Ohio State Board of Trustees approves hiring consultants to plan for Brain and Spine Hospital

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At a research-scale combustion unit at Ohio State University, engineers are testing a clean coal technology that harnesses the energy of coal chemically, without burning it. Here, doctoral student Elena Chung (left) and master's student Samuel Bayham (right) display chunks of coal along with pulverized coal (bottle, center) and the iron oxide beads (bottle, right) that enable the chemical reaction. Photo by Jo McCulty, courtesy of Ohio State University.

The Ohio State University Board of Trustees today (2/1) approved $2 million for the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center to hire consultants to help plan for renovations once the new Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute and Critical Care Center is completed.

Plans for renovations may include a new Brain and Spine Hospital in the space currently occupied by the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute at 300 W. 10th Ave. Other updates may include Rhodes and Doan Halls at University Hospital, including converting existing double rooms to private patient rooms, and updates to spaces for programs including Transplant, Women and Infants, General and Specialty Medical Surgical Services.

“Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center is committed to providing top-tier academic and patient care facilities, and this planning will help us accomplish this through improved patient amenities and additional research and academic space to bring the future of medicine closer to the patient bedside,” said neurosurgeon Dr. Ali Rezai, director of Ohio State Wexner Medical Center’s Neuroscience Program.

“Strengthening the Neuroscience program has been a priority focus of the medical center since its 2006 Strategic Plan,” said Rezai, who is also director of the Center for Neuromodulation at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center. “This is the first step in the planning process that will allow us to transform scientific knowledge into translational research that will prevent, diagnose, treat and cure neurological diseases, and ultimately improve the lives of those with neurological disorders.”

The formal business plan is not yet completed, so no decisions have been made about timing, financing or staffing, said Kasey.

The Ohio State University
Founded in 1870, The Ohio State University is a world-class public research university and the leading comprehensive teaching and research institution in the state of Ohio. With more than 63,000 students (including 56,000 in Columbus), the Wexner Medical Center, 14 colleges, 80 centers, and 175 majors, the university offers its students tremendous breadth and depth of opportunity in the liberal arts, the sciences, and the professions