From left, Douglas A. Girod, M.D., executive vice chancellor of KU Medical Center, KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback visit Aug. 27, 2015, during a ceremonial groundbreaking at the University of Kansas Medical Center for its 5 million Health Education Building, which will serve as the primary teaching facility for the KU schools of Medicine, Nursing and Health Professions.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — In his private practice career, retired doctor David Zamierowski said he “never touched” a computer. And each time he tried a procedure for the first time, starting in medical school back in the 1960s, there was a real person under his knife.

“In the back of my mind, I always knew there had to be a better way,” Zamierowski said. “When I first saw simulation, I knew this was the answer.”

Zamierowski spoke Thursday at the groundbreaking ceremony for Kansas University Medical Center’s new Health Education Building. Construction will begin next month on the $75 million building, expected to be completed in June 2017.

The project is funded by $25 million in state bonds, $15 million from KU Medical Center and private gifts raised through KU Endowment, according to KU. Total private support raised to date is $37.3 million, including a $25 million lead gift from the Hall Family Foundation of Kansas City, Mo.

From left, Douglas A. Girod, M.D., executive vice chancellor of KU Medical Center, KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback visit Aug. 27, 2015, during a ceremonial groundbreaking at the University of Kansas Medical Center for its 5 million Health Education Building, which will serve as the primary teaching facility for the KU schools of Medicine, Nursing and Health Professions.

The new building will serve as the primary teaching facility for the KU schools of Medicine, Nursing and Health Professions, according to KU. Amenities will include simulation space and flexible learning spaces to support collaboration between students and teachers.

Zamierowski and his wife, Marilyn Zamierowski, of Overland Park, made a lead gift for simulation equipment and facilities that will be recognized as the Zamierowski Institute for Experiential Learning.

Zamierowski, a plastic surgeon and founder of the Wound Care Centers of Kansas City, said he first saw simulation training in action while volunteer teaching at area nursing schools after his retirement in 2003.

Calling simulation “the future of medicine,” Zamierowski said he and his wife were inspired by the vision that every medical center graduate will have been trained to the point of competency before ever approaching a patient.

Executive dean Robert Simari said the school currently is using some high-tech mannequins on which students can practice everything from surgical procedures to delivering babies at various locations around the school.

The new building, however, will allow more of that and, in general, enable a “modern medical curriculum,” he said.

There won’t be any lecture halls in the new building, Simari said. Instead rooms will enable teams of healthcare professionals-in-training to work together — usually in small, eight- to 10-person classes — in hospital room-like settings, then gather to discuss how the simulations went and what they can improve on.

The saying they’re using, Simari said, is “we went from the sage on the stage … to the guide on the side.”

Gov. Sam Brownback, Lt. Gov. (and KU School of Medicine alum) Jeff Colyer, KU Medical Center executive vice chancellor Doug Girod and KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little were among other dignitaries who spoke to the large crowd gathered for Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony.

Multiple speakers thanked state legislators and donors for funding the project, which they said would help strengthen the school’s mission of addressing a physician shortage in the state.

“We’re going to have one of the best medical schools and one of the best medical buildings in the country,” Colyer said. “It’s something that can transform health care and transform lives in our state.”

Fundraising will continue during construction to meet anticipated increases in expenses related to technology and equipment for the building, according to KU.

Kansas City-based Helix and Los Angeles-based CO Architects will serve as the design team on the project. McCown Gordon is general contractor.