WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The newest research building in Piedmont Triad Research Park has been named the Richard H. Dean Biomedical Research Building, in honor of the man whose vision for the park has resulted in plans for major long-range development.
Dean stepped down June 30 as president and CEO of Wake Forest University Health Sciences. He also served as chairman of the research park’s board of directors, and is the current chairman of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce.
Dean spearheaded a drive that began in 2002 to expand the park to more than 200 acres, as part of a community effort to create a technology-based economy. Over the next five years, he oversaw the development of a master plan for the park, the building of new facilities and acquiring funding for several major infrastructure improvements.
Dean built on the work in the 1990s of Richard Janeway, M.D., Douglas Maynard, M.D., Thomas K. Hearn, Ph.D., and others. Janeway, then executive vice president of health affairs of Wake Forest University, oversaw the acquisition and renovation of an old R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. research building, which became the research park’s “anchor” – the Piedmont Triad Community Research Center – on Chestnut Street. Maynard, then chairman of the Department of Radiology, was instrumental in conceiving and encouraging the development of the park as a hub of technology research. Hearn, then president of Wake Forest University, was an organizer and chairman of Idealliance, a community group formed to help develop the park.
At full development in 15 to 20 years, the research park will comprise up to 5 million square feet of laboratory, office, and mixed-use space, provide a total of up to 30,000 new jobs in the Triad, and have a total annual economic impact of over $3 billion.
“Dr. Dean’s contribution to this project and to the broader community will be measured for years to come, as the park matures and its benefits increase,” said Douglas L. Edgeton, president of the research park and executive vice president and COO of Wake Forest University Health Sciences.
“It is most fitting that this beautiful new research facility, which would not have been built without his encouragement, guidance and support, be named for Dr. Dean.”
The building, which was formerly known as “Biomedical Research Facility 1,” opened in May 2006. It is five stories, about 180,000 square feet, and was built at a cost of $72 million. It houses the offices and laboratories of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Lipid Sciences Research Program. Some space remains available for new, non-university tenants.
A six-level, 457-space parking deck between the Dean Building and the Piedmont Triad Community Research Center serves both buildings.
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Media contact: Mark Wright, (336) 716-3382, mwright@wfubmc.edu; Bonnie Davis, bdavis@wfubmc.edu; or Shannon Koontz, shkoontz@wfubmc.edu, (336) 716-4587.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which operates the university’s School of Medicine. The system comprises 1,154 acute care, psychiatric, rehabilitation and long-term care beds and is consistently ranked as one of “America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report.