To hear Philip Pizzo, MD, dean of the medical school, wax eloquently about it, you realize that the newLi Ka Shing Center (LKSC) at Stanford’s School of Medicine is much more than a building. Fully operational when the fall academic session commences in September, the LKSC will become the hub for a new era of high-tech learning. Ten years in the making, the five-story limestone and glass structure will dramatically change the educational experience for students through new interactive, experiential and team-based learning technologies.
In my latest 1:2:1 podcast, Dean Pizzo talks about how the birth of the building was tied to a negative assessment of the school’s physical facilities by the Liaison Committee on Medical Committee, the national accrediting authority for medical schools. He also talks about how reform of the medical school curriculum was a critical first step that the school had to take prior to breaking ground on a new building.
I think you will also find it interesting that inside the LKSC, the priorities of the medical student are first and foremost. Students are given the best views, the most comfortable space, high tech classrooms and a greatly expanded immersive and simulation-based learning facility, along with a swanky new work-out space. The center will have a grand opening in the fall, when its major benefactor, Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist Li Ka Shing, will be welcomed to campus and thanked for his generosity.
