The pharmacy program will build out shelled space in the new USF Health Downtown building over the next year and move in early 2023.

TAMPA, Fla (Aug. 12, 2021) – The USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy is moving forward with its plans to build out space and move into the USF Health Downtown building, an opportunity for the innovative pharmacy program to expand its physical space, technology and creative learning pedagogies.

The new 30,000-square-foot home for the pharmacy school will fill about one and a half floors of the building and will enhance the pharmacy program in several ways, including:

• Clinical learning center: A dedicated space that will provide an innovative environment to learn advanced compounding techniques and hone clinical skills for students. This space will also be a resource for pharmacist clinicians, and others, to advance their health care knowledge through continuing education programs.
• Expansion of interprofessional education: As health care becomes even more team based moving into the future, the new home will foster even greater opportunities for interprofessional training, a core component of the educational mission for all USF Health programs, including MD, nursing, public health, physical therapy and physician assistant programs. The convergence of multiple disciplines learning together will create one of the most robust interprofessional learning centers in the country.
• Collaborative ‘maker’ space: A unique space offers a creative environment for student groups, such as ITEHC (Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship in Healthcare), to cultivate new ideas and discoveries resulting in the ability to generate prototypes of new health-related devices.
• Community outreach: Plans are in place to offer space as a resource for youth in surrounding areas to experience health professions through direct engagement and gamification. This will build upon long-standing successful community outreach programs already taking place with the Taneja College of Pharmacy.

“The Taneja College of Pharmacy continues to grow, and a move to the state-of-the-art USF Health Downtown Facility will provide incredible opportunities to enhance its innovative educational and research programs,” said Charles Lockwood, MD, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. “By building out new spaces in the facility, the TCOP will take the next step in establishing itself as a state and national leader in personalized medicine, pharmaceutical compounding, and advanced pharmacy education.”

The new space is being designed by architecture, engineering and design firm Gresham Smith. The design will integrate with the building’s existing mechanical, electrical and life safety systems, and will extend many of the classroom technologies and innovative educational initiatives already in place for the Morsani College of Medicine.

Already a leader for attracting Florida’s best pharmacy students, USF’s pharmacy school will likely feel further impact in both student and faculty recruitment efforts due to the appeal of its new location in the burgeoning Water Street Tampa district of downtown Tampa.

“We’ve had great success building our revolutionary curriculum and are already a much sought-after, forward-thinking pharmacy program,” said Kevin B. Sneed, PharmD, dean of the Taneja College of Pharmacy and senior associate vice president for USF Health. “This new home will further elevate our program in stature, for providing an advanced pharmacy education and for its new location, where students can live, work, play and stay.”

The USF Health Downtown building opened in Water Street Tampa in January 2020, welcoming the MD program for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, and the Heart Institute. Across the years from groundbreaking to opening the new USF Health Downtown building, the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine experienced drastic upticks in recruitment efforts and caliber of students applying to the MD program.

At the August 2019 announcement that USF had received a $10 million gift from the Taneja Family Foundation for the USF Health College of Pharmacy.

The potential for the College of Pharmacy to move into USF Health Downtown began in August 2019, when the College announced a generous $10 million gift from Taneja Family Foundation, the largest philanthropic gift to a pharmacy school in the state of Florida.

“The generosity of the Taneja Family Foundation set into motion these plans for setting up home in downtown Tampa,” Dr. Sneed said. “And the ripple effect of that gift will be felt for years to come as we continuously improve our program and attract the best and brightest pharmacy faculty and students.”

The USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy was established by the Florida Board of Governors in 2009 and welcomed its charter class in August 2011. From the start, the pharmacy program set out to build an innovative program that would be a pacesetter in both pharmacy curriculum and clinical experience. Today, the College of Pharmacy welcomes 100 new students each year for its PharmD program, and has expanded its offerings to include master’s degrees suited for students interested in pursuing a professional degree program, an advanced degree, a degree focused on research, or a degree for those interested in working in the pharmaceutical industry.

Renderings of the new space were provided by Gresham Smith: