USF Health Downtown:
What's happening now?

An interview with Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM
Senior Vice President for USF Health
Dean, Morsani College of Medicine

Q: It has been almost a year since the site was dedicated for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute. What's happening now?

A: We're in the process of seeking the final tranche of funding from the state, and we're continuing to raise private gifts to meet our portion of the cost of the building...hopefully that process will be resolved over the next year or so.

The really exciting part is designing the building. First, we gathered up as much internal expertise as we could to examine the future of medical education, which is changing a lot. We're creating an environment not only for medical education today, but for 30 years from now. That is -- as you can imagine -- a daunting challenge.

Q: What does that mean for our medical students?

A: Medical knowledge is doubling every 2-1/2 months, how do you create an environment for teaching students where new information is coming at them at breakneck speed? You can't memorize the full content of medical knowledge in such a dynamic, changing environment. So our goal is to create a place where students are able to access information just-in-time, allowing them to supplement a solid fund of knowledge.

That dynamic environment will involve fewer lectures -- maybe no lectures -- and more active small-group learning, simulation, standardized patients, and flipped classrooms. It will be incredibly adaptable, enabling pop-up meetings with students and faculty.

» Read more of Dr. Lockwood's interview about the downtown expansion