General News
28 July, 2026
Praise for uni building
A FOURTH year medicine student has described how the new James Cook University Yeinie Building in Cairns has transformed her learning experience.
The $60 million commonwealth government-funded facility, alongside Cairns Hospital and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service, is home to JCU’s nursing program and years 4 to 6 of medicine, with midwifery set to move into the building soon. It forms part of the Cairns Health and Innovation Precinct and is designed to bring students, clinicians and researchers together in a real-world healthcare environment.
Fourth-year medicine student Sophie Greenhalgh said the new facility had transformed the learning experience.
“It’s amazing. It’s really convenient. We can walk to the hospital, like two to five minutes,” she said.
“I’m kind of the first cohort, so I’ve been here since first year at the Smithfield campus.
“But I’ve also had the opportunity to go to the other city campus for two years for clinical skills. I can tell you there is just no comparison at all.”
Originally from the Sunshine Coast, Ms Greenhalgh hopes to complete her internship in Cairns and said JCU’s focus on regional healthcare was one of the reasons she chose to study there.
“It’s just so vital,” she said.
JCU vice chancellor and president Professor Simon Biggs said, while students had been using the building since the start of the academic year, the official opening was an opportunity to celebrate the project with the wider community and stakeholders.
“We’re here to finally and fully celebrate the formal opening of the Yeinie Building,” he said.
“It’s actually been open, of course, in terms of teaching since the start of the year, but this is our formal celebration of the new building.”
Professor Biggs said the building’s location beside the hospital was one of its greatest strengths.
“The ability then for us to interact with the hospital staff, for our students to engage with the hospital, to be part of that precinct, is a real advantage,” he said.
He said around 400 students would use the facility, with nursing students largely drawn from Cairns and Far North Queensland, while medical students also came from regional communities across Australia.
The building features clinical teaching rooms, a simulated hospital ward and modern audiovisual technology to support practical learning before students begin hospital placements.
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service chief executive Leena Singh said the Yeinie Building was a key part of the region’s growing health and innovation precinct.
