Eyes were wide. Faces animated. Subtle “oohs” and “wows” were heard as people from across campus streamed through the Albert Sherman Center (ASC) on Wednesday, Jan. 9, for their first look inside the new building.

An estimated 2,000 people attended the open house, seeing the newly finished public spaces on the first three floors of the building and the laboratories on the fourth floor. “We’re very pleased with the turnout, and people seem to be really excited about what they’re seeing,” said Shawn McGuinness, senior architect at UMMS and project manager who guided the ASC design team. “The public spaces will always be accessible, but once the researchers move in, the laboratories are restricted. So it was nice for the whole community to have a chance to see the new labs.”  Read the complete story here.

Long regarded as one of the least glamorous and lowest-paid of the medical specialties, primary care is getting new recognition as the bedrock of health care reform. “To get our costs under control, we must shift to a more robust primary–care centered health care delivery system,” said Dennis Dimitri, MD, FAAFP, vice chair and clinical associate professor of family medicine & community health. But the number of students choosing primary care has dropped dramatically in the last decade. “It’s urgent that we address this problem as quickly as possible,” he said.  Read the complete story here.

This year in review edition of UMass Med magazine details the growing importance of global health at UMass Medical School and answers the question: Why is global health an important part of our mission? Download your copy here.