Facilities

The School of Medicine is part of the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center (HSC), located in the heart of the Louisville Medical Center. Immediately east of the School is the University of Louisville Hospital, the principal teaching hospital of the University, and within two blocks are most of the affiliated hospitals. The center of activity for preclinical students is the Instructional Building, a three-story structure, located across from the Health Sciences Center Library Commons Building. The Instructional building has three auditoriums, two lecture halls, 20 small group teaching rooms, seven lounges, group study rooms and two kitchenettes. The lecture halls are collaborative learning spaces that incorporate the latest teaching concepts. The first floor room provides digital displays at the table top, allowing students to work in groups and share their product with the entire class. The gross anatomy labs, standardized patient clinic and simulation center are also located in this facility. The building is outfitted with wireless communication to provide students with easy access to the internet and various information technology systems.

Connected to the Instructional Building are the School of Dentistry and a fourteen-floor research tower housing various Basic and Clinical Science Departments and the Office of Medical Student Affairs. The tower is also connected to the Library Commons Building that houses the Kornhauser HSC Library, the HSC Auditorium seating 440, and a food service facility. 

The Alumni Center for Medical Education

The Alumni Center for Medical Education, located on the third floor of the Instructional Building, houses two state-of-the-art clinical education sites, the John M. and Dorothy S. Paris Patient Simulation Center and the Standardized Patient Clinic. Students have opportunities to develop and hone their clinical skills in both of these facilities.

The John M. and Dorothy S. Paris Simulation Center houses five computer-driven human patient simulators (four adult and one pediatric). The Simulation Center also has three portable human patient simulators, one obstetrical delivery simulator, and numerous other part task trainers. The simulators can mimic the physiology and pathophysiology of a person of any age; students can palpate for physical structures for important anatomical landmarks; they can provide ventilation to support or protect the patient's airway and they can administer drugs for the patient's care and observe the body's reaction in a safe environment that is conducive to learning. Since the basic factors of physiology can be controlled, the simulators can also be used to demonstrate disease states that re-create realistic abnormal physiology. Audio and video management systems allow for digital capture and storage of training for future review and assessment purposes.

The Standardized Patient Clinic contains twelve fully equipped and digitized examination rooms suitable for high-stakes testing. Student performance can be observed live through a streaming server or digitally recorded for later review with a faculty member or standardized patient.  Standardized patients are trained to present with particular symptoms and provide students with feedback about their history taking, examination, and communication skills. They provide students with realistic, low-risk opportunities to interact with patients during their pre-clinical years. During the clinical years, standardized patient encounters are incorporated into the curriculum as assessment and board preparation. Students work with standardized patients beginning in their first year of medical school.

The Kornhauser Health Sciences (HSC) Center Library

Kornhauser HSC Library is a comprehensive health sciences information resource center. It provides on and off-campus access to extensive research and clinical tools including Acland’s Video Atlas of Human Anatomy, e-textbooks, evidence-based practice and clinical decision-making tools, USMLE prep tools and over 2300 health sciences journals and 50 medical-related databases.  Individual study desks, comfortable seating areas, and group student space is provided, as well as a small vending area.

Students are among the library's priority clientele. Services for students include: laptop checkout, quiet student space, group student rooms, professional literature searching, 24 hour library access, and vending. The library has an open food and drink policy, with free snacks provided during final exams. Since 1837, the library has helped students achieve academic success and continues to offer students the best service possible.

The Kentucky Lions Eye Center

This 64,000 square foot complex includes the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, the Kentucky Lions Eye Research Institute, the Rounsavall Eye Clinic, the Kentucky Lions Eye Bank and the offices of the Kentucky Lions Eye Foundation. Approximately two-thirds of the center is dedicated to laboratory research in visual sciences. The center provides the highest standard of patient care in all specialty areas of Ophthalmology. A broad range of basic and clinical research activities are supported by federal and private funding agencies. Educational activities include a residency training program.

The Medical-Dental Research Building

This seven-story 120,000 square foot structure is dedicated to scientific investigation. Departments of the School of Medicine currently using the building for research include Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, Medicine, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Psychiatry, Surgery, Neurology and Neurosurgery. 

The James Graham Brown Cancer Center

The James Graham Brown Cancer Center is a key component of the Health Sciences Center. The Center encourages collaboration between oncology physicians and cancer researchers and emphasizes bringing the latest research from the lab to the bedside of its patients. This emphasis reflects treatment plans for patients fueled by a commitment to translational research. Patients benefit from a team approach to patient care, where multidisciplinary teams of specialized physicians, nurses and other care providers work together to treat each patient according to a unique, customized plan.

The Center provides both treatment space and the Department offices for Radiation Oncology and the Division offices for Medical Oncology, Surgical Oncology, Dental Oncology/Maxillofacial Surgery, and Gynecologic Oncology. Clinical trials are also conducted in this facility. The Center also serves as a training site for medical students and residents in oncology related fields.   

The Novak Center for Children's Health

This center is located at 411 East Chestnut Street and provides comprehensive health care for infants and children. It is a major outpatient facility for the Department of Pediatrics.

The Kosair Charities Pediatric Center

The Kosair Charities Pediatric Center houses the Department of Pediatrics’ academic and administrative offices on the top two floors and the Weisskopf Center for the Evaluation of Children (WCEC) on the bottom two floors. The WCEC was established to help children who have special needs realize their full potential. Children and adults with developmental, learning and behavioral disorders receive appropriate diagnostic and intervention services. Genetic evaluation and genetic counseling are provided to children and adults who have or who are at risk of having a birth defect or genetic disorder. The professional staff is composed of pediatric developmental specialists, child psychologists, education specialists, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, social workers, geneticists, genetic associates, and nurses.

The WCEC is also committed to training professionals and community advocacy. Throughout the year, professionals from many different areas rotate through the Center, providing direct opportunity to work with this population. The Center also collaborates with professionals in the local community to better serve children with special needs and their families. The Center will move to the PMOB in the summer of 2018.

The Kidney Disease Center

The Kidney Disease Center houses the Division of Nephrology of the Department of Medicine. The Nephrology clinics and a dialysis unit provide treatment for patients with renal disease and hypertension, for kidney transplant recipients, and for patients on chronic dialysis. 

The Donald E. Baxter, MD, Biomedical Research Building and the Della B. Baxter Biomedical Research Building

The Donald E. Baxter Research Building (opened in 1999) and the Delia B. Baxter Research Building (opened in 2003) provide more than 260,000 square feet of state-of-the-art research space. The lower level, connecting the two buildings, includes a 100-seat research seminar room, a large conference room and research support facilities. The other four levels in each of the buildings consists of two “pods” or wings joined by shared conference and break rooms. Each pod houses six laboratories and six offices. 

Research programs located in this facility include the Institute for Cellular Therapeutics, Pediatrics (Kosair Children’s Hospital Research Institute), the Center for Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Nephrology/Proteomics, Pulmonary, the Institute for Molecular Cardiology, and the Gheens Center on Aging.

The Cardiovascular Innovation Institute

Since opening its doors in 2007, the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute, a joint initiative between the University of Louisville and Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare has focused on the discovery, development and implementation of innovative treatments for cardiovascular disease.  A primary goal of the institute is to foster a highly collaborative, integrated, multi-disciplinary world-class enterprise encompassing basic, translational, and clinical & population research in cardiovascular disease affecting individuals from pre-natal life to death.    

The 80,000 square foot facility provides state-of-the-art laboratories devoted to cardiovascular research.  In December 2009, the Institute completed construction of a “first of its kind” translational research cleanroom.  The cleanroom suite is maintained under the current Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) regulations of the FDA and provides researchers and clinicians with a facility to produce regulated products for clinical use.  The cleanroom suite affords the opportunity to translate both cell and biohybrid therapies from the research being conducted in the facility into clinical practices.

The Kosair Charities Clinical and Translational Research Building

The Clinical and Translational Research (CTR) building, opened in 2009, has 290,000 square feet of bio-medical research laboratory space designed for research clinical and translational applications including cancer research. The CTR building provides flexible and adaptable state-of-the-art biomedical research facilities, designed to promote interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists working in the building. It has five floors of “open lab” neighborhoods, lab support facilities, faculty offices, core research facilities, and a series of seminar/conference rooms on the first floor. Primary occupants are Cancer Center, Departments of Medicine (Pulmonary and GI divisions), Microbiology and Immunology, Pharmacology, and the Center for Predictive Medicine.