Collegiate Times

“In addition to carrying out research, we will also train students in research,” said Michael Friedlander, executive director for the Research Institute. “Those researchers include graduate students from Tech and other schools, medical students from the school, and research fellows and physicians from Carilion.”

Research is one of the main ways that VTC will work with Tech on a daily basis.

“We’ll be collaborating quite extensively with other researchers at Tech, and we will be interconnected by virtue of the relationships with Tech departments,” Friedlander said. “We will also teach some classes at the medical school, primary at the graduate level, which will be videotaped so that students at Tech and other remote locations can see them.”

Johnson said that the professors at the medical school will include Tech faculty, Carilion physicians, as well as new independent hires.

 “Seeing the integration happen between the strong, outstanding students at Virginia Tech and the outstanding staff at Carilion is one of the things I’m most looking forward to. We’re the bridge between those two areas,” Friedlander said.

The Research Institute building will be opened officially on September 1, and some of the labs will begin to be set up that very day.

“By December 1, another section of the building will be complete, one that will house facilities for human brain imaging,” Friedlander said.

Buildings for both parts of the VTC were paid for through a capital projects bond package signed into legislation in 2008 by then-governor Tim Kaine.

However, VTC will be a private medical school. According to the medical school’s dean Johnson, tuition and philanthropy will be the main funding sources. A $40,000 tuition per year applies to all students, both in-state and out-of-state.

Johnson said that the school would also have economic benefits for the entire region, recalling her experience in her previous position as dean of the medical school at Eastern Carolina University.

“When I was at ECU, the medical school was about 30 years. It was an incredible example of how having a medical school present totally changed the region. When that was placed in Greenville, it really became the economic hub of the region,” Johnson said. “I think we’ve already seen some the economic growth.”

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A version of this article appeared in the Jul 22 issue of the Collegiate Times.