Winnipeg Health Sciences Center celebrated the groundbreaking of the $35-million Siemens Institute for Advanced Medicine (SIAM) in December of 2006. The 80,000-sf research center features the new $100-million Ann Thomas Critical Services Building, a facility that will accommodate trauma operating rooms and leading-edge patient care when it opens in early 2007. The project will also include a $25-million hotel sited within the complex.
SIAM will focus on translational research in the fields of neurosciences, infectious diseases, advanced imaging, medical informatics, and surgical technique development. The facility will also include four surgical research centers; biomedical engineering shops for medical device prototyping; biomaterials development and testing; surgical robotics development; a simulation center with virtual surgery training; and a 12-bed clinical trial ward for drug and medical device trials. SIAM will contain a cyclotron for the production of radiopharmaceuticals for PET scanning. The project contractor is PCL Constructors of Winnipeg, MB. Construction will begin in late spring of 2007 and reach completion in two years.
