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President addresses faculty during meeting The future of the Medical University of South Carolina is promising, although challenges remain, according to President Raymond Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D.    In his annual “State of the Medical University of South Carolina” address, delivered during a Town Hall meeting for faculty Feb. 21, Greenberg said he felt a sense of “optimism” regarding MUSC’s current status and its future.   Greenberg spelled out the university’s achievements and direction during a 40-minute PowerPoint presentation. His second slide, “Vision: To Become a Leading Academic Health Center,” would remain MUSC’s long-term objective, he said, adding, “We ought to be leaders; we ought to be on the cutting edge.”   Greenberg compared MUSC’s clinical faculty to other academic health centers near the dividing line between the first and second quartiles, based on funding by the National Institutes of Health. In that group he included the University of Texas-Southwestern (ranked 21st), University of Wisconsin (27), University of Minnesota (31) and University of Virginia (33). MUSC currently ranks 49th in NIH funding.   With the exception of Virginia, MUSC had fewer faculty members—by nearly 500 compared to one institution—than the other centers. On average, the other institutions had more than 250 faculty members compared to the Medical University.   The quality of MUSC’s faculty, however, was excellent, Greenberg said. “No institution can be better than the quality of the faculty,” he said. “If you aspire to be a great institution, you have to have a great faculty.”   In fact, he listed the faculty as one of the university’s greatest strengths, along with location, momentum, the degree of collaboration among faculty and MUSC’s sister institutions and morale.   Greenberg also praised MUSC’s research activity, noting that funding had more than tripled during the past decade, although NIH funding—a reflection of decreased federal support nationwide—was beginning to slip from previous levels.   Collaboration on a variety of programs among MUSC’s own faculty and with other institutions, Greenberg said, has enabled MUSC to become “well positioned” to compete for elusive research funding. He cited two examples of cooperation on campus: the establishment of patient simulation teaching facilities for students in medicine, nursing and the health professions; and within the College of Medicine, the merger of three separate departments to form the Neuroscience Department. The new department now ranks seventh nationally and first in the South in terms of NIH funding, according to Greenberg.   Externally, Greenberg cited MUSC’s bioengineering collaboration with Clemson University, which has brought three full-time Clemson faculty members and approximately 12 graduate students to Charleston. The partnership is likely to expand to include the University of South Carolina and the construction of a shared research building at MUSC, he added.   Despite the progress being made in collaboration and other areas, “clouds are on the horizon,” Greenberg said, because of the federal deficit and a tightening state budget, an aging physical plant and other concerns. “When the federal government sneezes, we catch pneumonia,” he said.   Although the university’s overall budget has increased to approximately $1.2 billion, state appropriations—15 percent of the total budget when Greenberg took office in 2000 —have now dwindled to nine percent. Despite decreased federal and state support, both the Medical University Hospital Authority and the university have managed to build slim operating cash reserves, Greenberg said.   While the Medical University works to improve its financial situation, it will maintain an aggressive list of priorities, including the recruitment and retention of distinguished faculty, continue construction of the new hospital, secure and fund more endowed chairs, increase research space and enhance educational facilities, Greenberg said.   MUSC is doing extremely well in expanding its number of endowed chairs with the help of its collaboration efforts and the South Carolina Education Lottery, Greenberg said. Currently, the university has 10 endowed programs totaling $47.5 million, with three endowed chairs arriving in February alone. “I think this will be a month we remember for a long time,” Greenberg said.   One other collaboration Greenberg emphasized was the private-public partnership of Health Sciences South Carolina, established in 2004 with two major research universities and two of the state’s largest hospital systems. The alliance has since grown to include all three of South Carolina’s research universities and its four largest health care systems. The six partners – MUSC, Clemson University, the University of South Carolina, Palmetto Health, Greenville Hospital System and Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System—currently have a combined economic impact of $8.5 billion, employing more than 47,000 people with a payroll of $2.4 billion.   Greenberg concluded his presentation with an overview of new facilities, discussing the new hospital, the Darby Children’s Research Institute, Hollings Cancer Center, the Education Center and Library and the new College of Health Professions building, all completed or under way, and the planned Drug Discovery Building, the Bioengineering and Patient-Oriented Research buildings and the new College of Dental Medicine building, with construction scheduled to begin this summer.   In response to questions from the faculty, Greenberg said the number of basic science faculty members was “right on average” compared to other health centers of similar size, and that, in his opinion, state government was moving away from the recruitment of large manufacturing firms to South Carolina and beginning to target research and development companies instead. “We need to change the economic development strategy for South Carolina from trying to attract business because of cheap labor,” he explained, “to attract business because of our creativity and innovation.”     Friday, March 3, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island papers at 849-1778, ext. 201.