Dean's Message
Donald E. Wilson, MD, MACP,
The John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and Dean

In this issue of the Bulletin you’ll read about the new Weinberg Building of the University of Maryland Medical Center. This latest addition caps a $500 million expansion of the nation’s oldest teaching hospital. Its appearance and functionality are truly impressive, and I encourage you to arrange a tour of the complex during your next visit to campus.

It is hard to fathom that in 1823, the Baltimore Infirmary, forerunner of today’s University of Maryland Medical System, was constructed and furnished for under $17,000. At the time, most American medical schools kept students in the classroom, shortchanging the clinical aspect of their educations. Our founders were different. In 1807, Dr. John Davidge and his colleagues decided on a curriculum which included regular tours through local hospitals. They later appealed to the city and local banks in an attempt to underwrite construction of their own hospital. When they were turned away, they built the infirmary on personal credit. It was located on the southwest corner of Lombard and Greene streets on the site of the current health sciences and human services library.

Over the next 100 years the hospital would be expanded, renovated, and rebuilt. Several of these projects were underwritten by the state, granted with a proviso that certain medical services be offered to the community. The infirmary received additional revenues during the Civil War, charging the government $5 per week per wounded soldier, $2 more than the amount charged to private patients. Patients were transferred to the medical center’s current location across Lombard Street in 1934 with the opening of a new $1.5 million facility.

It could be argued, however, that the most significant change to the hospital since its creation occurred in 1984 and was organizational, not structural. Citing changing conditions in the health care field and bearing witness to million-dollar deficits each year, the state legislature created a private University of Maryland Medical System, an entity entirely separate from our medical school. Since then the medical system has grown into a regional health system consisting of six hospitals with revenues of more than $1 billion.

Morton I. Rapoport, ’60, who led the medical system for the last two decades, retired in September. The new CEO, Edmond F. Notebaert, comes to Maryland from the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania, where his leadership enabled it to become one of the preeminent children’s health care organizations in the world. During his tenure, Ed oversaw the transformation of Children’s Hospital from a small, regional inpatient facility into an internationally prominent center for pediatric health care, research and teaching.

Ed and I have pledged to create a new era of partnership, to work together to solve problems, and together achieve higher levels of success. One of the key areas on which we are already working together is fund raising. With state funding dropping to approximately five percent of our total income, this year we will have to rely more on private philanthropy to support our missions of education, research and patient care. Since 1991, private donations to the medical school have funded 31 chairs and professorships—an important means of recruiting and retaining quality faculty members. It is critical that we build on the fund raising accomplishments of the past 12 years, and working together the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical System plan to do just that.