The Wonders of Biomedical Research
Dear Friends,
When we were young, most of us could not have imagined that surgeries would someday be performed using robotics, that for many, many patients heart disease, cancer and HIV/AIDS would become chronic health conditions instead of the rapid killers they once were, or that a person’s genetic makeup would be a factor in selecting one therapy over another.
Yet, these are all standards of medical practice today, all made possible by biomedical research at The Ohio State University Medical Center and at other academic medical centers.
The cover story of this edition of Discovery describes how Ohio State has grown over the past two decades into one of the largest research powerhouses in the nation. Our size is now one of our greatest strengths. We have more health sciences colleges located in close proximity than any other U.S. university. Our success in obtaining prestigious NIH and other research grants has allowed the construction of extensive laboratory and clinical infrastructure. Fundamental to it all is a large and talented team of faculty and staff dedicated to excellence. These conditions create tremendous opportunity for new discoveries, which translate into better health care.
In June, The Ohio State University Board of Trustees approved our appointment of Clay Marsh, MD, as the new leader of research programs for the Medical Center, succeeding Dr. Carole Whitacre who was promoted to Vice President of Research for the University last year. You’ve seen Dr. Marsh’s discoveries in pulmonary research featured often in this magazine, and he is quoted extensively in two of this issue’s feature stories. We will include more about Clay and his vision for the dynamic future of research at the Medical Center in a future issue of Discovery.
Meanwhile, we can only imagine the advances that biomedical research will bring in our understanding and care of human disease over the next 20 years. You can be assured, however, that Ohio State faculty and staff will play a large role in developing many of them.
Sincerely,
Steven G. Gabbe, MD
Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, The Ohio State University
Chief Executive Officer, The Ohio State University Medical Center