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Dean's Message
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Donald
E. wilson, MD, MACP. |
Over the summer I visited Mali, West Africa to attend the opening of the Fogarty International Minority Student Research Training Facility at the University of Mali. This facility will provide opportunities for research and clinical training in the areas of emerging infectious and tropical diseases. Two members of our faculty, Dr. Myron Levine, director of the organized research center for vaccine development and Dr. Chris Plowe, assistant professor in the department of medicine, who are involved in this project also attended the opening. Drs. Levine and Plowe conduct field research in Mali, where the world’s largest testing site for malaria is being developed. We are exploring a scientific partnership between Mali and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Liaison Committee on Medical Education
(LCME)
We are preparing for a visit in January of the LCME, the national authority
for accreditation of medical schools. During the visit the LCME survey team
will meet with all constituencies involved in the medical education program
and tour our teaching and clinical facilities. A task force of faculty, administrators,
students, and members of the community have been working for months to prepare
a self-study report, which serves as the core of the evaluation. The LCME’s
last visit to the School was in January 1993, when the medical school was
re-accredited for the full seven-year cycle.
Mission-Based Management
In October 1997 we were one of the nation’s first medical schools to begin
this process. You will recall that the essence of mission-based management
is to help the leadership and faculty to understand our total and individual
effects on behalf of our stated missions (e.g., teaching, research, patient
care and community service), to measure our efforts and the costs and revenues
associated with these efforts, and to align efforts with incentives and rewards,
according to our stated collective goals. This process has been extremely
enlightening and helpful. There are now dozens of medical schools in the United
States engaged in some form of this exercise.
Clinical (Practice Plan) Income
You are all aware of the problems facing medicine and especially academic
health centers nationally. Major institutions in Boston, Philadelphia, San
Francisco and Washington are losing tens of millions of dollars. We are not
immune from these problems, with managed care penetration exceeding 40 percent
in Maryland. In January 1998 our practice plan collections were tracking at
an annual income of $82 million. This represented nearly a 10 percent decline
from the previous year. If sustained, it would have meant the release of at
least 100 faculty. Practice plan re-design was a major part of our mission-based
management activity. I am pleased to report that in FY 1999 we collected $98
million, exceeding our budget target of $95 million. However, we are not out
of the woods. The marketplace raises the bar almost weekly. We will need some
national legislative relief from the Balanced Budget Act of 1996 and relief
from the ever diminishing compensation for clinical care.
Research
For FY 1999, the School of Medicine’s grant and contract awards increased
by 12.5 percent to $138.1 million. I am also pleased to announce that Howard
Dickler, MD joined our staff as associate dean for research and graduate studies,
replacing Dr. Tyson Tildon who retired earlier this year. Dr. Dickler comes
to Maryland from the National Institutes of Health, where he was chief of
the clinical immunology branch of the Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases for the past ten years. His skills and knowledge in both basic and
clinical research should be extremely valuable for the continued growth and
success of our research programs.
Health Sciences Facility II (HSF
II)
The University has received funding to build HSF II. As we currently lack
the space to "grow" our cutting-edge research initiatives, HSF II will provide
a critically needed new biomedical research building for the Schools of Medicine
and Pharmacy. This 101,000 square foot facility will house interdisciplinary
research programs. The total estimated cost of the building is $67 million
- $57 million will come from the State of Maryland, while the remaining $10
million must be funded through philanthropy. HSF II, with groundbreaking to
occur in July 2000, will be located adjacent to HSF I which opened in 1995.
Class of 2003
Our entering class of 138 medical students, selected from 3,290 applicants,
are from 36 different majors including English, history, psychology, engineering,
communications, economics, finance, anthropology, biology and other sciences.
The Class of 2003 come from 63 colleges and universities. Their ages range
from 20 to 37. Maryland residents make up 82 percent of the class, 57 percent
of the class are women and 14 percent are under-represented minorities. The
average entering class G.P.A. is 3.63, and the total MCAT average is 10.2.
New Century Medicine Campaign
To date the New Century Medicine Campaign, launched in October 1997 with a
goal of $65 million, has achieved 65 percent of the goal including our first
gift of $5 million. Philanthropic support is crucial to allow the school to
respond to challenges and take advantage of opportunities to develop new and
innovative programs. I want to again stress the importance of your active
involvement if we are to be successful in this endeavor. I hope that, as in
the past, I will be able to count upon your support as we embark upon our
future. Should you have any comments or questions about our activities in
the School of Medicine, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for
your interest in the school.
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