Columns:: Building a healthy future: Interdisciplinary research in health areas is focus of new institute

since 12/15/98

Columns::November 5, 2001

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Campus News

Building a healthy future
Interdisciplinary research in health areas is focus of new institute

By Eric Dahl
edahl@uga.edu

The UGA Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute was approved by the board of regents in June and is currently accepting

Harry Dailey

applications for membership. Columns talked to Harry Dailey, recently named director of the institute, about its purpose and structure. Additional details are available on the Web at www.biomed.uga.edu or by contacting the BHSI office at 542-5922.

Columns: What were the main reasons for establishing the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute?

Dailey: First, the institute is an “umbrella” to link the many biomedical and health sciences-related research programs across campus. Individual programs, both established and emerging, will benefit from better linkages internally and a stronger profile in the external community--particularly with federal and private funding agencies.
Second, we are creating new interdisciplinary graduate degree programs in the biomedical and health sciences. Graduate recruitment, a key to the support of most biomedical research programs, has become increasingly competitive, with many top applicants looking for interdisciplinary programs that allow them to explore a broad research vista. The BHSI will provide this opportunity.
Third, the institute is where people from both outside and inside UGA can come for information and direction about UGA expertise. We want to advertise and promote the biomedical and health sciences research that is done here. One aspect of this is outreach--our ability to cooperate with other entities to benefit the citizens of Georgia.

Columns: How does BHSI relate to the Medical College of Georgia?

Dailey: The institute serves as a bridge to other medical research programs and institutions in the region--not just MCG, but also the Athens and Atlanta medical communities. We are developing public health-related programs. The state has provided funding for a number of other collaborations, some of which are managed by the institute jointly with MCG. Recently, with the help of our Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities, we established a collaborative program with MCG to give undergraduates special research opportunities in biomedical fields.

Columns: What does it mean for UGA to have a biomedical institute without having a medical school?

Dailey: Although you do need a medical school to train M.D.s, you don’t need one to train Ph.D. biomedical researchers. It’s a common misconception that all biomedical research is carried out at medical schools, but a good deal of research--for example, my own lab’s work on some human genetic diseases--is performed outside of hospitals and medical schools. You don’t need a medical school to have an institute that does first-rate medical research and trains scientists. What you do need, and what UGA has, is a collection of quality academic biomedical researchers.

Columns: What kind of degrees will be offered by the BHSI?

Dailey: We developed the institute with three divisions that reflect existing strengths on this campus--molecular medicine, infectious diseases and immunity, and public health. We are developing Ph.D. programs in the first two and a master’s degree in public health. Another interdisciplinary group of faculty has proposed a fourth division for neurosciences. The institute is really an incubator for new interdisciplinary programs, and I expect that neurosciences will be added as the fourth division.

Columns: What’s the process for making such decisions?

Dailey: We have an on-campus advisory board for the institute called the Biomedical Council--a group of faculty stakeholders from across campus who meet on a regular basis to review the status of biomedical and health sciences research at UGA and the outreach community. The council evaluates new initiatives and serves as an advocate to the administration for interdisciplinary research.

Columns: How did UGA end up with so many programs that relate to medical research?

Dailey: The breadth of biomedical and health sciences at UGA reflects the broad needs and interest in this field. Departments respond to undergraduate and graduate curricular demands through faculty hires, and the recruitment of faculty in this area in part reflects this demand. One key point to emphasize is that biomedical research is much more inclusive than just the classical lab sciences. The health sciences are campus-wide with significant strength in programs relating to education, human performance, communications, policy, environment and the humanities, to name a few. One goal of the institute is to evaluate the biomedical and health sciences enterprise at UGA and make recommendations for targeted hires to strengthen this enterprise in a planned fashion.

Columns: How do faculty become members of the institute?

Dailey: There’s an online application form on the BHSI Web site that shouldn’t take very long to fill out. Categories of membership range from a full member--who is expected to have an active research program with extramural funding--to postdoctoral fellows. All pertinent information is described on the Web site. Evaluation of applications will be done by the BHSI executive committee.

Columns: What are the advantages of BHSI membership?

Dailey: Members will have access to all BHSI interdisciplinary graduate programs and to research apprenticeships, summer internships and special graduate student scholarships. There will also be seed grants and seminar programs for members.

Columns: Where do you see the program in five years?

Dailey: The success of any program is acknowledged when individuals wonder how the university got along without it. Within five years, I think we’ll see significantly increased extramural funding for UGA research in the biomedical and health sciences, closer ties with MCG and area medical facilities, and top-quality graduate students in all of the BHSI interdisciplinary programs. When people think about leadership in the biomedical and health sciences, they’ll think about the University of Georgia.

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