UNE opens integrated medical education center on Portland Campus for the Health Sciences
Story by Alan Bennett - June 3, 2025
Portland, ME - The University of New England inaugurated the Harold and Bibby Alfond Center for Health Sciences, a state-of-the-art medical education facility now serving as the new home of Maine’s medical school, marking a transformative moment in the future of medical and health professions education in Maine.
The opening of the new facility, celebrated with a formal ceremony on UNE’s Portland Campus for the Health Sciences, culminates the relocation of the UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine from Biddeford to Portland, placing UNE’s medical students in close proximity to the state’s largest hospitals and clinics and most densely populated communities, while also placing it closer to rural northern areas of the state.
“Over the past two-plus decades, UNE has emerged as a unique institution essential to the health of our home state, acutely attuned to industry needs, and providing wave after wave of graduates expertly equipped to tackle the latest workforce needs,” said UNE President James Herbert. “The impact of this facility will reach far beyond Portland to the entire state of Maine, and indeed, New England more broadly, increasing the number of doctors we can graduate each year at a time when their expertise is desperately needed in communities throughout the state and region.”
The 110,000-square-foot Harold and Bibby Alfond Center for Health Sciences is the final piece in bringing together nearly all of UNE's health professions programs on a single, integrated campus - including medince, dentistry, physician assistant, pharmacy, nursing, and the allied health fields - creating a fully interprofessional learning environment that is unprecedented in New England.
UNE is Maine’s largest educator of health professionals, having awarded more than 16,000 health sciences degrees since 1995. The University’s medical school, founded in 1978, has graduated more than 4,000 physicians, with more than half entering primary care and 40% of those remaining in Maine serving rural or underserved communities.