At the Intersection of Healthcare and Innovation
A major pillar of the Deliver on the Promise Campaign, Waitzer Hall, opened in fall 2020. As the newest addition to the EVMS campus, the 11-story, glass-enclosed structure brings expanded capacity for education, study, student support and administrative space. Financed through philanthropy and state support, the $80 million structure is a testament to the school’s ever-growing value to the community.
A three-story education podium includes an expansive classroom on each level. The classrooms are designed to work with a new instructional standard of team-based learning (TBL). In lieu of a traditional lecture format, TBL is an active-learning format that emphasizes collaborative student work in small groups of six to eight to solve problems. In addition, students will have access to a variety of group and individual study spaces adjacent to these classrooms.
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Thank you, Waitzers
Leadership has been the cornerstone of the Richard and Leah Waitzers’ lifelong commitment to their community. Both were graduates of the Norfolk Public Schools, and gave their time, talent and treasure to making Hampton Roads a better place. The couple had been married 61 years when Richard Waitzer died in January 2019. Leah Waitzer passed away in 2021.
The Waitzers’ most recent gift changed the landscape of our campus and our region’s health. Waitzer Hall is more than a building. It is a commitment to recruiting the best faculty and students, to conducting innovative research, to delivering outstanding patient care to those who call Hampton Roads home.
The L. D. Britt, MD Terrace
The terrace in front of the entrance to the new building, Waitzer Hall, is named in The L. D. Britt, MD Terrace, honoring Dr. Britt’s extraordinary service to the distinguished profession of medicine and as an internationally recognized leader in surgery . This visible entrance is the gateway for students, faculty and visitors to enter the academic and administrative building where the President’s office is located.
On Friday, April 29, EVMS unveiled a bronze sculpture depicting surgeon L.D. Britt, MD, MPH, on the terrace. The 9-foot-tall, larger-than-life art is symbolic of the profound impact Dr. Britt has had over his long and illustrious career, and was brought to life by world-renowned artist, Mario Chiodo.
At EVMS, Dr. Britt's work around disparities is furthered by the Britt Endowment for Diversity and Health Equity. The endowment — which enhances diversity and inclusion efforts at EVMS and draws attention to the important work of addressing healthcare disparities — was realized through two major gifts to the Deliver on the Promise Campaign from both the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and The Oliver Fund, a donor-advised fund established by Frances Martin Lindsay.
Images courtesy of Douglas Gardner
EVMS Through the Years
A generation ago, the people in Hampton Roads were extremely generous when they established this medical school in response to a physician shortage. With another physician shortage looming, we are relying on the community’s generosity once again. Our new building will provide much-needed space for the growing number of physicians and health professionals that we train. Every gift made to EVMS is an investment in the future of healthcare in Hampton Roads.
Congressman Porter Hardy, attorney Harry Mansbach, physician Mason Andrews and businessman Henry Clay Hofheimer were key volunteers who helped lead the effort to raise the funds necessary to establish EVMS. This photo celebrates an early philanthropy achievement.
The early physician graduates of the new medical school included corpsmen who had gained experience during the Vietnam war.
EVMS gained worldwide attention in December 1981 with the birth of “test tube” baby Elizabeth Carr. She was the first child born in the United States through the then-new art of in vitro fertilization.
In the 1980s, business and community leaders came together in response to high rates of diabetes in Southeastern Virginia. The result of their effort was the EVMS Strelitz Diabetes Center, which has provided patient care, patient education and cutting edge research for three decades.
EVMS’ ties to the community run deep. One example is the Medical and Health Specialties Program at Maury High School, a collaboration with EVMS that has encouraged generations of youth to explore their interests in medical and health careers.
A generation ago, the people in Hampton Roads were extremely generous when they established this medical school in response to a physician shortage. With another physician shortage looming, we are relying on the community’s generosity once again. Our new building will provide much-needed space for the growing number of physicians and health professionals that we train. Every gift made to EVMS is an investment in the future of healthcare in Hampton Roads. Thank you for supporting EVMS. For more information about how your gift can impact EVMS, please contact EVMS Development at giving@evms.edu or 757.965.850