First sod turned on Joint Program in Medicine’s Academic and Research Hub in Orange

(L-R) Dean of the School of Medicine at WSU and Executive Dean of the Joint Program Distinguished Professor Annemarie Hennessy AM, Member for Calare The Honourable Mr Andrew Gee, Minister for Regional Services, Decentralisation and Local Government The Honourable Mr Mark Coulton, Deputy Prime Minister The Honourable Mr Michael McCormack, and Charles Sturt Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Vann.

The first sod has been turned on the Academic and Research Hub which will be the centrepiece of Charles Sturt University’s School of Rural Medicine in Orange.

The $22 million Academic and Research Hub will be home to the Joint Program in Medicine (JPM), run in partnership with Western Sydney University, which will welcome its first cohort of students at Charles Sturt in Orange in February 2021.

Charles Sturt University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andrew Vann, said the sod turning was a significant milestone in Charles Sturt’s push to provide regional and rural Australians with the highest quality healthcare.

“This is the latest of the many steps taken by Charles Sturt University, taken in partnership with WSU, towards accepting and training its first cohort of medical students,” said Professor Van.

“When completed, this facility will provide the world-class infrastructure required to produce the highly-skilled medical professionals regional Australia needs and deserves.”

Dean of the School of Medicine at Western Sydney University and Executive Dean of the Joint Program, Distinguished Professor Annemarie Hennessy AM, said the universities are well-matched as partner institutions.

“Western Sydney University and Charles Sturt University are committed to addressing the important health challenges of their regions,” said Professor Hennessy.

“This Joint Program in Medicine will be a true collaboration of knowledge, skills and resources – and set to benefit most from this alliance are the people of rural and regional Australia, who will have access to more home-grown doctors and improved medical health services.”

Construction of the Academic and Research Hub – which will house JPM learning spaces and staff offices, as well as an Indigenous student centre, a floor dedicated to health research, meeting rooms, and other shared spaces – is expected to take 12 months.

In late 2020 there will be further work to upgrade the Orange campus’s Experiential Learning Centre and School of Dentistry and Health Sciences buildings to create additional student learning spaces, an expansion of anatomy facilities, and an ultrasound room.

ENDS

Media Note: For more information contact Charles Sturt Media’s Dave Neil on 0407 332 718 or at news@csu.edu.au