UC Davis Health has cut the ribbon on a new temporal bone dissection lab at Aggie Square, giving otolaryngology residents a much larger, high-tech space to practice intricate ear and skull-base procedures. The Hilary and Maureen Brodie Temporal Bone Dissection Lab features 20 workstations and replaces a smaller, older facility inside UC Davis Medical Center. Monday's intimate ribbon-cutting brought together residents, faculty and staff, and signaled that hands-on surgical training is now firmly planted in the middle of Aggie Square's innovation hub.
Named for a longtime department leader
The facility honors Hilary "Hil" Brodie and his wife, Maureen, and recognizes Brodie's four decades with the health system and two decades as chair of the otolaryngology department, according to UC Davis Health. During the ceremony, Hil and Maureen Brodie used Bellucci scissors to snip a strip of salmon-colored waterproof tape in place of the traditional ribbon, a playful nod to tools Brodie relied on in the operating room. The couple also received a plaque that will hang in the lab, a gesture department leaders said reflects his long tenure and clinical focus on hearing loss and diseases of the middle and inner ear.
20 stations and real-time visuals
Each of the lab's 20 stations is outfitted with a microscope, a high-speed drill and a large monitor that shows the microscope view and drill work in real time, the health system reports. "It's going to be much easier to show what one resident is doing," residency program director Rodney C. Diaz said in remarks published by UC Davis Health. Arnaud F. Bewley, chair of otolaryngology, said the setup gives trainees a controlled environment to practice highly specialized techniques, and the department plans to run intensive boot camp-style trainings and specialized courses in the space.
Aggie Square and the local research pipeline
The lab sits inside Aggie Square, the innovation district developed by Wexford Science & Technology that links university research with industry and startup space. As per Wexford Science & Technology, Aggie Square includes lab buildings, classrooms and commercial space designed to speed up life-science commercialization and workforce development in Sacramento. UC Davis leaders say locating advanced surgical training there helps trainees see how academic medicine and industry tools come together in modern care.
Officials say the Brodie lab will be open to residents, fellows and faculty across otolaryngology and related specialties, and that its mix of hands-on stations and shared visual feeds will be central to training the next generation of ear and skull-base surgeons. The department expects the facility to host courses for local trainees and visiting surgeons in the coming months, part of a broader effort to expand surgical education inside Sacramento's growing research district.
