High-tech biomed hub opens at uni

A NEW facility dedicated to biomedical education was officially opened at La Trobe University’s Bendigo campus last week.

La Trobe vice-chancellor John Dewar guided Member for Bendigo West, Maree Edwards, through the $6 million learning facility which will be used by biomedicine, pharmacy, nursing, and allied health students.

The State Government contributed $2.5 million to the space’s development as part of the Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund, which Mr Dewar said was essential to the completion of the hub.

“This was a fund that the Victorian Government established in the relatively early days of COVID to really provide universities with critical infrastructure,” he said.

The biomedical hub will aim to give students the chance to learn in simulated medical scenarios.

Cross-disciplinary learning is a focus of the space, with a mock pharmacy, hospital, virtual anatomy labs, and research spaces available to aid student learning.

“We are very focused on strengthening the health care work force in regional Victoria, which means that new facilities like this health hub are a key part of our plan to continue to build that future regional health workforce,” said Mr Dewar.

During the opening student Sanjana Jijo gave a demonstration on how to use the facility’s interactive whiteboards and said she planned to stay in rural Victoria to work in healthcare.

Ms Edwards said the new facility would give La Trobe students access to the best health-based learning facilities in Victoria’s higher education sector.

“The people coming through this facility, the students of today and tomorrow, they will stay in our region, they will grow our health workforce,” she said.