Regents approve naming of new facility for UNMC College of Pharmacy

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents Friday approved the naming of the upcoming Lozier Center for Pharmacy Sciences and Education and Center for Drug Discovery. Groundbreaking for the new building is set for Thursday, June 13, at 10:30 a.m., at its future location, east of the Michael F. Sorrell Center for Health Science Education along Emile Street, on the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus.

The building’s name is in recognition of major gifts from Ruth and Bill Scott and from The Lozier Foundation. The two-part name emphasizes the dual major functional components housed in the building, which will be home to both state-of-the-art education space and world-class research laboratories for the UNMC College of Pharmacy.

UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., hailed the Lozier Center for Pharmacy Sciences and Education and Center for Drug Discovery as yet another transformational project for the Medical Center, which in recent weeks also has seen the grand opening of the Stanley M. Truhlsen Eye Institute and the groundbreaking of the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center.

Said Courtney Fletcher, Pharm.D., dean of the College of Pharmacy: “This is a unique opportunity to imagine and improve the future of human health.”

The project’s donors agreed. The 85,000-square foot, $35 million building will be built entirely thanks to private donations, with no state funds used.

The name “Lozier Center for Pharmacy Sciences and Education” comes in recognition of the Lozier Foundation’s gift, and “Center for Drug Discovery” is in recognition of, and at the request of, Ruth and Bill Scott. Both major donors have long histories of investing in Nebraska’s future, including in the form of previous generous gifts to UNMC.

Construction is set to begin in February 2014, with a projected completion date of July 2015.

Through world-class research and patient care, UNMC generates breakthroughs that make life better for people throughout Nebraska and beyond. Its education programs train more health professionals than any other institution in the state. Learn more at unmc.edu.