At the University of Kentucky,
we believe we can tackle some of the most daunting
health challenges plaguing our Commonwealth.
That belief is core to who we are.
It’s the idea that, together, we can rewrite those staggering statistics.
Kentucky can.
To that end, in 2015 we partnered with the Commonwealth
to fund a state-of-the-art research facility
focused on Kentucky health disparities.
State legislators on both sides of the aisle embraced our vision.
They provided half of the cost of constructing this $265 million space.
This year that partnership deepened.
Legislative leaders designated an additional $40 million in bonds
toward our work to turn the tide of health disparities.
We thank our state leaders for supporting UK and our researchers.
Their dogged determination and deep compassion
are already making an impact on these complex health conditions.
14,000 Kentuckians die from cancer every year
We want to cut that number in half over the next ten years.
The Markey Cancer Center just received a $10.8 million renewal
of our status as a NCI designated cancer center.
That means more basic, translational and clinical research
and more cancer prevention efforts across our state.
Much of that research will take place in this building,
and we’ll recruit more cancer researchers to join the fight.
Cardiovascular diseases are the largest cause of death and disability in the US.
These can be manifest in many forms, such as heart attack
heart failure, aortic aneurysms, and peripheral vascular disease,
all of which have a very high incidence in our state.
We are fortunate at UK to have a prominent research group
supported by substantial funding from the National Institutes of Health
and the American Heart Association.
This world-class facility will allow us to expand our research team.
In Kentucky, opioids, including heroin, fentanyl and prescription painkillers,
are responsible for ever increasing overdose deaths
and many other serious medical consequences.
At UK, we are leveraging science to improve treatment
of those suffering from opioid use disorder.
We are examining novel medications,
as well as novel formulations of existing medications,
to improve treatment adherence and prevent drug diversion.
With a new $4.9 million contract
from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute,
we are expanding evidence-based treatment for pregnant women
with opioid use disorder across the Commonwealth.
Nearly 600,000 Kentuckians have diabetes.
We are examining the inflammation associated with obesity
that causes the development of type 2 diabetes.
We are working on turning the kind of fat
associated with bad health to fat that can help you.
And our project “Faith Moves Mountains”
in communities all across Eastern Kentucky
is supporting prevention and self-management of diabetes.
Researchers across our campus will come together in this new building.
In total, 500 people will work here,
including principal investigators who lead federally funded research projects,
postdoctoral scholars, graduate and undergraduate students.
In addition to bringing researchers together who use different approaches,
this building will be critical to recruitment of new researchers to UK.
That infusion of top talent, along with the expertise of our current scientists and clinicians,
will be a powerful combination.
We are creating research teams that merge basic biomedical research,
health services research, public health, behavioral sciences,
bioinformatics and big data, economics and engineering.
Collaborative spaces, inside and outside this building,
will allow researchers from different fields to work on the same problem in close proximity,
greatly increasing our ability to solve problems together.
In the six floors of biomedical laboratories,
laboratory benches are organized in neighborhoods,
housing researchers from up to six different research teams
who will interact together, just like neighbors.
The connector building features a restaurant, bike room,
faculty offices, behavioral and computational research suites,
and a corridor linking this new building to the Biomedical Biological Research Building
and the Lee T. Todd Jr. Building.
As we open this new building and look forward to its completion in the coming years,
beyond the glass and brick, the most exciting component is the people.
Our research teams, joining forces here at UK
and with community partners across the state,
can bring a brighter future for Kentucky.
This facility is the bridge to a brighter future.
It underscores what is possible.
It reinforces our unshakable belief that Kentucky can.