Contact: Heather Woolwine
843.792.7669
woolwinh@musc.edu
Contact: Clare Morris
803.413.6808
clare@claremorrisagency.com
Aug. 22, 2007
Dr. Robert Adams will hold endowed professorship as part of the S.C. Centers of Economic Excellence Program.
COLUMBIA -- Robert Adams, M.S., M.D., has accepted the position of Endowed Chair in Stroke at the Medical University of South Carolina. He will help direct the Center of Economic Excellence (CoEE) in Stroke at MUSC, and will also serve as a Professor of Neurosciences at the university.
The CoEE in Stroke will aim to strengthen clinical and basic stroke research in South Carolina. Several planned areas of research are novel for the field of stroke medicine, including post-stroke dementia and juvenile stroke. The CoEE in Stroke was approved by the CoEE Review Board in June of this year.
The Centers of Economic Excellence Program, also known as the "Endowed Chairs" program, was created to attract top scientists in key research areas to help advance South Carolina's economy.
Dr. Adams' endowed professorship will focus on clinical neurology. His primary research activities are in stroke prevention and novel delivery programs of stroke care. His research experience includes four NIH investigator-initiated grants. He co-designed and directed two multi-center clinical trials, STOP and STOP II, which were the first randomized clinical trials of stroke prevention in sickle cell disease and in any childhood stroke condition.
Dr. Adams is also a cofounder of and chief medical consultant for REACH Call, Inc., which provides system equipment, software and expert experience to remote sites via the Internet to assist in emergency evaluation and treatment of acute stroke.
The CoEE in Stroke is a joint academic collaboration between MUSC and the University of South Carolina. Other partnering institutions include the Greenville Health System and the Greenwood Genetics Center.
Dr. Adams is one of three endowed chairs slated to lead the CoEE in Stroke. The others, yet to be appointed, will specialize in translational stroke research (at MUSC) and translational neurology (at USC).
"Dr. Adams will be a tremendous asset to MUSC and to South Carolinaís life sciences sector," said MUSC President Ray Greenberg. "The CoEE Program has been invaluable in growing our stateís biotechnology industry, and our citizens will benefit through the creation of better jobs and the opportunity to enjoy a higher standard of living."
"The CoEE program is really making a difference in allowing South Carolinaís universities to recruit such talented researchers," said Paula Harper-Bethea, chair of the CoEE Review Board. "What's more, Dr. Adams' research is focused on a health issue that really hits home for us in South Carolina. He is doing work that will help save the lives of our family members, friends and neighbors."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, South Carolina has the second-highest stroke mortality rate in the nation.
Dr. Adams was previously at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, where he was the Presidential Distinguished Chair and Regents Professor of Neurology and also co-director of the Cerebrovascular Research Program in the Department of Neurosurgery. He is past chair of both the Stroke Council Leadership Committee and the American Stroke Association Stroke Advisory Committee.
Dr. Adams received his medical degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He also has a masterís degree in Engineering Design and Economic Evaluation from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He completed an internship at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, and a neurology residency in the Department of Neurology at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.
The S.C. Centers of Economic Excellence Program was established by the South Carolina General Assembly in 2002, with $200 million appropriated from the South Carolina Education Lottery Account to fund the program through 2010. The legislation authorizes the state's three public research institutions, MUSC, Clemson and USC, to use state funds to create Centers of Economic Excellence in research areas that will advance South Carolina's economy. Each Center of Economic Excellence is awarded between $2 million to $5 million in state funds, which must be matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis with federal, private or municipal funds. The program also supports CoEE endowed chairs, world-renowned scientists who lead the Centers of Economic Excellence. By investing in talent and technology, the CoEE Program is designed to help fuel the state's knowledge economy, resulting in higher paying jobs and an improved standard of living in South Carolina.
#####