‘UK at the Half’: Health Education Building topping out
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 29, 2025) — Last month, University of Kentucky leadership, state leaders and Turner Construction hosted a ceremonial “topping out” celebration for UK’s new Michael D. Rankin MD Health Education Building. The building will house programs in the colleges of Medicine, Public Health, Health Sciences and Nursing as well as the Center for Interprofessional and Community Health Education.
Construction began October 2023 on the 509,000-square-foot facility located at the intersection of University and Huguelet drives. “Topping out” is the construction term used to indicate that the final steel beam is being placed on the building, and topping out ceremonies are a symbolic milestone that celebrates the building’s progress and the hard work put in by the construction and design teams.
The ambitious project was authorized by the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly, which allocated $430 million for the construction of the facility and is providing $250 million in state bonds for the project. The building is slated to open in 2027.
For this “UK at the Half,” UK Provost and Co-Executive Vice President for Health Affairs Robert DiPaola, M.D., and UK College of Nursing student Jessica Borzansky offer insights on the need to train more health care workers in the Commonwealth and the new facility’s benefits for future students.
“UK at the Half” airs during halftime of each UK football and basketball game broadcast on the radio and is hosted by UK Public Relations and Strategic Communications and UK Marketing and Brand Strategy. To hear the “UK at the Half” interview, click the play button above.
UK HealthCare is the hospitals and clinics of the University of Kentucky. But it is so much more. It is more than 10,000 dedicated health care professionals committed to providing advanced subspecialty care for the most critically injured and ill patients from the Commonwealth and beyond. It also is the home of the state’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that cares for the tiniest and sickest newborns and the region’s only Level 1 trauma center.
As an academic research institution, we are continuously pursuing the next generation of cures, treatments, protocols and policies. Our discoveries have the potential to change what’s medically possible within our lifetimes. Our educators and thought leaders are transforming the health care landscape as our six health professions colleges teach the next generation of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals, spreading the highest standards of care. UK HealthCare is the power of advanced medicine committed to creating a healthier Kentucky, now and for generations to come.