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U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, UM Board of Curators chair Darryl Chatman and other dignitaries cut the ribbon for the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building on October 19, 2021 in Columbia (photo courtesy of University of Missouri)

Blunt: NextGen facility in Columbia will have $5.6 billion impact on Missouri’s economy

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, UM Board of Curators chair Darryl Chatman and other dignitaries cut the ribbon for the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building on October 19, 2021 in Columbia (photo courtesy of University of Missouri)

Missouri’s senior senator predicts the new NextGen Precision Health building in Columbia will provide personalized care to Missourians and will cement our place as a leader in biomedical research. The new building is named for U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R), who spoke to 939 the Eagle after this week’s grand opening celebration.

“This is a great building, I was excited about it all the time we were building it. I was excited about what it could do for the university as a magnet to attract researchers and students and partners of various kinds,” Blunt says.

NextGen is located on the Mizzou campus. UM System President Dr. Mun Choi says with its opening, Mizzou now has all of the crucial elements to even better fulfill its mission of research, education and service to Missouri.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) director traveled to Columbia for this week’s grand opening. Senator Blunt praises Dr. Francis Collins, noting he’s the only Presidentially-appointed NIH director to serve more than one administration.

““And he’s a good friend of mine but he’s really one of the outstanding scientists in the history of the country, leading the human genome project. And it was that mapping of genetics, figuring out how to do that, that makes the whole concept of personalized medicine possible,” says Blunt.

Dr. Collins has served under Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Senator Blunt predicts that NextGen will have a $5.6 billion impact on Missouri’s economy over the next 25 years.

 

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