UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: A VIEWPOINT ON RESEARCH AT THE HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER
Toderick Nairn examines growth in the Health Science Center's research enterprise.
Written by Roderick Nairn
Research is a very important component of any health sciences university, and arguably, the mission that is most important in determining the national status of a university. The research activities at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center are impressive. However, opportunities also exist for our faculty to expand the research mission and to contribute in additional ways to our understanding of health and disease.
Biomedical research, through many years of gains, has put society on the edge of an unparalleled opportunity to treat symptoms and diseases in new ways. Crucial for the future of the Health Sciences Center, our faculty increasingly must participate in biomedical research. Our university already has strong education programs in all of its schools – Allied Health, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. The Health Sciences Center fulfills its mission of patient care all across West Texas and is recognized for health care programs that meet the needs and challenges of a diverse, rural and aging population. However, our research program is relatively small compared to the research programs of other health sciences campuses in Texas and across the United States.
Biomedical research – basic, clinical and translational – is essential to the success of our academic health center. Inquiry and discovery keep faculty at the “cutting-edge” of their disciplines and provide our students with teachers who can illuminate their subjects with the latest knowledge in the fields. Additionally, and very importantly, research offers hope to patients for new treatments for their diseases; and a research-rich academic teaching hospital environment typically provides unique treatment opportunities for patients. Fortunately, largely because of the individual talent and perseverance of our faculty, some Health Sciences Center research programs already are known to be outstanding and are recognized internationally. These programs are helping to create the new knowledge and new technologies that are the bases for advances in health care.
One of the major goals for the future is growth in our research enterprise. If we are to achieve enhanced national recognition and world-class status as a university, we must increase our peer-reviewed funded research, especially which is awarded through the National Institutes of Health. This should not be interpreted as signaling a departure from attention to our education and patient-care missions. Rather, research is crucial to providing the highest quality patient-care and an up-to-date educational experience for our students. We already have several areas of distinction in research and these need to be sustained and perhaps even enhanced. However, we will need to recruit more talented investigators to the Health Sciences Center, both basic scientists and clinician-scientists, and provide them with the appropriate resources and facilities to be successful.
In any university, much of the “engine” of research comes from the efforts of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The Health Sciences Center has relatively small Ph.D. and postdoctoral training programs. A review of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, already initiated by Health Sciences Center President M. Roy Wilson, will provide direction as to the best structure for the Graduate School and suggest ways that the faculty can best help to enhance our reputation in research.
By achieving goals, such as increasing National Institutes of Health funding, we will raise the status of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center as a university. This will enhance the quality of students applying to our schools and training programs and attract more patients. In addition, extramural research funding has an immediate, direct effect on the local economy and has the potential to stimulate new discoveries that become the basis for new companies and encourage long-term economic growth. The competition for research funding always has been fierce, and we will not be alone in trying to increase funding and enhance our status. However, the effort must be made, and we should not be daunted by pessimistic predictions of future funding opportunities. Other universities in the past, through the efforts of faculty, staff, students and alumni, have lifted themselves into higher rankings and greater status and recognition. There is every reason to be optimistic that the same can be true for the Health Sciences Center in the near future. I look forward to working with all of you to make the vision of an enhanced national status for Texas Tech Health Sciences Center a reality.
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