A partnership between the local health department and a university will help create tens of thousands of Miami government jobs.

The Miami-Dade County Health Department and Florida International University are teaming up to create the state’s first Academic Health Sciences Center. As part of the effort, the health department will consolidate its administrative and program offices, currently housed at eight locations, at FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus.

“Through this partnership, we can cut costs and become a more efficient department,” MDCHD Administrator Lillian Rivera said in a press release.

The consolidation is expected to save at least $8 million during the next 25 years, generate 66,000 new jobs, and have a yearly economic impact of more than $8.9 million by 2005. It will cost about $32.5 million to fund construction of the 90,000-square-foot building, according to the South Florida Business Journal.

That funding is currently included in the 2010-2011 budget that has already been approved by the Florida Legislature. After receiving approval from Gov. Charlie Crist, the building will be financed through a bond and repaid through Department of Health lease payments.

The part of the new complex that will house the health department also will include the previously-funded $23.3 million Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work academic facility, as well as the new $10 million ambulatory care center funded by a grant from Miami-Dade County, both of which are in the planning and design stages.

The partnership between FIU and the MDCHD also will provide the opportunity to create internships, which would allow FIU students to work with public health experts in a clinical and research environment, and better their chances of future employment.

“This is the kind of innovative, mutually-beneficial, strategic partnership that will enhance the education of our students with real life experience,” Fernando Treviño, dean of the Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, said. “At the same time, it will improve the local state-run health facilities and save the state significant money. It’s a win-win situation.”

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