Official opening: A new €22 million facility designed to house the growing School of Pharmacy at University College Cork (UCC) was officially opened yesterday by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin.
Mr Martin hailed the Cavanagh Pharmacy Building, which comprises some 5,600sq m of teaching and research laboratories, lecture theatres and seminar rooms, as a significant milestone in the continuing development of the university.
UCC president Prof Gerard Wrixon said the new building would provide both undergraduate and postgraduate facilities for UCC's School of Pharmacy which was established in 2003 within the university's College of Medicine and Health.
Pharmacy was introduced at UCC following an internationally peer-reviewed competition that saw UCC being selected by the Higher Education Authority and the Department of Education to establish a new School of Pharmacy in Ireland.
According to Prof Wrixon, pharmacy is now one of the university's fastest growing disciplines with the school providing undergraduate and postgraduate courses in mainstream and specialist areas of pharmacy.
"The establishment of the School of Pharmacy demonstrates the Government's commitment to tackling the serious shortage of pharmacists being experienced in our hospitals, in community pharmacies and in the pharmaceutical industry," he said.
"The concentration of pharmaceutical companies in the Munster region gives confidence that the career opportunities for UCC's pharmacy graduates are many and bright."
"The Cavanagh Pharmacy Building will deliver benefits for Ireland, for the pharmaceutical industry, for pharmacy researchers and for future generations of students," he added.
Prof Wrixon said the establishment of the School of Pharmacy was a vital element in the creation of one of the largest colleges of medicine and health in the country with the most diverse portfolio of degree programmes.
"In the past five years we've added professional degree courses in nursing, pharmacy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and public health," he said, adding that student numbers in the College of Medicine and Health would soon reach 3,000.
The new building will also house the university's Analytical and Biological Chemical Research Facility (ABCRF) as well as a dedicated industry suite to facilitate collaboration between UCC and the pharmaceutical industry.
Professor of pharmaceutical chemistry and director of the ABCRF, Prof Anita Maguire, said the new facility, by housing both the School of Pharmacy and the ABCRF, reflected UCC's commitment to the integration of research and teaching.
The ABCRF consisted of inter-disciplinary research teams from chemistry and biochemistry and its research activities had a natural synergy with the research work of the School of Pharmacy, she said.
As ABCRF researchers are drawn from the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science, and the School of Pharmacy within the College of Medicine and Health, the new building will help form a key collaborative research bridge between the two colleges.
Paying tribute to both the Government and American charitable institution, Atlantic Philanthropies, for their support, Prof Wrixon also expressed his gratitude to Dr Tom Cavanagh and his wife, Marie, after whom the new pharmacy building is named.
Dr Cavanagh has been a valued member of the governing body for many years, during which time he has served on many important committees and has been chairman of the finance committee, according to Prof Wrixon.
"The Cavanagh Pharmacy Building represents a major advance for UCC and all who are, and who will be, associated with UCC owe a large debt of thanks to those who made this possible," said Prof Wrixon.
