The official minutes of the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees are maintained by the Secretary of the Board. Certified copies of minutes may be requested by contacting the Board of Trustees’ Office. Electronic or other copies of original minutes are not official Board of Trustees' documents.
The Health Affairs Committee of the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees met on Friday, August 8, 2003, at 10:30 a.m. in the Russell House, Witten Room, 3rd Floor.
Members present were: Mr. John C. von Lehe, Jr., Chairman; Mr. Arthur S. Bahnmuller; Mrs. Helen C. Harvey; Mr. Toney J. Lister; Mr. James A. Shuford, III; and Mr. Eugene P. Warr, Jr.; Mr. Mack I. Whittle, Jr., Board Chairman; and Mr. Herbert C. Adams, Board Vice Chairman. Mr. Mark W. Buyck, Jr. was absent. Other Trustees present were: Mr. James Bradley; Mr. Robert N. McLellan and Mr. Othniel H. Wienges, Jr.
Others present were: President Andrew A. Sorensen; Secretary Thomas L. Stepp; Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Jerome D. Odom; Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Richard W. Kelly; Vice President for University Advancement T. W. Hudson Akin; Vice President for Human Resources Jane M. Jameson; General Counsel Walter (Terry) H. Parham; Interim Vice President for Research and Dean of The Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health Harris Pastides; Dean of the College of Nursing Mary Ann Parsons; Vice Provost and Executive Dean for Regional Campuses and Continuing Education Chris P. Plyler; Vice President for Student Affairs Dennis A. Pruitt; Professor in the School of Law and Chair of the Office of Faculty Senate Robert M. Wilcox; Dean of USC Lancaster John Catalano; Associate Dean for School of Medicine, Research and Special Projects, Stanley D. Fowler; Associate Dean in the College of Pharmacy Wayne E. Buff; University Legislative Liaison John Gregory; Public Information Officer, Office of Media Relations, Karen Petit; Wife of Trustee Toney Lister, Cynthia Lister; Guest of Trustee Arthur Bahnmuller, Paul Josef; and Director of the Office of Public Affairs Russell McKinney; and members of the media.
Chairman von Lehe called the meeting to order, welcomed those present, and asked Board members and others to introduce themselves. Mr. McKinney introduced members of the media in attendance.
Chairman von Lehe stated that the agenda had been posted and the press had been notified as required by the Freedom of Information Act; the agenda had been circulated to the Committee members; and a quorum was present to conduct business.
Chairman von Lehe stated that there was a contractual matter which was appropriate for discussion in Executive Session.
Mrs. Harvey moved to enter Executive Session, and Mr. Lister seconded the motion. The vote was taken, and the motion carried.
The following persons were asked to remain: Dr. Sorensen, Mr. Stepp, Dr. Odom, Mr. Kelly, Dr. Pastides, Dr. Hogue, Ms. Jameson, Dr. Pruitt, Dr. Plyer, Mr. Parham, Mr. Akin, Dr. Fowler, Mr. Gregory, Mr. McKinney, Ms. Stone and Ms. Tweedy.
Return to Open Session
Dr. Pastides commented about collaborative efforts between the two medical schools and asked Dr. Stanley Fowler to report on this topic in greater detail.
Dr. Fowler initially remarked that the two medical schools worked closely together and would continue to collaborate in the future. Historically collaborations between the USC School of Medicine (USC SOM) and the Medical University of South Carolina - College of Medicine (MUSC COM) were "born" out of a long and contentious political process. The long-standing perception of competition and antagonism between the two medical schools had resulted in the creation of several oversight committees by the legislature:
Deans' Committee on Medical Doctor Education (1976 - 1983)
Joint Health and Medical Education Board (1983 - 1993)
Deans' Committee on Medical Education (1993 - Present)
Competitive positions abated in the mid 1980's. The class size of USC SOM was established at 75 - 80 students and would primarily focus on primary care; the MUSC COM class size would consist of 125 to 150 students and would focus on specialty care.
Currently, the medical schools had related well and had participated jointly in a variety of educational and research collaborations. For example, in the Fall of 1997, the medical schools had held a Joint Medical School Retreat in which the department chairs participated. During the strategic planning session, four goals had materialized:
1) Deans' Rural Primary Care Clerkship (Sharing of rural primary care clerkship for third years students);
2) sharing of faculty expertise in basic sciences for medical courses (e.g. anatomy, pathology, physiology);
3) promotion of collaborative research to enable the two cancer centers (South Carolina Cancer Center and Hollings Cancer Center Partnership) to collaborate;
4) enhancement of communication between schools (e.g. telemedicine technology)
Dr. Fowler stated that MUSC and USC collaborations in education included sharing of ideas and programs which involved pathology faculty exchange; specimen donations; vertical curriculum; the Senior Mentors Program; the Capstone Month; shared library holdings; the Hands on Health SC library grant; and the Deans' Rural Clerkship.
The South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium (SC AHEC)- a state-supported organization administered by MUSC, represented a cooperative effort between MUSC, USC, South Carolina teaching hospitals, and local and nonprofit consortia around the state. Its focus was on the healthcare needs of medically under-served communities throughout the state, sponsored family practice and specialty residency programs and activities for students in health professions.
Dr. Fowler expressed that the Deans' Rural Primary Care Clerkship was a program in which third-year USC and MUSC medical students spent a full month rotating through various disciplines in a rural community. The medical students shared resources and worked together in joint rotations and provided primary care to patients. This program was the result of a joint USC/MUSC proposal and was funded by the Fullerton Foundation and the Duke Endowment.
Dr. Fowler listed several current research collaborations including: SC COBRE for Cardiovascular Disease; SC COBRE for Colorectal Cancer; SC Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network; and the SC Center for Regenerative Medicine. The school had received several million dollars in grants from the National Institutes of Health which would be used for research and recruitment of research faculty.
Other individual project collaborations included: the Women's Cancer and Leukemia Research; Developmental Biology of the Heart (joint faculty), Neuroscience Research on Gene Expression and Behavior, and Medical Surveillance of Workers at the Department of Energy's at Savannah River Site.
Future collaborations included the judicious increase in the number of medical students trained by increasing the number of out-of-state students and the expansion of the role of the Greenville Hospital System. Also proposed was the coordination of basic science and clinical medical student education, expansion of sub-specialty residency education; and joint appointment of faculty involved in collaborative education. Currently, there was a national shortage of professors in Gross Anatomy and Physiology because the majority of graduate students had studied Molecular Biology. This shortage would be addressed through the sharing of faculty expertise and the exploration of internet-based instruction.
Another initiative proposed was the enhancement or development of new collaborative interdisciplinary research programs in areas such as aging and healthcare for the aged, biomedical engineering, healthcare delivery to rural areas, neuroscience and behavioral medicine, and nutrition for chronic diseases.
Another initiative involved the collaboration of the two cancer centers. The MUSC Hollings Cancer Center was seeking NCI (National Cancer Institute) designation; it would have a much better chance of achieving that goal by working jointly on projects with the South Carolina Cancer Center, USC and the Greenville Hospital System.
In February 2002, MUSC and USC Cancer Researchers held a retreat in Orangeburg, South Carolina. The researchers developed strategies for undertaking priority projects that would lead to joint USC/MUSC grant proposals. If the medical schools were awarded joint collaborative grants, other issues needed to be addressed; for example, infrastructure and policy barriers. There should be uniform policies and procedures for the administration of joint research projects, to address such topics as the appointment and promotion of jointly hired faculty, distribution of indirect costs, research relations, and particularly research compliance oversight. Further, the establishment of innovative strategies to promote inter-institutional research through seed grants programs; the development of clinical trials coordination; and the development of an agreement on joint activities to promote research are important possibilities.
In terms of Clinical Service, under consideration was integration of all South Carolina faculty physicians into a single clinical network. This network would include faculty from USC SOM, MUSC COM, Greenville Hospital Systems, SC AHEC and sharing of selected, specialized clinical services among South Carolina teaching hospitals.
And finally, future collaborations could involve infrastructure. Currently, a project had been developed called the I-26 Video Communications Corridor. This project involved the creation of a state-of-the-art multipoint video-conference network which would extend from Greenville to Columbia to Charleston. Developed in stages, the Video Communication Corridor had been designed as a statewide, high-definition, multipoint videoconferencing communications system which would operate as an internet protocol based system. USC had received a $576,000 award from the Fullerton Foundation to begin the development of the Corridor. This project would be expanded provided funding of $820,000 was secured from the Duke Endowment.
An important purpose for the Video Communication Corridor was the development of a "culture of cooperation" between South Carolina's universities and hospitals, particularly, in medical education and research. This project "connects the dots" to link institutions together for easier communications and interaction and would be more cost effective.
In conclusion, Dr. Fowler stated that the history of the relationship between the USC School of Medicine and the MUSC College of Medicine had been characterized initially by acrimony and suspicion, indifference and competition, and more recently, by mutual respect and collaboration. Several important educational and research collaborations were currently in place and doing very well. Many new initiatives were being pursued, and opportunities existed for expanded educational, research, clinical service, and infrastructure collaborations.
Dr. Fowler noted that on August 11, 2003, an open house would be held in Bennettsville, South Carolina, to celebrate the opening of the third USC Rural Primary Care Center.
Dr. Sorensen commented that these collaborative efforts were very inspirational and he was amazed at the amount of progress that had been made.
Dr. Pastides highlighted the COBRE grant, an interdisciplinary award of which Dr. Berger was the principal investigator. The largest foundation grant given to the University was the W. K. Kellogg award to the Arnold School of Public Health to create a training and research collaboration with historically black colleges and universities. The health sciences colleges would research the health disparities that plague South Carolina. Another COBRE award had been received in neuroscience and dealt with brain imaging.
A question was raised regarding the amount of grant funding received by USC in comparison to peer institutions. Dr. Pastides responded that the majority had not received a 20 percent increase in research as did the University; USC would try to maintain that rate of progress. Approximately 65 percent of the University sponsored programs funds were in the research area. The remainder were for training grants, and service and outreach. Basic research within the biomedical arena had been relatively modest.
Since there were no other matters to come before the Committee, Chairman von Lehe declared the meeting adjourned at 12:05 p. m.
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas L. Stepp
Secretary