Multimedia
“Collaborations for Progress: Video Update”
President Michael A. McRobbie
Indiana University
Recorded May 30, 2008
Bloomington, Indiana
Introduction
I’m Michael McRobbie, president of Indiana University. Thank you for joining me today.
IU’s legendary president, Herman Wells, was fond of saying that “Because alumni’s achievements represent the fruits of the university’s efforts in teaching and learning, the quality of their careers is of utmost importance to the university’s standing and claim upon society for continued support.” I couldn’t agree more. Our alumni bring great credit to IU.
You may have noticed that IU Bloomington alumna and faculty member Jill Bolte Taylor was recently named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine. Dr. Taylor combines her scientific training with her own experience of recovering from a massive stroke to reveal the workings of the human brain. She is the author of My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey.
She teaches neuroanatomy at the IU School of Medicine’s Medical Education Program in Bloomington. She also serves as a consulting scientist for the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute (MPRI). MPRI is one of only five facilities in the nation that offer proton radiation treatment to cancer patients.
Brain Research at IU
Dr. Taylor is among the many researchers at IU who are increasing our understanding of the brain. At the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute at the School of Medicine in Indianapolis, scientists are researching the causes and cures for Parkinson’s Disease, how best to treat spinal cord injuries, and how to treat and prevent epilepsy and autism, just to name a few.
At the Indiana Alzheimer’s Disease Center, also located at the IU School of Medicine, researchers are investigating the causes and treatments for Alzheimer’s, a devastating disease about which little is known. Approximately 5 million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer’s. If no effective cures are developed by the year 2050 an estimated 13 million Americans will have the disease.
The Indiana Life Sciences Initiative
Research in the neurosciences is just one component of the Indiana Life Sciences Initiative. This initiative promises better health and greater prosperity for citizens of the Hoosier state. Indiana is currently one of the nation’s top four states in bioscience related jobs. Indiana’s assets include well established and emerging biomedical companies, two major research universities, and an expanding network of technology parks and new business incubators. It also includes a broad and large pool of well-educated, talented engineers, research scientists, technicians, health professionals and physicians, business managers, and entrepreneurs produced by IU and Purdue.
But new investment is critical if Indiana is to join the elite centers for research and development in the life sciences and biotechnology. So are strong partnerships that will maximize the impact of these assets.
A new $25 million dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health will support an exciting collaboration among Indiana’s two major research universities, the business and philanthropic community, and Hoosier government. The Indiana Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) will be led jointly by IU and Purdue. It will speed the movement of discoveries into clinical trials, commercial products, and ultimately, into health care practices that improve and save lives. It will have a transformative impact.
Conclusion
The CTSI is just one example of a highly successful, statewide partnership led by Indiana and Purdue Universities. I look forward to telling you more about such collaborations in the future. And I welcome your comments about this and other issues.
