[Chronicle]

March 10, 1994
Vol. 13, No. 13

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    Duchossois family gives $21 million to University

    Gift launches Center for Advanced Medicine The Richard Duchossois family, known nationally and in Illinois for its civic and philanthropic commitments, has made a $21 million gift to the University to build the Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine, a state-of-the-art outpatient and diagnostic care center designed to set the standard for academic medical care in the next century.

    The gift will also endow a professorship to honor John Ultmann, Professor in Medicine and a nationally recognized cancer specialist.

    This is the largest dollar amount ever received by the University from an individual family in a single gift and the largest to the Medical Center's $160 million campaign, which is a major component of the University's half-billion-dollar Campaign for the Next Century. This gift brings the Campaign for the Next Century total to $360 million, nearly three-fourths of its goal, with half of the five-year period remaining.

    "We cannot overemphasize our gratitude and the excitement that this magnanimous donation brings to the University," said President Sonnenschein. "This extraordinary gift will guarantee the University of Chicago Medical Center's continued leadership in medical research, education and patient care well into the next century."

    The Duchossois Center will house nearly all of the outpatient clinics at the Hospitals as well as all diagnostic and treatment facilities for ambulatory patients. Groundbreaking is scheduled for June 1994, and the facility is scheduled for completion late in 1996. It represents a $150 million investment in patient care.

    The Duchossois family has gained international recognition for its leadership in business and civic affairs. The family owns Duchossois Industries Inc., which includes Thrall Car Manufacturing Company, Chamberlain Manufacturing Corporation, Chamberlain Group Inc., Duchossois Communications and Arlington International Racecourse.

    "Chicago has become a world leader in medicine as it has in so many other things," said Richard Duchossois. "The men and women of the University of Chicago Medical Center have the vision and courage to move forward and explore new and better ways to advance medicine. They deserve and warrant the support of the people of Chicago. We are pleased to be a part of their important endeavors."

    The family has long maintained close ties with the Medical Center and with Ultmann, who was Director of the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center from 1973 to 1991. Since 1980, the family has contributed more than $3 million to cancer research at the Medical Center, including nearly $2 million to establish the Beverly Duchossois Cancer Research Laboratories in memory of Mr. Duchossois' late wife.

    "The Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine has been designed to set the standard for academic medical centers around the country," said Ralph Muller, President of the Hospitals. "Physicians and scientists, medical educators and hospital administrators have all worked with architects to shape an innovative structure that will serve as a model for medical education as well as health-care delivery in the coming decades."

    Godfrey Getz, Acting Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine, stressed the importance the Duchossois Center would have in changing the manner in which health care is delivered and in training future generations of physicians. "The decision to build the Duchossois Center recognizes that health care, and the training of those who provide it, is changing. This facility will place our university at the forefront, and it will be a superb facility for patient and for physician."

    "The Duchossois gift provides a magnificent beginning for the Medical Center's campaign," said Hospitals trustee and campaign chairman James Frank. The campaign seeks to raise $160 million over the next three years for capital projects, including the Duchossois Center, new laboratory and teaching facilities, the renovation of Wyler Children's Hospital, endowment for professorships and student aid, and start-up funds for young researchers.

    The facility will include 250 exam rooms and 62 rooms for outpatient procedures, including six operating rooms for ambulatory surgery, three CT and two MRI scanners, and facilities for nuclear medicine and for radiation therapy -- including three linear accelerators and computerized simulators. Areas dedicated to chemotherapy and gastrointestinal procedures -- two programs with national reputations -- will more than double their current space to accommodate the anticipated growth in demand.

    The six-story, 514,260-square-foot building will occupy the entire block between 57th and 58th streets and Maryland and Cottage Grove avenues. It will connect to the Hospitals' primary inpatient facility, the Bernard Mitchell Hospital, through tunnels and walkways above and below ground.

    Plans for the structure reflect the growing national emphasis on outpatient care. The Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine will bring together in one location most of the Hospitals' diagnostic and outpatient treatment capacity, concentrating services that are currently dispersed throughout the Medical Center complex. This will improve access for patients, simplify scheduling for complex patient visits and encourage the University's multidisciplinary approach to complex diseases.

    These multidisciplinary services will be concentrated in patient-oriented units that will be organized by organ system rather than by academic department. For example, all cardiopulmonary services, including clinics and outpatient diagnostic services for heart disease, heart surgery, endocrinology (including blood-lipid problems) and lung disorders will be concentrated on one floor. Similar concentrations will include cancer, gastroenterology and transplantation; musculoskeletal services; and a "head" floor, including neurology, neurosurgery, ophthalmology, oral surgery and otolaryngology. Outpatient radiology and radiation oncology will be concentrated on the first floor and the lower level.

    The architects of the project are from the Chicago office of Hansen Lind Meyer Inc., in association with the Cambridge, Mass., firm of Tsoi/Kobus. Both firms specialize in health care architecture. Turner Construction Company of Chicago will execute the design.