MSSU celebrates grand opening of Roy Blunt health science center
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Missouri Southern State University has opened its $48.5 million Roy Blunt Health Science Innovation Center, a major investment aimed at training and keeping more health care workers in southwest Missouri.
The roughly 70,000-square-foot facility includes a simulated hospital with emergency and trauma areas, an operating room, labor and delivery space and critical care areas. It also features anatomy and cadaver labs, virtual reality technology and 3D printing and research space.
Former Missouri U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, who helped secure $2 million in federal funding for the project, said training students locally could help address health care workforce shortages.
“If you learn these skills here, as opposed to having to go somewhere else to learn them, you’re much more likely to be a respiratory therapist or a dental hygienist or a health data person in a community that you’ve lived in,” Blunt said.
Blunt said the federal investment helped attract state, local and private money for the project. The City of Joplin contributed $1.5 million in federal ARPA funding, while Freeman Health System donated $1 million.
“I think it will pay big dividends for southwest Missouri,” Blunt said.
The center broke ground in April 2024 and is designed to give students hands-on experience in realistic health care environments before entering the workforce.
