By David James Heiss, Staff Writer

The US$78 million Centennial Complex at Loma Linda University promises to be a virtual global gateway. The four-story complex, started in January, is being built by McCarthy Construction Inc. of Newport Beach and was designed by Los Angeles-based Cannon and Associates.

So far US$51 million has been raised, funded mostly through philanthropic efforts, according to university Chancellor Richard Hart.

The Centennial Complex will have two amphitheaters, a simulation lab, classrooms and a geographic information systems lab and will house anatomy faculty and the School of Religion.

Medical students will work with "patients" - real people who will simulate various medical conditions.

"It's an effective method for students to learn physical diagnosis," Hart said. "They also learn to deal with patients," something that you don't get from working on cadavers, Hart said. "They get to practice counselling skills and personal interaction."

The Centennial Complex will have "smart" classrooms, designed to record and broadcast all instruction within the building, and will be Loma Linda University's global gateway, Hart said.

"We'll be able to teach courses worldwide and broadcast asynchronously anywhere with anytime learning" to Loma Linda's research and educational partners around the world, Hart said. "Everything taught will be recorded and archived."

The ground floor will have an anatomy pavilion that will house 108 cadaver tables.

The second floor will house offices for anatomy faculty, and classroom space; the east tower will have skills and assessment labs.

The third floor will house the School of Religion, a classroom and two amphitheaters: one 250-seat amphitheater and one 350-seat theater. The third floor will also be home to the GIS lab, being coordinated with Redlands-based ESRI to teach spatial information systems to map epidemics, outbreaks and public disasters.

The fourth floor will be a simulation laboratory, where police departments and fire departments can train alongside medical students on sophisticated dummies and live models "that can mimic the symptoms of almost any disease," Hart said.

According to Ken Breyer, assistant vice president of Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center, the Centennial Complex is expected to be completed in March 2009.

[With permission of the Editor David James Heiss. The article was first published on November 2, 2007, by Redlands Daily Facts, based in Redlands, California/USA.]

About Loma Linda University Complex:
Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center (LLUAHSC), a nonprofit religious corporation in Loma Linda, California (USA), is the umbrella organization for its core and affiliate organizations: Loma Linda University (LLU); Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC) and its affiliates, such as Loma Linda University Children's Hospital; Loma Linda University Medical Center East Campus, and Loma Linda University Proton Treatment Center and Loma Linda University clinical faculty corporations, such as Loma Linda University Health Care, Faculty physicians and surgeons of LLUSM, and Faculty Medical Group of LLUSM, and Loma Linda University Behavioral Medicine Center.

Loma Linda University (LLU) is a Seventh-day Adventist educational health-sciences institution with 3,000 students located in Southern California. Seven schools and the Faculty of Religion and Faculty of Graduate Studies comprise the University organization. More than 55 programs are offered by the schools of Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Science and Technology. Curricula offered range from certificates of completion and associate in science degrees to doctor of philosophy and professional doctoral degrees. Students from more than 80 countries around the world and virtually every state in the nation are represented in Loma Linda University's student body. LLU also offers distance education.

Compiled by Adventist Press Service (APD).