Topics, September 10, 2007
Looking back, looking ahead: What difference will a year make?
I want to welcome all the new members of the Health Science Center community to the 2007-08 academic year! On behalf of the HSC deans and the administration, we’re delighted you’re here and we appreciate your efforts to make UF successful in its missions of education, research and clinical service.
2007-08 promises to be an interesting year. The University of Florida finds itself in somewhat of a dichotomous position. In many areas, we are setting new standards of academic performance. For example, the university just reported the faculty received a record $583 million in research funding last year, a 12.5 percent increase over the previous year. Health Science Center faculty contributed 54 percent of that total, which is even more impressive when you consider that the federal NIH research budget has essentially flat-lined.
On the other hand, we are confronted by a state fiscal crisis that gives every indication of being more than just a passing hiccup in the system. While the current 4 percent holdback of state funds and the UF hiring freeze have been at least somewhat manageable, there appear to be more storm clouds on the horizon. If the crisis deepens, we’re told that additional cuts of 10 percent may be considered for the 2008-09 year. Indeed, one plan under consideration by the State Board of Governors calls for a $10 million cut to the Health Science Center budget. A cut of that magnitude would be devastating.
Hopefully we won’t have to face such dire reductions, but it’s best to prepare for some bad financial weather. In particular, if you have ideas about how the university might save money, operate more efficiently or enhance revenues, I hope you will make them known to the task force President Machen has appointed to work on this issue. The Health Science Center has three representatives on the task force: Dr. Glen Hoffsis, of the College of Veterinary Medicine; Dr. Frank Bova, of the College of Medicine; and Jim Ferrer, from the Office of the Senior Vice President for Health Affairs. Feel free to forward your suggestions to them or share with me by way of this website.
Despite the gloomy financial news from Tallahassee, there remains much to be optimistic about. Our educational programs have never been stronger. Our patient care programs, though challenged in many ways, are generally healthy and of exceptional quality. As noted above, our research programs are going gangbusters and new facilities will add to our research capacity over the next few years.
We are also coming off an exceptional year. Looking back on the academic year just past, we enjoyed a number of notable successes. It’s interesting that as we come to work each day, immersed in that day’s activities, it’s easy to overlook what was accomplished until you pause to look back. From this perspective, quite a bit got done. Here are just a few of the highlights:
Personnel
- Recruited Dr. Glen Hoffsis, an experienced, dynamic leader, to be the new dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine.
- Recruited Dr. Bruce Kone as the eighth dean of the College of Medicine. Dr. Kone has the ability to lead the College to enhanced performance and national standing in medical education, translational research, clinical service, public service and diversity.
- Recruited Dr. Carmen Allegra, an accomplished clinician-researcher at the National Cancer Institute, to lead the build-out of clinical cancer services and clinical trials.
- Established an Office of Health Center Equity & Diversity and created a new associate vice president position to lead the Health Science Center’s efforts in promoting diversity and equity in the faculty. The position was filled by a well-respected faculty member, Dr. Rebecca Pauly.
- Established transition plan for the dean of the College of Public Health and Health Professions. Dr. Michael Perri, an experienced and highly regarded member of the Public Health and Health Professions faculty, was appointed interim dean.
- With the hospital, recruited a new chief of cardiothoracic surgery, Dr. Curt G. Tribble, from the University of Virginia.
Research
- Through the leadership of Dr. Marco Pahor, the Institute on Aging received a prestigious Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center grant.
- With a $3.5 million endowment from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, the colleges of Nursing and Public Health and Health Professions announced the establishment of a center to improve health-care access, patient safety and quality outcomes.
- With multiple UF units, completed planning for and began construction of two additional research buildings on the Health Science Center campus, the Biomedical Science Building and the Emerging Pathogens Institute.
- The College of Nursing placed in the top 10 percent nationally in both graduate school rankings and National Institute of Nursing research funding.
- Faculty throughout the Health Center colleges have been working diligently to prepare the university’s application for a Clinical Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health. The CTSA represents the future of NIH support for team science and it is critical that UF acquires it.
- Faculty moved into the new Cancer & Genetics Research Complex in July and held a Grand Opening featuring Gov. Jeb Bush in November.
- A new research building was opened on the regional campus in Jacksonville.
Clinical Care
- With Shands HealthCare, designed and negotiated a more effective academic support agreement (AQSA) that increases funding and enhances flexibility in support of the academic mission of the College of Medicine.
- Our regional campus model in Jacksonville was strengthened by clarifying areas of management integration and autonomy with respect to the Gainesville campus of the College of Medicine (leadership, reporting, hiring, compensation plans, faculty promotion).
- Negotiations were completed for an expanded, $4 million agreement with the Brooks Health System Alliance for neurorehabilitation and aging rehabilitation studies involving UFHSC-Jacksonville, the UF Aging Institute and the College of Public Health and Health Professions.
- Working with Dr. Joe Simone as our specialist in cancer program development, Shands, the College of Medicine dean and chairs, and the Cancer Center, plans were finalized to construct a new $388 million Cancer Hospital. Through some joint strategic planning between the College of Medicine and Shands, and the recruitment of Dr. Carmen Allegra (noted above), the building project is well-aligned with long-term clinical service goals and faculty recruitment.
- In August 2006, the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute was opened in Jacksonville, only the fifth facility of its kind in the United States.
- The College of Dentistry received $5.5 million gift from a Naples, Fla. charity, matchable by the state, to build a dental outreach clinic for disadvantaged children in Collier County. This is the culmination of several years of work by Dean Terri Dolan and many College of Dentistry faculty.
- Led by Dr. Mark Bleiweis from the College of Medicine, a pediatric surgical team gave a gravely ill 9-year-old boy the state’s first Berlin Heart, a mechanical assist device, in September. In February, the patient was successfully transplanted with a donor heart.
Education
- Developed long-range plans for a 21st-century Health Science Learning Resources Center to replace outmoded and overcrowded instructional and library facilities.
- In the College of Nursing, initiated a master’s degree program in Public Health Nursing, with a grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.
- Addressing a national call for clinically-trained pharmacists with sufficient training to facilitate translational research, the College of Pharmacy established the Clinical Pharmaceutical Sciences graduate Ph.D. training program.
- The College of Medicine established a new residency training program in emergency medicine on the Gainesville campus.
- The College of Pharmacy and the College of Medicine were both re-accredited, with rave reviews, by their respective accreditation councils.
There are many, many more accomplishments that I could name. Some of them are the result of individual effort, and some are the accomplishments of groups. By and large, though, they are your accomplishments, and for them I offer you my congratulations and thanks. Here’s to an even better 2007-08!
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