RIDGELAND, Miss. (WJTV) – The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) will establish a multidisciplinary teaching campus in Ridgeland’s Colony Park.

According to UMMC officials, the development of the Colony Park educational campus will help equip the next generation of health care professionals with the knowledge, skills and resources needed to meet the evolving needs of our communities.

“Because surgery centers are the model, and we have not had one, a lot of our trainees leave UMMC and have never seen that,” said Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs. “They don’t know the difference in operations because right now, we do all our ambulatory surgeries in the day surgery center at the hospital. From an educational standpoint for both our students and our residents, they need a learning environment that mirrors where they will be practicing.” 

The plan for the approximately 131,000 square-foot educational campus, located on the west side of I-55 North, north of Renaissance at Colony Park, consists of a medical office building, multispecialty ambulatory surgical center, imaging center and multimedia classrooms. When complete, the building will feature two wings with a central lobby entrance. A one-story ambulatory surgery center will be on the right when entering, and a three-story medical office building will be on the left. 

Construction on the new campus is slated to be complete by January 2026 and is expected to begin operating in the months to follow.