June 2004: Vol. 83, No. 3June 2004: Vol. 83, No. 3UGA research stands on Davison's shoulders
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 Michael F. Adams |
In 1985, the research team included 16 people, and the first facility constructed for the CCRC was 40,000 square feet. The new facility, located in a research park off Riverbend Road that also includes the Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, encompasses more than 135,000 square feet and is home to more than 160 faculty, staff, postdoctoral research associates, graduate and undergraduate students.
The CCRC is a self-made success story. The center’s researchers have attracted more than $90 million in external funding for research into complex carbohydrates and the role those molecules play in cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and Parkinson’s disease—all of which are of great concern to Georgians. The success of the CCRC in seeking and securing funding for its research programs has fueled the expansion of the staff and the facilities as well as the mission.
UGA is involved in medical research in a number of other areas. The Coverdell Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences is under construction across Brooks Drive from the College of Veterinary Medicine. Named for Georgia’s late senator Paul Coverdell and funded by the federal government, the state, and the University, the Coverdell Center will be home to researchers affiliated with the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute (www.biomed.uga.edu). The Institute focuses on four major areas: molecular medicine, neuroscience, infectious disease and immunity, and public health. Currently, the BHSI lists more than 150 faculty, in disciplines ranging from microbiology to genetics to communication science to ovarian cancer to parasitology to pharmaceuticals.
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents has approved a master of public health degree program at UGA, beginning with the upcoming fall semester. The program, coordinated by the BHSI, brings together faculty and course offerings from the departments of Environmental Health Science, Health Promotion and Behavior and others. Unfortunately, Georgia is one of the least healthy states in the nation, and issues of obesity and heart disease and cancer, among others, are straining medical resources and shortening too many lives. I am proud that the University of Georgia will have a direct impact on the health of this state by producing public health professionals who will work to improve the quality of life for the citizens of this state.
Research may be the least understood of UGA’s three-part mission. Teaching is the most common perception of what happens here on campus. Through our service mission, we have a face-to-face relationship with hundreds of thousands of people across the state. But research, occurring as it does in the isolation of the lab or field site and generally over a long period of time, can seem mysterious.
As a land-grant institution, the University of Georgia is charged with conducting research that serves the public good. The work that has been done over the years by the CCRC and the work that will continue under the auspices of the Coverdell Center place your university at the forefront of the most pressing medical concerns facing humanity today. The University of Georgia is fulfilling its mission to use the vast resources of the faculty to improve the lives of Georgians as well as people across the country and around the world.
As is often the case at a place with the traditions and history of the University, we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. On April 16, we honored former UGA President Fred C. Davison by naming the Life Sciences Complex on South Campus in his honor. Almost 40 years ago, Dr. Davison laid out a vision for UGA to become a leader in biomedical and life sciences research. Under his leadership, UGA hired hundreds of faculty, expanded the research budget and increased enrollment. The University of Georgia that is today recognized as one of America’s best public universities traces its roots directly to Dr. Davison’s vision.
As his children were about to unveil the sign above the entrance to the Fred C. Davison Life Sciences Complex, the sounds of construction from the Coverdell Center echoed across the lawn. The circle, it seemed, was complete. Dr. Davison, who beamed throughout that day’s ceremony, died less than two weeks later. We will all miss his enthusiasm for life and his deep love for the University of Georgia.
©2004 by the University of Georgia.