USC’s board of trustees approved funding for a new hospital specializing in neurological treatment in a meeting on Oct. 25.
The hospital will offer advanced neurological treatments, including neurosurgery and neurological rehabilitation for trauma, stroke, cancer and other conditions affecting the brain and nervous system. It will be the first standalone medical facility to be entirely dedicated to neurological conditions and treatments in South Carolina. The hospital is expected to have around 115 beds.
The hospital will house fully equipped research spaces and laboratories and will provide clinical training sites for USC students studying nursing, medicine, physical and speech therapy, pharmacy, biomedical engineering and other academic, medical and technical disciplines.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranked South Carlina fourth for death rates due to traumatic brain injuries. The S.C. Department of Public Health also reported that stroke is the sixth-highest cause of death in the state.
“As USC expands its efforts to provide the highest quality medical education to South Carolina students and serve the state’s health care needs, building a single location for neurological treatment and rehabilitation is a vital next step,” President Michael Amiridis said in a press release. “This is a tremendous opportunity to address a critical gap in health care for brain-related conditions, not only for our state, but for the entire Southeast.”
The hospital is planned to be on USC’s Health Sciences Campus in the Bull Street District. The board approved an agreement with the state health agency to receive $10 million to begin preliminary architecture and engineering. The university is requesting $150 million from the state budget next year to go towards the $350 million project.