Isidore Cohn, Jr. MD Student Learning Center

The original Isidore Cohn, Jr. MD Student Learning Center, which was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.

The Isidore Cohn, Jr., MD, Student Learning Center is designed for small group teaching, simulation learning, computerized instruction, conferences and meetings. The facility houses sophisticated technology, including 4 simulation/demonstration laboratories and 8 small group-teaching rooms. The initial project involved remodeling 14,000 square feet of existing space at 2020 Gravier Street. The original Center opened in August, 2001.

Traditionally, the LSU medical students and residents have been educated through large group lectures and at the bedside of hospitalized patients. But as we know all too well, prolonged hospital stays are a rarity and much of modern medicine is better taught in small groups. To keep pace, the LSU School of Medicine adapted the student curriculum and classroom space. The curriculum has been redesigned to provide opportunities for problem-based learning, small group instruction, new courses, standardized patient interactions, simulation and computer based learning. The construction of the Isidore Cohn, Jr., MD Learning Center improved and modernized classroom space to fully implement the new curriculum.

On August 29, 2005, the Isidore Cohn, Jr., MD, Student Learning Center, located on the first floor of the Lions Building in downtown New Orleans, flooded and suffered catastrophic damage. The destroyed equipment has since been replaced, and the Center has been temporarily operating out of available space across the University campus.

In March 2008, construction on the new Center began and the Center opened in August 2009.  With the reconstruction of the original Isidore Cohn Jr., MD, Student Learning Center directly above the Russell C. Klein, M.D. ('59) Center for Advanced Practice, the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans Learning Center is poised to be a center unlike anything else in the country