Second Opinion
University now has strong momentum but needs continued partnership with state of Kentucky
Larry N. Cook, M.D.
This fall, the Kentucky Institute of Medicine published a report titled "The Health of Kentucky: A County Assessment," which noted Kentucky's high rates of smoking and cardiovascular disease and the disparities that exist in access to health care across the state.
These statistics are why, as a leading academic medical center, the University of Louisville is investing in technology to leverage our doctors' specialized expertise into Central and Western Kentucky.
The InTouch Health RP-7 Robot enables UofL faculty physicians to provide concentrated, specialized clinical care at multiple locations. The technology helps bring specialists into a hospital at a moment's notice, leveraging the time and expertise of doctors across the central and western parts of the state.
During more than three decades as a neonatologist and pediatrician, I saw firsthand the effects of the physician shortage on the tiniest and sickest patients, whose families had to travel to Louisville to obtain care in the neonatal ICU at Kosair Children's Hospital. These are not just statistics - they are real families whose quality of life is enhanced through outstanding medical care.
Via the InTouch technology, doctors can log on from anywhere to visit with patients, families and other health-care providers - even when they are located in an emergency department or hospital bed hundreds of miles away. Patients can remain in their home hospitals, closer to family, friends and support systems, but still get care from highly specialized physicians in their hospital rooms or in any hospital department, all in collaboration with their local doctors.
We are also investing in finding solutions for Kentucky's high rates of smoking and cardiovascular disease. Regular readers of Medicine magazine know that these issues are at the top of the University of Louisville's agenda as an academic institution focused on accountability to our community and state -- and on making a difference in the lives of Kentuckians.
UofL's James Graham Brown Cancer Center has benefited from tremendous community support for its Finding Answers to Cancer campaign - support that has been matched by the state's Bucks for Brains program and that has helped cancer center director Donald Miller, M.D., Ph.D., recruit top scientists to Louisville and increase extramural research funding to more than $40 million annually. This research is finding new treatments that will benefit Kentuckians, who suffer from one of the highest rates of cancer in the nation.
Bucks for Brains, formally known as the Research Challenge Trust Fund, also helped recruit Stuart Williams, Ph.D., to Louisville as scientific director of the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute, a partnership between UofL and Jewish Hospital. There, he joins Laman Gray, M.D., and a team of outstanding researchers who are inventing the next generation of medical breakthroughs for cardiovascular medicine.
The return on Kentucky's investment in Bucks for Brains at UofL is clear, but we now have raised private donations to match all of the funds allocated by the General Assembly.
Without future allocations to the Research Challenge Trust Fund, our momentum is at risk.
Technology and medical breakthroughs are only part of the story. UofL's School of Dentistry provides more than $1 million each year in low-cost dental care to the underserved and conducts outreach to educate hundreds of children about the importance of dental hygiene and regular dental exams each year.
The School of Nursing runs an outreach clinic for backside workers at Churchill Downs in conjunction with the Kentucky Racing Health Initiative and provides health care in the Smoketown area in partnership with the Presbyterian Community Center, Second Presbyterian Church and the Good Samaritan Foundation.
Our School of Public Health and Information Sciences requires a community involvement project of all master's-level students and has established dozens of research and outreach projects aimed at improving public health in partnership with organizations like the Louisville Metro Health Department, Partnership for a Green City and Jefferson County Public Schools.
None of these activities would be possible without public-private partnerships. In October, Kentucky's State Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Commission approved an application from the Louisville Medical Center Development Corp. that will result in a $345 million bond issue to help pay for public infrastructure needs, including the creation of a research park in Louisville's Haymarket area that will work to commercialize health and life-sciences research.
The TIF funds will support new labs and buildings and facilitate the hiring of additional UofL researchers -- actions that will help the city become a major player in moving new procedures and medicines to the marketplace.
We have tremendous momentum, but we need the partnership of the Commonwealth of Kentucky to maintain this level of success. As friends and alumni of the University of Louisville, we hope you will help us carry this message statewide.
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.
