University of Virginia School of Medicine Vitals magazine published by the UVA Medical Alumni Association and Medical School Foundation (MAA MSF)
Issue link: https://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/45472
A JEFFERSONIAN JUMBLE While its plans were still on the drawing board, there was an effort to do things dif- ferently in Carter-Harrison. When he made the assignments for the new 102-square- foot space that was then known as MR-6, former School of Medicine dean Robert Carey sought to create an interdisciplinary and complimentary mix of researchers. They included the Beirne B. Carter Center for Im- munology Research, the Division of Infec- tious Disease and its trans-university Center for Global Health, as well as several biomedi- cal research units of the UVA Cancer Cen- ter. As plans progressed, the scientists who would occupy the building also wanted a say in how the space was organized. "There's a spirit of cooperation [at UVA] that's part of the culture of the institution," said Cancer Center director Michael Weber, PhD. Evoking the comingling of students 30 Vitals Fall 2011 and professors that was the core of Thomas Jefferson's academical village, he said, "We wanted the Carter-Harrison Building to be sufficiently flexible to accommodate [the same sort of] opportunities for collaboration and interaction within the scientific context." Weber, together with Thomas Braciale, MD, PhD, who heads the Beirne Carter Center, and William Petri, MD, PhD, who chairs the Division of Infectious Disease, worked with the architects to be sure Carter- Harrison would support that collaboration and intellectual exchange when it opened in 2009. "One of the beauties of this building was putting immunology and infectious disease in a contiguous space," Petri said. "The study of infectious disease involves not just the mi- crobe but the host response to the microbe. There's a lot of interaction [among the two disciplines], so having us in the same building promotes collaboration in a very powerful way." Similarly, some recent cancer research also takes an immunological approach to finding a cure. Members of the Cancer Cen- ter's immunetherapy program have space in Carter-Harrison with the expectation that their proximity to colleagues in the Beirne Carter Center will foster collaborations that will bring new insights, technologies and ex- pertise into a focus on cancer. "This building shows how the design of a building can be a catalyst to creating interdis- ciplinary and collaborative programs of the highest quality," Weber said. MIXING IT UP Collaboration among these three disciplines are facilitated by the sharing of trainees on training grants, for example. Some disciplines even share research projects. Visiting profes-