Research Culture, research park, grad program on horizon

Growing the discovery enterprise at UMMC

For all the reasons  Mississippi gets knocked on poor health, it’s a veritable petri dish for researchers.

“Mississippi is a living laboratory for research on many chronic diseases,” said Dr. John Hall, associate vice chancellor for research at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Those include cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Hall leads the Medical Center’s efforts to construct world-renowned research programs. He will be the first to say scientific research is medicine’s backbone. So it stands to reason that part of UMMC’s multi-year research plan is lemons-to-lemonade.

Increase research in obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neurosciences and cancer, and the investigators inevitably will produce results that add to scientific knowledge and improve the lives of Mississippians.

“Our major goal is to double research productivity at the University of Mississippi Medical Center,” Hall said. “Many people think that means only doubling grant money, but grant money is just a part of it, just a tool to get us there.”

What’s in the pipeline? The multi-year plan includes hiring more researchers, salary increases, a graduate degree program for research staff, new research centers reflecting Mississippi health problems and a research park to promote economic development. Here’s a closer look:

New Incentives

State salaries for researchers were lower than in surrounding states, which made retention a problem.

The strategic plan for research worked out ways to provide more competitive salaries that rely not only on state funds, but also research-grant income.

“It incentivizes researchers to get grants to support their research programs,” Hall said. “We hope to have everyone who is active in research participate in this plan.”

As well, the advisory board developed a tiered salary structure that starts staff researchers, graduate students and post-doctoral students at salaries more competitive to other states and advances them tier-by-tier.

Moving up by Degrees

Dr. Joey Granger, dean of the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences, hopes to begin a new graduate program for laboratory technicians and research staff within a year.

Typically, those employees come right from college with B.S. degrees. By offering a path to a master’s degree, technicians will move up a career ladder, earn more and stay longer.

The Medical Center employs more than 100 lab tech staffers for as many as 50 labs.

“The tech support staff is the engine that really drives the laboratories,” Granger said.

The program, currently in committee discussions, could offer a master’s of science in biomedical sciences or a master’s of science in biomedical technology.

A separate effort with community colleges, Granger said, could result in a certificate-degree program in animal husbandry that feeds laboratory workers to the Medical Center.

Multidisciplinary Research Centers

New research centers will focus on Mississippi’s health issues: diabetes, obesity and cancer. Plans also call for a clinical research center.

Hall wants to attack health issues from multiple angles, combining the expertise of basic, clinical and population-science researchers.

“Multidisciplinary centers bring people together from bench to bedside,” he said.

For example, the Center for Excellence in Cardiovascular-Renal Research brings together the basic sciences with clinical M.D.s and Ph.D.s, said Granger, the center’s director.

“Our vision is for the Medical Center to be a leader in certain strategic areas,” Hall said. “We can’t excel in everything, but we can lead in some.”

By the Numbers

Research advances will be judged not only by the amount of extramural funding — the goal for which is to rank in the top 50 percent of U.S. medical schools in National Institutes of Health funding in less than 10 years — but by the number of investigators, journal publications, leadership positions in professional organizations and other markers.

“Our goal, which we started on July 1, 2008, is to add 10 new research faculty members per year for the next five years,” Hall said.

Economic Development

A research park in the planning stages for the former Farmers Market property could grow new businesses, promote technology transfer and benefit the state’s economy.

With a $7.2 million grant in hand, leaders plan to put out a request for proposals to begin developing the research park within a month.

“We are putting together a solicitation to develop some plans for the park, such as how it would look, what kind of infrastructure is in place, what needs to be added and how much all that may cost,” said Dr. David Dzielak, associate vice chancellor for strategic research alliance.

While the park could incubate and recruit medical-technology businesses, any increase in research funding helps the economy, Hall said.

“It also increases the overall skill and education level of workers and raises the state’s economic profile,” Hall said.

-Jack Mazurak

2009-02-17 00:00:00 18834