Drexel consolidates its health-related schools to a new University City building so students feel more connected

When Ryan Hogan was choosing a doctoral program in physical therapy, one condition really made a difference.

Drexel University told him the school would be moving many of its health sciences programs, including physical therapy, to a new, 12-story building near the main campus in University City. The program had been based in a building Drexel rented in Center City.

“That was the biggest thing in my decision-making process,” Hogan, 22, of Annapolis, Md., said this week as he prepared to take a final exam in the new building. “I didn’t want to be traveling across the city for class. Now, everything is in one building. It’s new, state of the art, everything PT could want in terms of labs.”

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He lives a 10-minute walk away.

Drexel’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, including physical therapy, moved into the new Health Sciences Building at 36th and Filbert Streets in September. It previously had been split between the New College Building at 245 N. 15th St. and another Center City site. The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies will relocate most of its programs from the New College Building in January. That school offers programs that explore the science behind the treatment of diseases, including degrees in cancer biology, neuroscience, drug discovery and development, laboratory animal science, and pathologist assistant.

The College of Medicine will move from its Queen Lane site by August.

Research-related activities for the three schools will remain at the New College Building and Queen Lane campus for now, though Drexel officials said they eventually hope to locate those in another University City building.

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The move is part of a larger effort by Drexel to concentrate programs at the University City main campus, which will allow students to feel more connected to the university and more readily use the facilities and services, such as the library, fitness center, and dining facilities. It also will allow them to more easily participate in extracurricular activities and sports, and many students will be closer to where they live in University City.

“A river divided us,” said Mary Gallagher Gordon, the nursing college’s vice dean of strategic operations and academic services, of the previous layout.

The new academic home also will allow for more collaboration and learning across disciplines in the three schools, as well as with the rest of the campus, Drexel officials said.

“It’s really bringing together a lot of future practitioners in health-related careers that ... were siloed,” said Elisabeth Van Bockstaele, senior vice president of graduate and online education.

The 460,000-square-foot tower, leased by Drexel for 30 years, was developed and is owned by Wexford Science & Technology and Ventas. It includes classrooms that can accommodate as many as 300 students, small study rooms, simulation labs, anatomy labs, and “wet” labs, where students work with fresh tissue and blood and wear protective gear.

In one lab, which will be shared among the three schools, students can use a “Spectra” table, which allows them to read instructions on one screen, manipulate a 3D model of a human body on the other, and project their work on screens around the room.

There’s a simulated operating room, a hospital patient room with a “crash cart,” and a room that emulates a patient’s home so that students can learn how to help them adjust when they leave the hospital. The rooms have mirrors where faculty on the other side in a control room can watch students work and manipulate mannequins to see how students react.

It’s one of Morgan Van Dexter’s favorite parts about the new building.

“There are mannequins that have pulses, breath sounds, they can speak to you,” said Van Dexter, 22, a senior nursing major from Haddon Township.

The older building had mannequins, but they weren’t as advanced, and the control rooms were smaller, Gallagher Gordon said.

Van Dexter also appreciates that the classrooms are bigger and have multiple screens.

“No matter where you sit, you can see what the teacher is talking about,” she said.

Students also will get more opportunities for interdisciplinary research at the new building. In Drexel’s recently completed $806 million fund-raising campaign — which exceeded its goal by $56 million — an additional $170 million will be allocated toward research.

Laura N. Gitlin, the nursing school dean, said the new location also will allow students and professors to work more closely with the University City community.

Students also can more easily participate at the Community Wellness Hub in Drexel’s Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships, which is only a couple of blocks away, she said. The school also would like to partner with the nearby Powel Science Leadership Academy Middle School.

“We would like to expose students from the ground up on what it’s like to be a ... health professional,” she said.