Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for a new academic medical center that will bring together researchers and clinicians to transform health and healthcare in the region.
FSU Chancellor Richard McCullough, Board of Trustees Chairman Peter Collins, TMH President and CEO Mark O’Bryant and Florida Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Jason Weida spoke at the construction site of the TMH campus in Tallahassee.
“It’s incredible to be here today during a truly historic moment for the entire North Florida community,” McCullough said. “We are here because of an unprecedented investment by the State of Florida to transform health care and research in this region. This facility is just the beginning as we build a legacy of health, hope and opportunity for North Florida and beyond.”
The 140,000-square-foot building will include clinical research space, a family resident clinic, research facilities and other resources designed to bridge the gap between academic research and patient care. It is expected to house about 30 principal investigators and generate $40 million in grant funding annually.
With cutting-edge technologies in medicine, such as the use of pluripotent stem cells to therapeutically adapt a patient’s own cells, new and highly effective treatments for cancer, and other innovative therapies, this is an exciting time in healthcare, McCullough said.
“That’s why partnerships are important,” he said, “They’re important to FSU because they give us the opportunity to attract the best physicians in the world who will develop cutting-edge treatments for patients. And that opportunity is really attractive to ambitious physicians and researchers who we want to recruit to join us in this effort.”
The shared vision for the facility began to take shape in 2022, when the Florida Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis awarded FSU $125 million to build an academic medical center. The building is scheduled to open in late 2026.
The impact of this effort will reach far beyond the center: During construction, the project will create approximately 1,200 jobs and sustain more than 350 full-time, well-paying jobs once operational. The projected economic impact will be significant: more than $251 million annually.
“The planning that has gone into this building and this endeavor is incredible,” Collins said. “This is probably the most transformational change for Florida State University since we hired Bobby Bowden. It’s going to take us to a new level in terms of being a great university in the country. If we want to be a great university, we need to aim big. I’m incredibly grateful to TMH and the effort that’s gone into this partnership.”
The facility is part of FSU Health, a transformative effort to improve health and healthcare in North Florida. By combining TMH’s patient care with FSU’s medical and health education programs and cutting-edge research capabilities, FSU and TMH will further their longstanding goal of expanding healthcare in the region.
Other projects underway include the construction of the FSU Health Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare Medical Campus in Panama City Beach, which will bring together clinicians, researchers and students to meet the growing medical needs of the fast-growing Florida Panhandle. FSU is also expanding opportunities for students through its School of Medicine, opening a physician assistant training program and recently welcoming the first class of a new doctoral program in the School of Nursing.
“We are proud to work with FSU to establish a new research, education and clinical facility on campus, and we believe this collaboration will be the beginning of many future partnerships,” O’Bryant said. “Not only will this building bring together leading experts, foster groundbreaking innovation in medical research and provide unparalleled medical education to the next generation of medical professionals; it will also transform the health of our region by improving access to health care services. This monumental milestone will ultimately improve the quality of life for the people we serve.”
Partnering with TMH and other institutions in the region will enable Florida State University to expand its biomedical research portfolio and attract top medical and research talent from around the country to Tallahassee.
“Florida is incredibly fortunate in that we have leaders like Chancellor McCullough, Commissioner Collins and Mark O’Bryant who care deeply about rural access to health care and North Florida,” Weida said. “Florida has great homegrown talent, and we also have great talent coming from around the country looking to do good things here and improve health care.”
