Message from the Dean

This winter the School is engaged in an initiative that reverberates throughout the country. As new National Institutes of Health funding becomes available for biomedical research, medical schools and universities will aggressively compete for these dollars. Most knowledgeable observers believe that the current budget will double over the next five to seven years. For 1998-99, the NIH budget is $13.65 billion, and next year's recently approved budget increased this funding by $2 billion.

My goal for the IU School of Medicine is to advance its position as an outstanding medical research institution. During his tenure, Dean Emeritus Walter Daly, MD '55, vigorously promoted research, taking the School from $20 million in funding in 1983 to $90 million in 1995. Today, our extramural funding is more than $110 million, and NIH grants account for more than half. In NIH funding, we rank thirteenth among public medical schools and thirty-fourth among the one hundred twenty-five U.S. medical schools. As the second largest medical school in the country, we intend to do even better.

As we strive to improve our research funding, we have the support of Myles Brand, president of Indiana University, and Gerald Bepko, vice president for long-range planning for IU and chancellor of Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis. We will approach the Indiana legislature together this session to request state funding for biomedical research. If we succeed, it will be the first time in its history that the Indiana legislature has financially supported medical research.

Obtaining this funding is critical to Indiana's future health - both economic and physical. One out of nine Hoosiers work in the health industry and account for an $8 billion payroll. Increased state medical research funding will enhance the education of our students and residents, advance the pursuit of new knowledge, improve quality of health for all Hoosiers, create new jobs, and promote the state's economic growth.

Please make your support for state funding of biomedical research funding known to your state legislators. State support for research and development in the medical sciences will eventuate as a stronger economic future for Indiana. It will also encourage more college-educated graduates to stay or join us in Indiana and enable your School in its tripartite mission of teaching, research and clinical service.

I hope you'll call or write me with your thoughts regarding this very important initiative. My number is 317-274-8156. My address is Fesler Hall 302, 1120 Clinical Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46402, and my e-mail address is rholden@iupui.edu. Your voice and your action are critical for this initiative to succeed.

ROBERT W. HOLDEN, MD '63
Dean, Indiana University School of Medicine
Walter J. Daly Professor