‘Topped out’ and just beginning — ceremony imagines the future of medical education

'Topped out' and just beginning - ceremony imagines the future of medical education

• ECU and partners held a topping-out ceremony Thursday for the new Brody Center of Medical Education, a seven-story building scheduled to open next summer.
• The $265 million investment will increase the number of physicians who provide rural healthcare and primary care in North Carolina.
• The Brody School of Medicine is a U.S. News & World Report Tier 1 medical school for training primary care doctors. It is consistently recognized as one of the highest value medical schools in the country, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges, and its graduates enjoy low student debt load.

East Carolina University and its construction partners celebrated a milestone Thursday in the construction of the Brody Center for Medical Education when crews hoisted and secured the final steel beam atop the seven-story structure. The "topping out" of the project offered a moment of reflection upon the historic investment the state of North Carolina has made in medical education in the east, a bid meant to shape how future physicians are trained in the state.

In a short ceremony Thursday afternoon between the site and Laupus Lake, Chancellor Philip Rogers thanked the crews seated at lunch tables under a large event tent.

"A topping-out ceremony has deep roots in the construction industry," Rogers said. "As we prepare to place the final beam, we pause to express our sincere appreciation to the contractors, construction workers, project managers, ECU facility team members, engineers, architects, subcontractors and everyone involved in this project.

"Long after construction is complete, the impact of your work will be seen in the physicians who will be educated here. … This building will stand as a lasting symbol of what can be accomplished when public investment, institutional vision and skilled craftmanship come together in service of a greater purpose."

Before it was placed, faculty, staff and students working from inside the existing medical education building joined leaders and construction executives in signing the purple-painted, 32-foot I-beam with metallic Sharpies. Students added their class year, and physicians added their specialty and department.

"It was always ECU," Benjamin Gurstein added.

"Rural health," wrote Dr. Nasreen Vohra.

"Always stand strong and tall," wrote Dr. Allison Flowers.

After short remarks, workers affixed hooks and cables to the beam and gave the crane operator the all-clear. Everone in attendance not wearing sunglasses made hand visors and followed the flight of the beam to the seventh story of the future center.

Brody's Value to North Carolina

"We bring great value to the state," said Dr. Jason Higginson, executive dean of the school, "and I think one way this is recognized is what our students leave Brody with - not only a full state-of-the-art medical education that will be enhanced by this space, but about half the student debt."

The national average medical student debt load after four years is roughly $200,000.

Brody's low tuition is possible through the state's "commitment to the school," he said, and it's strategic.

"It opens up career opportunities for our graduates that many physicians don't have - to practice in areas like ours. So we continue to advance the mission, and it will be further advanced, and we'll attract brighter minds with this new facility. … Because our product is unsurpassed."

TA Loving executive Tom Daniel, a two-time Pirate graduate, spoke of the scale of the project in terms of people, teams and North Carolina employers.

"We engaged 58 state partners to make this project happen. They are experts in their field, they're the best of the best. All of those 58 trade partners, subcontractors, and more - they all have offices in North Carolina. Yeah, that's huge," said Daniel, who also helped build ECU's Main Campus Student Center.

"Over 1,100 workers have walked through those gates. These workers have logged over 350,000 man hours to get us to the place we are today. Again, thank you."

Even the steps performed to lift the one-ton I-beam to the top of the center brought to life for the lay audience the precision task performed daily by so many trades people. Working together, teams brought to life the rough structure of a 195,000-square-foot education building in about 15 months.

"I pull up every day in front of this space that used to be a parking lot before it was a hole in the ground," Higginson said, "and whether it's freezing, icy, a downpour, or, like today, hot in a way I couldn't imagine working outside - today is emblematic of the things that you work through to make this possible. Thank you."

The event was a visible turning point for the $265 million state-funded project - the largest capital construction effort at ECU in more than a decade. Soon begins the equally labor intensive period of wiring, plumbing, sheeting and other trades work that transforms this structural space into an operational one. The building is scheduled to open ahead of the 2027-28 academic year.

Donor Support

Earlier this year, the effort got a boost when cousins David and Laura Brody, and Hyman and Stacy Brody of the Brody family, long one of ECU's biggest and closest backers, gifted $10 million to the Brody Scholars program. The reinvestment will expand its impact and shape the next generation of service-minded physicians. In recognition of that commitment, the building was officially named the Brody Center for Medical Education by the university's board of trustees, a decision meant both to honor decades of one family's philanthropy and reinforce its particular purpose - to recruit and train physicians who will remain in North Carolina and serve its people, especially in underserved communities.

The facility has made students central to its purpose and design. It will feature modern simulation environments, anatomy labs and classroom technology as well as collaborative spaces aimed at preparing students for clinical practice in a profession increasingly built on teams and instant communication.

An Investment in Care for Rural Communities

The Brody School of Medicine has a reputation for graduating physicians with a wealth of patient experience having cared for often rural and underserved patients their last two years of school.

The school is a U.S. News & World Report Tier 1 medical school for training primary care doctors. It is consistently recognized as one of the highest value medical schools in the country, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges; its graduates enjoy low student debt load.

Each year, more than half of all Brody graduates enter primary care residency programs. Many ultimately choose to practice in underserved and rural areas, a trend that lines up behind the university's public-service mission.

The state's investment in an institution with a demonstrated history of serving the underserved was a recurring theme in speakers' remarks, and as the final beam was placed Thursday, it did more than complete a building frame - it symbolized years of planning and shared commitment among state leaders, donors, educators and healthcare partners who are intent on improving health outcomes in eastern North Carolina and across the state.

One of those in attendance was Joanne Azar, a third-year student at Brody doing a clinical rotation across the street at ECU Health's internal medicine-pediatrics clinic.

"The other day, I had a 16-year-old patient, and I was talking to her about her ambitions, and what she wants to be is an OB-GYN," she said. "And she's from right here in Greenville. For her, as driven as she is, I was like, 'You should look into the Brody School of Medicine,' because she can get involved in different educational programs right now.

"I'm super excited for what this [new center] means for future generations of students like her, and what this means for Greenville and eastern North Carolina. Greenville will be a city that shines for the way it values medical education."