.
The building will house UMKC’s School of Dentistry, School of Medicine, biomedical engineering, Data Science, and Analytics Innovation Center, and more.
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, joined the ceremony and explained the need for updated medical technology and resources.
“Healthcare is changing dramatically and changing quickly,” said Blunt..
Jennifer Pennington, admissions coordinator for the School of Dentistry, believes the new building will provide new opportunities to students, staff and the community.
“[It will bring] updated technology, innovation and new equipment, so we’re going to be able to hopefully expand patients and see more people,” said Pennington.
The new innovation building will allow members of the community to receive a range of affordable healthcare and dental procedures by students.
Professor Jeanette Berkeley-Patton, in the Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics, believes that this addition will create more opportunities to connect with the community.
“It’s going to greatly enhance our ability to do our research and give us an infrastructure from which that can happen,” Berkeley-Patton said. “The ability to expand how we serve our greater Kansas City community, and particularly underserved populations is just such an incredible blessing, opportunity and honor.”
Students are looking forward to opportunities the Healthcare and Delivery Innovation building will bring to their education and professional training.
“I think it will help us to get more of the technical innovative side of the industry,” said first-year dental student Brandon Watts. “While it’s good to keep those foundations of the traditional techniques, it’ll also be good for us to have more experience with the newer technologies.”
This development was a long time coming, said sophomore dental student, Emily Breault.
“I feel like the dental school has been around for a long time and it needs updating,” said Breault. “I think it’ll make it more attractive for students that are going to come in.”
The new campus received some funding from various state officials as well.
Blunt helped secure a federal grant for the building’s construction, with help from Gov. Mike Parsons, who led the campaign to make the project happen. Additional funding came from donations such as The Sunderland Foundation, The Hall Family Foundation, and UMKC alum Nathan Sabates and family.
The project is expected to be completed in 2026.
