By Bradley Osburn
Be sure to stick around after the description for a photo gallery of the new facility.
The Clinical and Translational Research Building (CTRB) is a new, 120,000-square-foot, environmentally sustainable, two-winged facility in the middle of the University of Florida campus. Home to two UF medical organizations that perform medical studies right alongside clinical care, the CTRB is designed from the ground up to facilitate employee health, patient satisfaction and cutting-edge research. Here’s a look at their new digs.
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LOCATION: 2004 Mowry Road
WEBSITE: www.ctsi.ufl.edu and www.aging.ufl.edu
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: About 500
HOW LONG IN CURRENT LOCATION: 4 months
DESIGNED BY: Perkins + Will, Coral Gables.
COST: $45 million, to be repaid by overhead funds from research grants and a $15 million National Institutes of Health grant.
WHAT THEY DO: The building’s two wings house the Clinical and Translational Research Institute, which is dedicated to shortening the estimated 17 years between medical research and clinical application, and the UF Institute on Aging, a facility with the mission of helping improve the health and quality of life for adults 65 and older.
FUN FACT: According to nonprofit Families USA, every $5 million spent in annual research funding leads to about 100 new jobs and $20 million in incremental business activity.
WANT TO WORK THERE? Given the number of different units working in the institute, it’s difficult to cite a list of specific job openings at any given time. Check out jobs.ufl.edu for potential needs.
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The CTRB is close to earning Platinum certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program of the US Green Building Council. CTRB Sustainability features include low-emission building materials to improve indoor air quality; recycled building materials; technologies to conserve energy and water; 220 solar panels that supply an estimated 8 to 12 percent of the building’s power; and light meters that dim the lights in ample daylight.
The facility is equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment, like a slim pad that exactly measures a patient’s walking gait when they walk across it and the Bod Pod, which accurately measures body fat without the patient having to be submerged in water.
The CTRB is designed to promote employee health. Stairs, a prominent feature throughout, are meant to encourage staff to walk between floors instead of taking the elevator. In addition, treadmills equipped with adjustable desk attachments are stationed in a handful of offices and open workspaces so that staff can walk while they work. Each facility also has employee shower space to encourage workers to bike or run to the CTRB.
From 2008 to 2012, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute supported 8,351 person-years of employment; launched more than 4,000 clinical research studies; received $11 of outside funding for every dollar spent by the institute; and spurred $1.1 billion of economic activity.
The Institute on Aging is currently running 55 active research projects and trains 540 medical students, 65 physician assistant students, nine postdoctoral associates, 14 predoctoral trainees, four visiting scholars, two clinical fellows, 39 graduate assistants and undergraduate interns and volunteers. It saw 4,750 patients in 2012.
