Background on the Master Plan

Meeting the Challenge

In 1997, the Kentucky General Assembly approved House Bill 1, also known as the Higher Education Reform Act. It included the mandate that the University of Louisville become a premier metropolitan research university by 2020.

The university responded in 1998 by launching the Challenge for Excellence, a 10-year, 11-point plan to move the university toward national prominence by 2008. The challenge focused on improving the quality of students and faculty, increasing research and the university’s financial health and spurring economic development in Louisville and the state.

By almost any measure, the Challenge has been a success.

At the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center, there is:

Record-breaking research growth

  • The University of Louisville has had the fastest growth rate in research funding from the National Institutes of Health of any school in the nation over the last decade.

More scientific & medical firsts, including:

  • First transplant of the AbioCor® fully implantable artificial heart by UofL surgeons at Jewish Hospital.
  • First hand transplant in the United States.
  • First discovery of embryonic-like stem cells in adult human bone marrow.
  • First proof that adult nasal stem cells can grow to become other types of cells.

More nationally recognized programs, including:

  • Birth Defects Center
  • Cardiac Assist Devices and Cardiac Regenerative Medicine
  • Center for Health Hazards Preparedness
  • Cancer Prevention, Research & Treatment: drug development, melanoma, molecular targets, metabolomics
  • Neuroscience and Cognition
  • Pediatric Pharmacology Research
  • Pediatric Sleep Medicine
  • Spinal Cord Injury Research
  • Stroke Program
  • Transplant Immunology

More resources devoted to patient care, including:

  • Growth of University Hospital admissions and emergency department visits by more than 20 percent
  • An $8 million renovation to clinics at the James Graham Brown Cancer Center
  • More than $14 million invested in cancer-fighting technology
  • A partnership with Landmark Healthcare Facilities LLC, a developer of leading-edge patient care facilities with a track record spanning more than 250 outpatient buildings in 43 states.