Second Opinion

One of the oldest adages in business is that success comes as a result of "planning the work and working the plan." At the UofL Health Sciences Center, we've been doing both of these activities simultaneously -- and the results are visible both on our physical campus and in the excitement and energy present among our faculty, staff and students.

The Cardiovascular Innovation Institute is gaining momentum, with the building on Muhammad Ali Boulevard nearing completion. We are looking forward to a grand opening in early 2007.

The CII also received its first competitive grant, awarded this summer through the National Institutes of Health's Small Business Innovation Research program, which helps commercialize inventions and move them from the laboratory to the patient. The grant will allow UofL researchers to test a pacemaker-like device aimed at helping the heart recover from heart attacks by boosting blood flow to the heart and reducing its workload.

Drs. Steven Koenig, Kenneth Litwak, George Pantalos and Robert Dowling -- all professors of surgery at UofL -- and cardiologist Dr. James Kang, in partnership with Dr. Paul Spence, cardiothoracic surgeon and founder of Louisville biosciences company SCR Inc., are very optimistic about the device, which they believe could be a high-potential tool in the fight against cardiovascular disease.

Our own "space race" has gotten a big boost from the state legislature and a $10.1 million federal earmark secured by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. The planned Biomedical Research III and IV buildings, now under construction, will provide more than 250,000 square feet of state-of-the-art research space and will be joined by a parking garage on the east side of campus, at Hancock Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard.

These buildings are being designed for maximum flexibility and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Their completion will help us compete with our peers in recruiting internationally known biomedical scientists and remain competitive as an academic health sciences center.

Total extramural research funding for the four schools at the Health Sciences Center topped $97.5 million this year, up from $86.8 million last year. These figures include funding from the National Institutes of Health and other agencies as well as private research contracts and grants.

At the Health Sciences Center, Bucks for Brains faculty generated more than $23 million in sponsored research last year, and the Programs of Distinction generated more than $44 million in sponsored research last year.

Growth on the clinical front continues with the James Graham Brown Cancer Center continuing to lead the region. The center's first-floor renovation is underway, and the second- and third-floor multidisciplinary clinics continue to garner praise from patients, families, faculty and staff. We're looking forward to NCI designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center and expansion of the clinical trials program to give patients in Kentucky access to the latest and most innovative treatments for this terrible disease.

Dr. Kerri Remmel's tremendous outreach in the state is making a real difference for patients and health-care providers who need to recognize stroke and make quick clinical decisions to minimize stroke damage.

Meanwhile, Family and Geriatric Medicine and Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences both have opened sparkling new clinics at Central Station, just south of UofL's Belknap Campus.

These facilities offer easy patient access, a full range of diagnostics and imaging, a full-service optometry shop and after-hours care in the family medicine clinic for UofL faculty, staff, students and residents of the surrounding neighborhoods.

We are continuing our work to create a true multi-specialty group culture that leverages the strengths of all of our faculty practices and continues to deliver the very best to patients -- no matter what specialties they need. To that end, we are using the buying power of 65 faculty practices to procure a state-of-the-art practice management and electronic medical record system that will facilitate easier appointments, better patient service and the ability to share medical records between different doctors if the patient directs us to do so.

We are looking at the best ways to deliver great patient care where our patients want to receive it, including the use of satellite facilities and the creation of a signature faculty practice building. We also are drafting a campus master plan that supports an outstanding patient experience in terms of location, parking and access.

To help us lead all of these efforts, we will have a permanent dean of the School of Medicine appointed later this summer. The search process has produced some outstanding candidates, and I want to thank the committee members for their efforts.

I also would like to extend my sincere appreciation to Dr. Mark Pfeifer for the insightful and focused leadership he is providing for the school in the interim. His help has been instrumental in achieving all that we've done in the past few months.

As we launch into the new academic and fiscal year, we're continuing to do the work that will take the Health Sciences Center to the next level. We're fortunate to have a fantastic team in place at all levels, and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can achieve over the next six months.

Larry N. Cook, M.D., is executive vice president for health affairs at the University of Louisville and a professor of pediatrics in the School of Medicine.