Breaking Ground for the Common Good

Ceremony Celebrates Construction Now Under Way on UHCOP's Future Home in Health & Biomedical Sciences Building 2

At a ceremonial groundbreaking Feb. 29, University of Houston and UH College of Pharmacy representatives, area legislators, donors, alumni, students and faculty celebrated the progressing construction of UHCOP's future home in Health and Biomedical Sciences Building 2 (HBSB2). 

The college will occupy five of the nine floors in the new $145 million, 300,000-square-foot HBSB2, will consolidate the college's research and academic activities – currently split between two buildings on the UH main campus and the college's Texas Medical Center (TMC) campus – into a unified space.

Check out our Live Construction Cam to watch the building come to life!

Check out our Groundbreaking Ceremony photo album on Flickr!

Among those participating in the ceremony were UHCOP Dean F. Lamar Pritchard, Ph.D., R.Ph.; UH Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost Paula Myrick Short, Ph.D.; Texas Sen. Paul Bettencourt of Houston; Interim Vice President of Research and Technology Transfer Ramanan Krishnamoorti, Ph.D.; and PCCA Chief Executive Officer L. David Sparks, whose recent major gift to the college will support the build-out of the Compounding & Sterile Products Lab.

"This new home for the UH College of Pharmacy will truly be a game-changer in the ongoing transformation of the college and the future of pharmacy education and research as well as patient care across our great state," Pritchard said. "This new building would not be possible without the leadership and support of President Renu Khator, Provost Short, our UH System Regents, members of the Texas Legislature, and our donors and alumni." 

Elements of college's space in HBSB2 includes large auditorium-style lecture halls and smaller classrooms, group study rooms, computer/study carrels, and a multi-purpose student lounge and event space.

HBSB2 also will feature laboratory and pharmacy-care spaces where students will gain essential knowledge and skills in patient counseling, physical assessment, compounding, IV preparation, and clinical care before beginning their advanced pharmacy practice experiences.

Within the basic and translational research spaces, HBSB2 will offer core facilities for high-throughput screening, imaging, spectrometry, and analytical chemistry; Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR); Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and molecular modeling; and other facilities to promote and enhance collaboration in identification of novel drug targets and development of novel therapeutics.

In addition, HBSB2 also is planned to house an integrated health clinic to serve faculty, student, staff and the surrounding community. The clinic will be made possible by partnering with a federally qualified health center (FQHC) that will have primary care, OB-GYN, family practice and pediatric physicians.

To learn more about the UHCOP's facilities in HBSB2, visit our web page.

For more information about giving opportunities, please contact UHCOP Director of Advancement Matt Perkins at mrperkins@uh.edu or 713-743-6545.