The Reporter: June 1997, Vol.8, No.3
Second Building in Audubon Park Opens With Fanfare

Photo by Jonathan Smith

On opening day at the Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion are from left Dr. Pardes, Gov. Pataki, Russ and Angelica Berrie, Dr. Rupp, and Sen. D'Amato.

The Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion opened May 30 with a dedication and opening ceremony including distinguished guests and speakers. The roster of special guests included New York Gov. George Pataki; Sen. Alfonse D'Amato; Columbia President George Rupp; Russell Berrie; Walter Burke and Bonnie Burke Himmelman of the Sherman Fairchild Foundation; and Jerry I. Speyer, chairman of Columbia University Trustees. The Berrie Pavilion is the second building in the Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park and is located at 167th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue.

The completion of the Berrie Pavilion marks another accomplishment in the Health Sciences 10-year capital expansion program that began in 1990. It doubles lab space for cancer research, devotes two floors to an expanded $30 million genetics program, and will house New York's most comprehensive diabetes research and treatment center. Columbia University is the largest medical research enterprise in New York; the new $66 million, seven-story, 175,000-gross-square-foot facility enhances that enterprise.

The building is named for Russ Berrie, founder of Russ Berrie and Company Inc., who donated $13.5 million to name the pavilion and create a comprehensive diabetes center. The balance was funded by a $10 million gift from the Fairchild Foundation, plus a mix of federal, state, and Columbia University money.

The building's second floor will house the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, named in honor of Mr. Berrie's mother who, like her son, had diabetes. The center will open to patients in early 1998.

Berrie Pavilion Opening
Columbia's Genome Center will occupy two floors in the building. A recent $30 million agreement between Columbia and VIMRx Pharmaceuticals has contributed to a major expansion of the genome center.

In addition, space will be dedicated to cancer research. Also, an expanded research program in pediatrics will occupy approximately 12,000 square feet of space, a significant portion of which will be occupied by a new division of molecular genetics that is interested in the molecular mechanisms that control body weight and mediate susceptibility to diabetes.

Despite the fact that Columbia's medical research funding has nearly doubled in the last decade, the Berrie Pavilion is the first dedicated research facility constructed since the mid-1970s when the Hammer Health Sciences building was completed. It is also the second of five planned structures in the Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park. The Mary Woodard Lasker Medical Research Building, the first building constructed in the park, now houses 15 biotechnology companies. Audubon is the first and only university-related research park in New York City.

Columbia has more than 250 active license collaborations with industry, and ranks among the nation's top three universities in the revenues it derives from technology transfer activities.