Speeches

STUART D. COOK, M.D.
A LEADER FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM

Dr. Stuart D. Cook Inaugural Address April 9, 1999

I look into the audience today and see that I am surrounded by exceptional people, people who are academically talented, who are committed to scientific excellence and who provide state-of-the-art, compassionate patient care.

I am deeply honored that so many of my colleagues and friends are here today. I am also proud that on this day, as on every other day, members of the University family are carrying out business as usual. Faculty are teaching students. Health care providers are caring for patients. Scientists are performing experiments.

As we near the new millennium, I ask you to consider the advances in science and medicine which will occur within our lifetimes.

Imagine that the human genome is completely sequenced and the function of each gene is known.

Imagine that, as a result, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease are prevented or even cured.

The knowledge needed to develop effective treatments for diseases previously thought to be untreatable is now within our grasp. Great research opportunities lie before us ... opportunities to understand the cause of human disease...opportunities to apply that knowledge to treat and prevent disease...opportunities to better the human condition.

Our track record of achievement as a University bodes well for our ability to be leaders in the fast-paced and continually changing world of the 21st century.

Our University was established only 28 years ago. But in this relatively short period of time, we have established a record of remarkable accomplishments.

This is due largely to the leadership of my predecessor, Dr. Stanley S. Bergen, Jr., the University's founding president. Stan, your vision led us to becoming the nation's largest public free-standing health sciences university. The citizens of New Jersey owe you a debt of gratitude for your dynamic and insightful leadership. Thank you, Stan. I promise you our University will build on your foundation and become even greater in the years ahead.

On the cusp of a new century, where is the University headed? Over the past 10 months, I have listened to your ideas about the direction we should take as we continue our trajectory to excellence. I have listened to our faculty, our students, our staff and our alumni...I have listened to our patients...I have listened to the University leadership...the board of trustees...and the leaders of our state.

From these conversations and my own convictions, I have concluded that the path to excellence requires bold moves in many directions.

Today I present to you an ambitious agenda for the University, an agenda which is forged from our mutual hopes and aspirations. This agenda will enable us to recruit the best available faculty and students, increase support for research, and advance our commitment to high standards of teaching and community service. Successfully implemented, it will raise the University to the top tier of academic institutions...nationally recognized for their uniformly high caliber of scientific inquiry... innovative teaching methods...and clinical expertise.

Achieving our goals is important, not only for the University, but for all New Jerseyans. Public interest about health issues has never been greater. Look at your own experience. How often do you find yourself in conversations about health-related issues--with colleagues at work, with family members around the dinner table, or talking with neighbors?

In fact, what you've said about the future direction of the University echoes what citizens of New Jersey said in a recent Eagleton poll. They ranked health care as the most important industry in the state...with the pharmaceutical industry close behind. The overwhelming majority of people polled...also said it is important for our state to have nationally recognized medical schools, for our University to conduct research with New Jersey's pharmaceutical companies and for advanced medical care to be available in New Jersey.

The findings of this poll validate the vision we have created together...and that I will present to you today.

I believe a major pathway to national recognition for academic excellence is through research.

To propel us into national prominence, I am challenging our schools to double their research funding within five years. To reach this goal will require that we develop and expand programs that will increase our support from the National Institutes of Health, the public sector, and the pharmaceutical industry.

Achieving this goal will give us not only the national recognition we seek, but also provide revenues to the University that are necessary for its continued growth and development.

Now I know from conversations with faculty on all campuses, as well as from my own analysis of space utilization, that we urgently need additional laboratory space to grow as a research institution. I want the faculty to know that I am committed to providing that space. But space alone is not enough. We need to attract more outstanding scientists to UMDNJ.

To accomplish this, I am proud to announce a new University initiative. Today, I am establishing 25 University professorships, five per year for the next five years. These professorships will enable us to bring some of the best and brightest research scientists in the nation to UMDNJ, expanding the nucleus of world-class faculty on all of our campuses and in all of our schools.

The men and women we bring on board will be leaders in their fields working at the cutting edge of science. They will join a faculty already participating in more than 800 research projects, which address the health concerns of New Jerseyans and all Americans.

In addition to its research initiatives, the University is also committed to teaching excellence.

Twenty-five years ago, the National Science Foundation asked that generation's leading scientists what they felt was the most important factor in their education. The answer was almost uniformly the opportunity to work closely with a great and inspiring teacher. That same answer holds true today. I firmly believe that education is a university's unique and most important mission.

As we travel on our path to excellence, we must provide our students with the highest quality education. In an increasingly competitive world, our efforts must be focused on graduating students who are sought after for the best job opportunities and the finest graduate educational programs. In recognition of the importance of this mission, I believe it is essential that we recognize and reward our best and most dedicated teachers.

Towards that end, I am announcing the formation of a Master Educators Program. Its purpose is to recognize University faculty who set the highest standards of academic excellence and have a true gift for teaching whether they are in the classroom, in the research laboratory, or in a patient care setting. I know that these Master Educators will inspire others to excellence in their education efforts and I hope that ultimately every member of our faculty will receive this designation. The selection criteria will be developed with input from many people, including faculty, but most importantly these criteria will reflect what we hear from our students.

As I have visited our schools and campuses over the past 10 months, I have been impressed by the social and ethnic diversity of our student body, and the vitality this produces in our educational environment. But we cannot rest on these laurels.

We must renew our efforts to recruit the best and the brightest New Jersey students for admission to our schools. At the same time, we must maintain an academic environment that provides our students with the opportunity to learn in a culturally diverse setting so that they develop the professional and personal skills necessary to succeed in a growing multicultural world.

This University has long been a national leader in the recruitment and retention of students from under-represented populations. I am personally committed to ensuring that we increase the number of qualified minority students on our campuses over the next five years. To do so will require increased funding of our scholarship program.

To help create an endowment for this purpose, I ask the leadership of the Foundation, the deans of our schools, our alumni and the Champions to raise more funds for academic scholarships for deserving students. So far, I have presented initiatives to expand our research program--a commitment to increase space and a plan to recruit new talent through University professorships. I've defined initiatives to foster academic excellence--a Master Educators Program and a commitment to increase funding for student scholarships.

But University faculty are also health care providers with a commitment to providing the best possible patient care. We are justifiably proud of the high quality of clinical service we provide, in concert with our more than 100 health care affiliates, to New Jerseyans throughout the state. Health care institutions nationwide are facing unprecedented financial stresses due to the impact of managed care on the health care delivery system. These stresses require a new focus if we want to remain successful in such a competitive environment. In order to maintain and enhance our patient care programs, we must consider a cultural shift within our institution. We have always been proud that our eight schools are unique and have nationally recognized strength in their own professions.

But if this University is truly bound for greatness....If we are committed to securing large research grants, recruiting the brightest students and providing the highest quality patient care, we must now take an important step in institutional maturity.

We need to see ourselves as a university not limited by profession, by school or by geography. We must function as members of an integrated whole rather than as totally independent entities. To this end, I ask each of you today to increase your efforts to seek and develop projects that promote inter-school and cross-campus collaboration.

To promote the growth of these relationships, I am announcing that our deans and I will create eight to 10 University Centers of Excellence.

These Centers will serve to translate outstanding research and development into the highest quality patient care for the citizens of New Jersey, no matter where they live.

Basic science and clinical research will be coordinated with greater efficiency and effectiveness.

The University Center of Excellence designation will mean that patient care within the center is provided by University faculty who are recognized by their peers as clinical and scientific experts in that specific discipline.

The center may be based on one or multiple campuses, or coordinated through a specific school of the University. But the clinical care component will be integrated and provided in more than one location.

The intent of these new University Centers of Excellence is to ensure that New Jerseyans, regardless of the complexity of their disease, will not have to travel to New York or Philadelphia when they are ill to find the highest quality of care.

We already have two University models that are prototypes for University Centers of Excellence. The first is the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, right here in New Brunswick. The majority of its clinical and scientific staff are University faculty members. In five short years, the Cancer Institute of New Jersey has grown its patient base from zero to 30,000 patient visits annually. Its statewide network has grown from five founding partners to 15 clinical affiliates. Research funding to Cancer Institute scientists has grown impressively. And the University's goal is to build on that success through the development of cancer programs in Newark, Stratford and Camden.

The second model I offer, the University's Violence Institute of New Jersey, is a dynamic microcosm of the best of our University. It consists of faculty from all of our schools, faculty who teach, conduct scientific research or provide clinical services in fields ranging from domestic violence to child sexual abuse.

In addition to enhancing clinical care, our Centers of Excellence will increase the University's ability to form additional research partnerships. As a unified University, the resources we bring to a clinical trial, the scientific expertise and a large, diverse patient base, make us a top contender for major pharmaceutical and federal research projects. That is great for us, for our patients and for New Jersey's economic well-being.

Today we set in motion our quest to gain national recognition as an enterprising and innovative leader in teaching, research and patient care. The strategic goals I have presented reflect a great deal of thought and discussion. Achieving these goals will enable us to fulfill the University Board of Trustees' strategic intent: The pride of New Jersey today. The pride of the nation tomorrow.

This plan is ambitious, but eminently achievable through the joint efforts of our faculty, students, staff, alumni, administration, Foundation, and Board of Trustees. I am excited about leading the University into the new millennium as a nationally prominent health sciences institution.

Through our short, but extraordinary, history, we have been seen as a young university with a dream. We are proud that our programs in research, education, patient care, and community service have made a significant contribution to the health and well-being of New Jersey's citizens. We are proud of the role the University plays in contributing to New Jersey's economy.

We are proud that this University has and will meet the promise made by state leaders to citizens nearly three decades ago.

I thank Isabel Miranda and the University board of trustees for the confidence they have shown in me. I thank the deans and academic leadership in each of our schools for their commitment to the vision we've developed together. Thank you to the University community. It's been a privilege for me to come to work here each day for 27 years as a teacher, physician and researcher. And it's an honor to now be the president of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

I offer a special thank you to my wife, Josie, my children, my grandchildren, and other family members who are here to share this wonderful day with me. Thank you for always being there for me. As we go forward, we must remember the responsibility we have to our students, to our patients, to each other, and most importantly, to the citizens of New Jersey who have invested so much in each of us.

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