A Ground-moving Groundbreaking

BY NIH CATALYST STAFF

Groundbreakings. You know the deal: People in fake hardhats with their gold-colored shovels carefully placed 10 percent into a pile of dirt shipped in and neatly boxed for the momentous occasion. Very scripted. Very boring.

But ah, not so with the groundbreaking for the Clinical Center’s planned Surgery, Radiology, and Laboratory Medicine (SRLM) Wing on May 16, located on the northwest side of the storied Building 10, scheduled for completion in 2028.

If we had a nickel for every person who has noted how remarkable this groundbreaking was…well, maybe that adds up to only 65 cents. Still, 13 people independently and without prompting randomly stating how much they enjoyed the groundbreaking is extraordinary.

The NIH Catalyst team recommends our readers watch an archive of the 42-minute event on NIH VideoCast via https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=49625 (NIH only). Each talk was lively and spot on. One for the NIH history archives, for sure. Speakers in order of appearance included:

• Lawrence Tabak, Acting NIH Director

• Andrea Palm, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services

• Alfred Johnson, Deputy Director for Management, NIH

• Daniel Wheeland, Director, Office of Research Facilities, NIH

• Nina Schor, Deputy Director for Intramural Research, NIH

• James Gilman, Chief Executive Officer, NIH Clinical Center

• Steven Rosenberg, Chief, Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH

If you agree with our assessment, please send us a nickel. We will apply it to a future Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series (WALS) coffee reception.