At a ribbon cutting ceremony on February 18, the Drexel University College of Medicine celebrated the opening of a new wing on the Queen Lane Medical Campus housing DUCoM’s Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership, the Office of Executive Leadership in Academics (which includes the College’s renowned Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women), the College’s Archives and Special Collections, and the state-of-the-art Independence Blue Cross Medical Simulation Center. The Simulation Center, one of the most innovative facilities in the nation, features life-like robots, screen-based simulation programs and “standardized patient” encounter rooms. The high-fidelity patient simulators—computer-driven robotic mannequins—exhibit life-like vital signs, including heartbeats, blood pressures, and body and eye movements. They can be programmed to display a variety of normal and abnormal conditions and to respond realistically to student interventions, such as intubation, drug injection or cardiac defibrillation. They can even be programmed to speak or cry out in pain. In addition to the simulators, the Center includes a suite of exam rooms equipped with digital audio and visual recording capabilities for use in standardized patient exam encounters. Standardized patients are actors who are taught to portray various clinical conditions and are trained to provide feedback to students and residents. “This Simulation Center will provide a tremendous opportunity for practicing physicians, our students and our residents to enhance their skills and improve patient safety,” said Dr. Richard Homan, Annenberg Dean and senior vice president for health affairs at DUCoM. “One of our goals is to collaborate with engineers and media discovery to develop new simulation prototypes for the future.”