UNE leadership dig into the earth at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Harold and Bibby Center for Health Sciences on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022

UNE breaks ground on Harold and Bibby Alfond Center for Health Sciences

Portland, Maine
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The University of New England held a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022, for the construction of the Harold and Bibby Alfond Center for Health Sciences on its Portland Campus. The project will facilitate the relocation of the University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNE COM) from Biddeford, creating an integrated health sciences campus that is unique in all of New England.

UNE leadership dig into the earth at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Harold and Bibby Center for Health Sciences on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022

UNE is Maine’s largest educator of health professionals and the top provider of physicians to the state. It is home to Maine’s only medical school and Northern New England’s only dental college, as well as programs in pharmacy, physician assistant, nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social work, dental hygiene, and nurse anesthesia. Uniting these programs on a single footprint will create additional opportunities for students to learn to work in teams, a practice known as interprofessional education, which has been shown to lead to improved outcomes for patients.

“Construction of this new building will allow us to admit more medical students each year, with state-of-the-art learning spaces where those students will get hands-on clinical experience and have the opportunity to learn alongside their peers in other health programs,” stated UNE President James Herbert. “When it is completed, it will be transformative for UNE and transformative for the study and practice of medicine in Maine.”

The project’s projected cost is $93 million, and it is expected to be complete by the summer of 2024.

UNE President James Herbert poses with a shovel at the groundbreaking

UNE President James D. Herbert 

The project is made possible by a generous gift of $30 million from the Harold Alfond Foundation, the largest gift in UNE’s history. Another $5 million was secured by Maine’s senior senator Susan Collins in federal appropriations.

Scenes from the groundbreaking

Watch The Groundbreaking Ceremony

The groundbreaking was held at the construction site on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022, and featured remarks from UNE President James D. Herbert, Ph.D., Jane Carreiro, D.O., dean of UNE COM, and Greg Powell, chairman of the Harold Alfond Foundation, which in 2020 gifted UNE $30 million to go toward the new facility and relocation of the College of Osteopathic Medicine to Portland.

A large group gathers to watch remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony
Provost Gwen Mahon addresses the crowd
Two UNE COM students pose with shovels, the construction site in the background
Harold Alfond Foundation chair Greg Powell addresses the crowd
UNE health sciences students watch remarks

Transforming health care in Maine

A rendering depicts the quad outside the new building

Since 1995, UNE has awarded more than 15,500 degrees in the health sciences. Many of the University’s graduates stay and work in Maine, where they tackle the health care needs of the state’s rural and aging populations.

“There is a real shortage of physicians in Maine right now, especially in family practice, and especially in the outermost reaches of our largely rural state,” commented Jane Carreiro, D.O., dean of UNE COM.  “Our rapidly aging population makes access to a physician all the more critical for Maine’s people. In response, we have steadily grown our COM class sizes in recent years and we will expand further when our new facility is completed and we move to Portland.”

A collaborative educational hub

Design features of the new facility will incorporate best practices in medical education and team-based learning, including flexible classrooms, superb technical capabilities, and spaces designed to encourage collaboration and interaction.

A rendering depicts the quad outside the main lecture hall
A rendering depicts the inside of the main lecture hall
A rendering depicts the quad outside the new building
A rendering depicts the main entryway
A rendering depicts the student lounge

UNE’s Biddeford Campus will benefit from the relocation of the medical school as well, as the move will allow the University to expand its programming in several market-aligned fields of study, enabling the growth of current academic programs and the development of new programs through use of labs and classrooms vacated by the medical program. It will also allow for growth of UNE’s world-class research programs in biomedical sciences, marine programs, and other areas.

News Coverage about the Groundbreaking