Building on distinction.
In this issue of Brown Medicine, you’ll read about three significant research grants that the Division of Biology and Medicine recently received from the National Institutes of Health. These grants are tremendously exciting. They will help build infrastructure and will foster the scientific progress that is needed to allow us to fulfill our strategic plan.
Even with this impressive NIH support, our plan can’t come fully into fruition without the philanthropic support of our alumni, parents, faculty, and friends. BrownTogether: The Campaign for Building on Distinction has been launched, and we’re excited to have received a number of gifts to support our plans to expand translational sciences and educational opportunities at the University. Brown Biomedical Innovations Inc. is also off to an exciting start, with $3 million in pledges toward commercializing research discoveries made at Brown. We are distributing our first round of funding to the most promising projects this fall.
BrownTogether is a comprehensive effort, which means all gifts made to Alpert Medical School—whether they are for the Brown Medical Annual Fund, a research fund, an endowed chair, or an endowed scholarship fund—count toward the Campaign. Our initiatives are the core of three of the Campaign’s integrative themes:
- Deciphering Disease and Improving Population Health;
- Using Science and Technology to Improve Lives; and
- Understanding the Human Brain.
Last month, we paused to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Alpert Medical School building, a tremendous advance in our ability to educate and a lasting symbol of the generosity of the Brown medical community. We also celebrated the increased number of medical students we have been able to educate, the new academic programs we have launched (including the MD/MPA joint degree you’ll read about in this issue), and the faculty and staff who have joined our ranks. We are inspired as we look ahead to a future enriched by the initiatives we are advancing—such as the Brown Center for Biomedical Informatics—that provide new research opportunities for our students, and support efforts to translate our science into treatments and cures for patients.
I would say these are exciting times, but that doesn’t quite capture the excitement and energy that we have here. I hope you’ll join us on campus, or at upcoming events around the country, to learn more about what’s happening at Alpert Medical School and the great things we can do together.
All the best to you.
Jack A. Elias, MD
Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences
