EVMS to name building for E.V. Williams

NORFOLK—Eastern Virginia Medical School will named one of its buildings E.V. Williams Hall in honor of the local businessman who made the largest single donation that EVMS has received from an individual.

Located at 855 W. Brambleton Avenue, the newly named Williams Hall houses two of the medical school’s internationally recognized programs: the EVMS Strelitz Diabetes Institutes and research facilities for the EVMS Department of Pediatrics.

The building did not previously have a name, but was known informally as the medical school’s “South Campus.” Renovations to the building began last summer as part of a three-year, $17.8 million campus renovation project.

The announcement was made February 28 at a dedication ceremony celebrating the completion of renovations for the Department of Pediatrics’ research facilities in Williams Hall.

Additional campus renovations are underway at the EVMS Jones Institute, EVMS Hofheimer Hall and EVMS Fairfax Hall. EVMS announced in January that Fairfax Hall will be renamed for EVMS founder Dr. Mason C. Andrews, after renovations on that building are complete.

EVMS President Harry T. Lester noted that Williams’ bequest helped EVMS finance the campus-wide renovations project. EVMS has received $5.5 million from Williams’ estate.

“Medical schools need great faculty and great facilities,” Lester said. “In helping us update our facilities, Mr. Williams has advanced the important work our faculty are doing as teachers, researchers and doctors. Williams Hall will be living tribute to his generosity on behalf of EVMS.”

Williams, who died on Nov. 28, 2003, at the age of 93, was a founding member and past president of the Virginia Road and Transportation Builders Association. The contracting company he founded in 1941 became a major force in the road building industry of eastern Virginia. In 1997, E.V. Williams Inc. was purchased by Branch Highways, Inc. and became a wholly owned subsidiary of The Branch Group Inc. of Roanoke, Va.

The renovation of the Department of Pediatrics’ research facilities will support Dean Gerald J. Pepe’s plans to grow the medical school’s research programs in four areas: cancer and infectious diseases; diabetes, obesity and metabolic disorders; women’s health and infant development; and heart and vascular disease.

“These are all areas where our community and our state have pressing health needs,” Pepe said. “The EVMS Strelitz Diabetes Institutes has laid the foundation for continued growth of our programs in diabetes, and the Department of Pediatrics has expertise in several areas, including infectious diseases, pediatric obesity and infant development. Our goal is to recruit additional doctors and scientists to our faculty in these four areas of concentration. Having great research facilities is a key competitive advantage.”

Renovations to the pediatric research facilities will support several of EVMS’ nationally recognized research programs.

Editors of the prestigious medical journal Lancet cited a study by EVMS pediatrician Dr. David Matson as one of the two best of 700,000 medical research articles published in 2006. Thanks largely to that study, the FDA granted swift approval to a vaccine to prevent an illness that kills 500,000 infants and children in the developing world each year. Williams Hall houses the Department of Pediatrics’ Clinical Research Unit which conducts clinical trials of new vaccines and treatments like the rotavirus vaccine, and other medications and treatments.

Pediatric faculty located in Williams Hall are also conducting basic science research to discover new ways to combat the diseases that affect children, including infectious diseases like the antibiotic-resistant MRSA bacterium.

Williams Hall is also home to the Department of Pediatrics’ Division of Behavioral Research and Community Health, led by Frances D. Butterfoss, Ph.D., EVMS Foundation Chair in Pediatrics. She and her colleagues have helped Hampton Roads develop the nationally recognized Coalition for Infant and Child Health (CINCH) and other community health initiatives in the areas of immunization, asthma, school safety, obesity, parenting, alcohol/substance abuse and infant safety seat awareness.

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