Li Ka-shing, the leading Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist, recently shared with me the story of why he chose to help fund a new medical education building at Stanford that bears his name:
Stanford has always had a very special place in my heart. This is our third major project with the university, and each one reminds me of the time I brought my oldest son, Victor, to the campus to begin his education here many years ago. As we walked together past these beautiful buildings, I was overtaken by everything this university represents and the opportunities it provides for students. On that occasion, I remember looking at Victor and saying, 'This is the first time in my life that I feel jealous.'
Mr. Li's own education was cut short by the war in China, and he called that "one of the voids in my life that has never been adequately filled." It gave him a hunger for learning and a commitment to invest in the learning of others, he said. The Li Ka Shing Foundation has granted more than $1.45 billion to projects worldwide, many of them in education.
Mr. Li came from Hong Kong to Stanford for ceremonies today to dedicate the new building, known as the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge. The five-level, soaring red-roofed center is the medical school’s first new education building in 50 years and is a model of innovation, with a ground floor simulation center that is among the largest in the world. It has a fully simulated hospital, complete with an operating room, emergency room and scrub rooms. Learners can use lifelike, programmable mannequins that bleed, breathe, blink and talk to test their skills in managing virtually any medical condition.
The building also has a high-end video capture system that can be used for an endless number of creative teaching techniques, such as transferring images of a training session with the mannequins in the basement up to the conference center on the second floor or eventually for instantaneous broadcast on the web.
Previously: Stanford building houses one of world's largest medical simulation facilities and A new era in education at Stanford's medical school
Photo by Norbert von der Groeben
