A Health Care Education Hub for New England
For decades, UNE’s Portland Campus has been the home of many of the University’s health professions programs. In 2025, when the UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNE COM) moves from the Biddeford Campus to Portland, the campus will solidify its place as the center of health care education in Northern New England. To recognize that transformation, UNE is renaming the campus as the Portland Campus for the Health Sciences.
The campus will bring together UNE’s health professions programs into an interprofessional learning community that is unique in New England, with the goal of empowering the next generation of world-class health care providers in a single location.
The Future of health care is Interprofessional
Interprofessional health care education places students from different disciplines together to learn with, from, and about each other. Students gain communication and teamwork skills and develop a better understanding of each professions’ roles and expertise. UNE graduates with interprofessional training become professionals who are able to collaborate and lead in today’s team-based care. The greatest benefits of the approach are experienced by patients — interprofessional learning has proven to support successful health care outcomes.
UNE’s Portland Campus provides interprofessional learning opportunities for these programs:
A Wonderful Campus Evolves
The Portland Campus for the Health Sciences provides a quintessential New England quad lined by buildings that have been welcoming students for more than a century. The campus sits in a quiet neighborhood, just a short drive from the downtown waterfront. It is already home to the UNE Westbrook College of Health Professions and College of Dental Medicine, along with an array of modern health professions labs and learning spaces. The 41-acre campus also includes Innovation Hall’s event spaces, the UNE Art Gallery, and Maine Women Writers Collection.
The Harold and Bibby Alfond Center for Health Sciences
The Harold and Bibby Alfond Center for Health Sciences — a purpose-built, sustainably designed, bright, spacious, and technologically connected facility — will be the centerpiece of the transformed campus. This building will be the new home for UNE COM as well as the Center to Advance Interprofessional Education and Practice (CAIEP), which prepares students to work collaboratively and across disciplines. Moving here will give UNE COM students an ideal learning and community space, allow the school to train more doctors, and connect future doctors with caregivers across the health professions — all furthering UNE’s leadership in medical and health professions education.
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A Transformative Moment For Maine
The evolution of the UNE Portland Campus for the Health Sciences is transformative, not only for the University, but also for the state of Maine. The campus allows UNE to address critical health care disparities across the region and graduate health professionals with best-in-class skills: improving patient outcomes through team-based care; fostering expertise with new and emerging technologies; and expanding our focus on cross-cultural competencies.
What
The new building will be called the Harold and Bibby Alfond Center for Health Sciences to honor the generosity of the Alfond family and their longtime support of UNE.
Size
Current plans call for the new facility to be 110,000 square feet.
When
The project groundbreaking took place on November 29, 2022, and is expected to be completed in time for the 2025 incoming UNE COM class.
Where
The new facility will be located behind Innovation Hall, in an area that was once used by the Maine Army National Guard.
Cost and Funding
The current estimate for the project is $93 million, and UNE has begun fundraising. Early contributions include a generous $30 million commitment from the Harold Alfond Foundation; $5 million in federal funding; and pledges from UNE trustees, alumni, and friends.
If you'd like to support this important project, please contact Alicia R. Fereday, vice president for Institutional Advancement at afereday@sjzddclm.com or (207) 221-4372.
News
News About the Move
UNE Magazine Special Report
For more details, go backstage with UNE leadership for an exclusive oral history of the project.
Media Coverage
Watch: UNE getting $5M grant to help move medical school to Portland | WMTW | April 7, 2022
UNE's plan to move med school to Portland gets $5M boost | MaineBiz | April 5, 2022
