A conference room with a glass wall overlooking the atrium at the new UB Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. (Derek Gee/Buffalo News)
With its terra cotta skin, dramatic seven-story atrium and more than 19,000 feet of glass, the new University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences offers a sleek addition to the downtown cityscape.
The eye-catching building on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus opens with students on Monday, but it aims for more than a visual wow factor. It reflects big changes in medical education, helping UB keep pace with a movement to reorganize the training of doctors of the future.
The new school is more than twice as large as the old one on the South Campus. First-year enrollment is 180 students this year, up from 144 in the recent past. The number of faculty members is growing, too – now 812 with a goal of 860 by 2020.
UB is not alone. First-year enrollment at U.S. medical schools increased by 28 percent to 21,030 students from 2002 to 2017, as schools responded to concerns about projected physician shortages, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, which represents accredited medical schools.
An open lab at the new UB Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. (Derek Gee/Buffalo News)