Annual Report - Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Looking AheadU.S. academic medicine is facing a myriad ofchallenges—a predicted 30 percent shortfall in thenumber of physicians within the next 20 years; fewercompetitive undergraduates applying to medicalschool; concern about student debt and its limitationof choice of practice; continued lack of diversityamong student bodies; curricula taxed by theever-growing complexity and scientific challenges ofmedical practice; and the challenge and practicalityfor faculty of balancing the enormous demands ofacting as physician, teacher and scientist. At the sametime, health care and biomedical research have neverbeen more exciting and fulfilling.USU faces many of the same issues as civilianacademic health centers, with the critical differencethat USU students face neither debt nor limits onpractice and career. The university’s curriculumis, and has always been, focused on keepingtroops healthy. This gives a special niche thatthe university will continue to emphasize in botheducation and research programs. The university isat an extraordinary moment in history. Due to therecommendations of the 2005 Base Realignmentand Closure committee, the DoD will create on thiscampus, and with USU as its educational core, the“academic health center of the 21 st Century.” Leadersin the National Capital Area are hard at workdeveloping the new Walter Reed National MilitaryMedical Center (WRNMMC), scheduled to openon the National Naval Medical Center campus—thehome of USU—in 2011.USU’s role in this new medical center presents atremendous opportunity not only for the MilitaryHealth System, but also for the nation’s academichealth system. The joining of four uniformed services,co-located with a health sciences university, on acampus adjacent to the National Institutes of Health,with its unparalled research and clinical services, willallow U.S. medicine to create a new model of anacademic health center. WRNMMC will be a focalpoint of federal investment in the health sciences at asingle site and will allow USU to provide an educationfor future uniformed services practitioners andresearchers that is informed by the very latest researchon emerging health problems.The DoD will create on thiscampus, and with USU asits educational core, the“academic health center ofthe 21 st Century.”Success will depend largely on flexibility andinnovation. The university must learn to cross withgrace and ease the boundaries of service—Army,Navy, Air Force or Public Health Service, within andbeyond the Department of Defense and Departmentof Health and Human Services. It must engagecivilian academic health centers in meaningfulpartnerships and connect with NIH researchers, grantthem access to the military’s extraordinary clinicalresearch population and databases, and in turn gainexpanded access for the military system to state-ofthe-arttreatment and protocols.The nation has invested billions of dollars in publichealth. The creation of WRNMMC is a first step inpooling resources and developing shared visions toserve a single mission—ensuring military and publichealth worldwide.Members of the original2006 – 2007 flag council forNational Capital Area integrationefforts included: (left toright) Major General KennethFarmer, Jr., M.D., CommandingGeneral, North Atlantic RegionalMedical Command; CharlesRice, M.D., USU President; RearAdmiral Adam Robinson, M.D.,Commander, National NavalMedical Center; BrigadierGeneral Thomas Travis, M.D.,Commander, 79th Medical Wing.32