In less than three years, a new skywalk will span Rose Street connecting the planned $33.5 million Aging/Allied Health building and the Linda and Jack Gill Heart Institute, which is expected to cost up to $14 million.

"The Chandler Medical Center is entering an exciting three-year period with four new buildings to be built on campus and one in Hazard, Ky.," said Medical Center Chancellor James W. Holsinger Jr., M.D., Ph.D. "The Aging/Allied Health and the Gill Heart Institute buildings will result in a remarkable transformation for the physical appearance of the Medical Center."

Construction is expected to begin in October on the 155,000-square-foot, five-story Aging/Allied Health building on the Rose-Limestone triangle south of Kentucky Clinic and next to the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging research addition.

Two months later, ground will be broken on the 87,000-square-foot, five-story Linda and Jack Gill Heart Institute near the front of the Hospital Emergency Department.

Last March, the Kentucky General Assembly earmarked $20 million in state funds toward the $33.5 million Aging/Allied Health building.

The remaining $13.5 million will come from gifts and donations. The building will house the College of Allied Health Professions, Sanders-Brown Center on Aging programs, research labs, gerontology offices and the Office of the Chancellor.

Established in 1966, the College of Allied Health Professions was the first school of its kind in Kentucky and among the first 12 in the nation.

Enrollment has grown from 52 students in 1966-67 to more than 1,500 this year – the largest student enrollment among the Medical Center’s five colleges.

The College offers eight disciplines of study and is considered among the best in the nation.

"Our faculty, staff, and students are superior but have not been able to reach their full potential because of the lack of quality space," said Thomas C. Robinson, Ph.D., dean of the College of Allied Health Professions.

"Our work environment has always been insufficient and fragmented – a barrier to our further development. Now, we are quite excited about the building that will be located at the point at Rose and Limestone.

This building will provide a first class, state-of-the-art facility, which will provide consolidated instructional and research space for our College which our faculty, staff and students truly deserve."

UK President Charles T. Wethington Jr. announced in December 1997 a $5 million gift to the University from Linda and Jack Gill of Houston, Texas, to build a heart institute and establish an endowed chair in preventive cardiology, five endowed professorships, and endowed research and special programs. The gift was one of the largest individual gifts ever given to UK.

The Gill Heart Institute will feature outpatient clinics, research laboratories, classrooms and office space for faculty and staff.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky will benefit from the Gill Heart Institute’s focus on attacking heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States. Kentucky ranks fifth worst in the nation in coronary disease.

Kentucky, along with its neighboring states along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, has such a high rate of heart disease that the area has been designated the "Coronary Valley."

The clinical programs of the institute will target this increased mortality.

The gift also will allow UK to aggressively move toward recognition as one of the top academic heart centers in the nation, providing clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction, excellent teaching programs and high quality research.

The Gill Heart Institute and the Aging/Allied Health building aren’t the only major construction projects that will get underway this year.

Plans also call for building a women’s cancer facility on the foundation of the MRISC building.

The 43,000-square-foot, three-story facility is estimated to cost $8 million. Construction is scheduled to begin in October and be completed 18 months later.

Once finished, the building will be home to radiation medicine, infusion therapy, and women’s cancer clinics.

Medical Center officials also are assessing sites for a Center for Advanced Surgery.

The building, which is in the conceptual stage, will house outpatient surgery and offices near the Hospital parking garage. The size and cost of the proposed building have not been determined.