Baptist breaks ground on Miami neuroscience center as Griffin adds $25M gift

Baptist Health announced October 7 that it had broken ground on a new home for its Miami neuroscience institute and received another $25 million gift from Kenneth C. Griffin. The donor’s organization, Griffin Catalyst, also reported the groundbreaking and new contribution.

The planned 197,000-square-foot facility will be on Baptist Hospital’s main campus in Miami, with an expected opening in early 2029. Baptist has renamed Miami Neuroscience Institute as the Kenneth C. Griffin Neuroscience Institute, according to its October 7 announcement.

The expansion gives the institution a physical project around which to organize its next phase of clinical work, research and medical education. The new building is intended to bring patient services, specialist training and research into a shared setting on the hospital campus.

The financial history began with a $50 million gift announced March 19, 2024. Baptist said then that the contribution would help expand the institute, including a new center on the hospital campus. Its original plan included laboratories and room for researchers to conduct studies in the same building where they see patients.

The latest contribution takes Griffin’s cumulative neuroscience support at Baptist to $75 million. Griffin Catalyst says the additional gift establishes the Neuroscience Institute Transformational Impact Fund for research, innovation, education and prevention. The fund expands the philanthropic support behind those priorities alongside the planned new building.

Baptist plans to add 16 subspecialty providers and more examination rooms. The facility is to include outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapy, rehabilitation and neuroinfusion services, as well as expanded clinical-trial opportunities. The planned additions would extend the institute’s clinical capacity as the new space is delivered.

The teaching component connects to an existing partnership with Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. In its 2025 account of the alliance, FIU reported that nine residency and fellowship programs launched in July that year, welcoming 68 trainees. Neurology was among the new residencies, alongside internal medicine and general surgery.

FIU described training across Baptist Hospital, South Miami Hospital, West Kendall Baptist Hospital and Doctors Hospital. Its neurology residency is based at Baptist Hospital and the neuroscience institute, with preparation in conditions including stroke, epilepsy and movement disorders. FIU is the sponsoring institution for the joint graduate medical education programs, overseeing accredited residencies and fellowships. The university’s account describes an alliance that combines its academic role with Baptist’s clinical network. The future building will connect to that established local training network.

Baptist says the new facility will include its first academic lecture theater. Alongside clinical and research space, that creates a planned venue for teaching and professional collaboration. The lecture theater will sit within a campus setting that is being designed to connect teaching with clinical and research work.

Baptist’s October announcement describes an institute serving people with conditions including dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy and movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. It also identifies Michael McDermott as the institute’s chief medical executive and chair of FIU’s Department of Neurosciences, linking institutional leadership to the academic partnership.

The next major milestone is the expected early 2029 opening, when the institute’s expanded services would move from a construction plan to a new home on the hospital campus.