After 30 years at Duke University, there’s little to nothing C. Frank Starmer, Ph.D., can do to change Duke for the better or worse, he says.

“But I’ve met people here at the Medical University of South Carolina, people like Ray Greenberg (M.D., Ph.D., vice president for academic affairs and provost) and (MUSC president) Dr. (James B.) Edwards, who are not content to allow this to remain an average academic medical institution,” Starmer said. “They want this to be a world class medical university. They want MUSC to excel in research, education and patient care, and I want to help them do that.”

He arrived Jan. 28 to assume his duties as associate provost for information technology.

Starmer, an electrical engineer (B.S., M.S., Duke University, 1963, ‘65) with a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering and biomathematics (University of North Carolina, 1966), was one of the founding members of Duke’s Computer Science Department in 1971. He brings to MUSC 32 years of experience in designing and implementing computerized patient database and monitoring systems, using Internet-based communication systems to teach students and collaborate with researchers around the world. He conducts research into the evaluation of select drugs in controlling heart rhythm disturbances and reversing the cardiac-related consequences of drug overdose.

His research activity, combined with his ability to use advanced communications technology to facilitate research collaboration and solve problems, gives Starmer a hands-on understanding of the communications and resource access difficulties scientific investigators are faced with. His passion is solving problems.

“I conduct my research around the world,” Starmer said, explaining his Laboratory Without Walls project in which he actively participates in research projects with colleagues and students in other countries. “There’s no reason why MUSC can’t be a university without walls,” Starmer said, revealing a vision of biomedical investigators and teachers throughout the campus participating in research projects, creating new learning experiences and maintaining daily dialog with students and faculty across the hall and half a world away.

“People ask me about my teaching style,” Starmer said with a laugh. “I don’t have one. For me the secret of teaching is to ignite a student’s or colleague’s curiosity. I think if you present those around you with problems that challenge them and then just get out of their way, they’ll respond with a variety of fascinating solutions that I would not have considered. And while pursuing one problem, they will encounter other issues that will become potential rich areas to probe. In a way, this is what I believe the parallel medical school curriculum is all about.

“We’re all students,” he said with a gesture toward his computer screen. “I think I’m the winner with this type of learning, simply because I think I learn more from ‘official’ students than they learn from me. But together, it's great fun to pursue a problem in order to develop insights and understanding.

“This computer, the Internet and the resources it opens to me, it’s like a library.” Starmer turned to illustrate his point from a project on a student’s Web page, an animated wave of excitation propagating along a piece of heart muscle. This particular animation demonstrated how potentially life-threatening cardiac rhythm disturbances can be initiated.

Starmer credited Libraries and Learning Resource Centers director Tom Basler, Ph.D., for his insight in broadening MUSC’s computer resources and making the library and its resources the focal point of education at the university.

“The Internet is a powerful educational tool,” Starmer said. “From my desktop computer, I have access to information from experts and databases in most any discipline I want to explore. I can find the information I need, up-to-date information in contrast to information from a text that often is outdated the moment it is printed.”