UW-GU Health Partnership Celebrates New Academic Home 

Students, leaders and dignitaries cut a long ribbon of medical-grade gauze spanning a 22-foot doorway to mark the opening of the region’s hub for medical and health education, research and innovation, anchored by the University of Washington School of Medicine-Gonzaga University Health Partnership in Spokane, Washington.

The 90,000-square-foot building is the academic home to the UW School of Medicine Spokane and its 120 first- and second-year students, Gonzaga’s Department of Human Physiology and more than 500 GU undergraduates in nursing and health sciences, plus faculty and staff. The UW’s MEDEX Northwest physician assistant program delivers instruction to 30+ students in the adjacent SIERR building.

In July, UW students began classes in the four-story building and were joined by GU undergraduate students in late August.

The building, developed by Emerald Initiative, features modern classrooms, an anatomy suite, high-tech research labs and integrated administrative offices. It also includes multiple areas for students to gather, from an outdoor rooftop deck to small quiet spaces for collaboration or independent study.  Beyond the medical and health science education features, CollinsWoerman, Bouten Construction and McKinstry worked closely together to design and build innovative systems that seamlessly integrate environmental sustainability into the structure and style of the facility.

The efficient building utilizes an open-loop ground source heat pump system that extracts water from the Spokane aquifer to provide a constant water temperature that the building’s mechanical systems use to heat and cool the building.

In addition to being a place where students and faculty collaborate and learn, the building serves a greater purpose — to help advance healthcare research and solutions that will give rural communities better access to affordable, quality care.