Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Basic Science Task Force

To School of Medicine faculty

Dear Colleagues,

Last spring, I charged a faculty task force, co-chaired by Cynthia Wolberger and Ken Kinzler, to consider opportunities and issues related to fundamental science across the school of medicine as we look out over the next 10 or more years, and provide a report that identifies principal areas on which we could focus to advance our basic laboratory research. After many months of meetings with faculty members and conversations with peer organizations, the report has been completed. A summary is attached to this message.

In the summary, themes that are identified as being important to our ability to pursue cutting-edge research in the future include organization, people, bridge building, space and fundraising. Some suggestions—related to research space, for example—are already in very active discussion as part of the campus master planning process we have been undertaking for the past year. Others, such as the consideration of the evolution of the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences, will be the subject of additional discussion and focus as we seek to optimally position ourselves for generating high-impact bench investigation in the coming decades.

We are in the process of initiating next steps related to each of the themes highlighted in the summary, and you will begin to hear more about that work in the coming weeks. We will be reaching out to faculty members to participate in the formulation of different program elements and will communicate about those as they take shape.

I want to thank Cynthia and Ken for the outstanding leadership they provided in moving this process forward. I'd also like to thank all of the members of the committee for their commitment and contributions: James Berger, Dana Boatman, Namandje Bumpus, Kathy Burns, Alex Kolodkin, Doug Robinson and Geraldine Seydoux, as well as the Dean's Office representatives, Janice Clements and Antony Rosen. Their work, which is manifested in this report, will serve us well as we chart a course for our research enterprise.

Sincerely,

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine