Dr. Pascal Goldschmidt, M.D., F.A.C.C., F.A.H.A.
Dr. Goldschmidt is an accomplished professor, healthcare leader, medical researcher and physician (specialized in medicine and cardiology). Dr. Goldschmidt is the President and CEO of American Healthcare System Ltd. (AHS), a UK company that he has founded with his partner Mr. Anoup Treon, Chairman of AHS, and that specializes in advising, managing and operating hospitals and health systems around the world. Before AHS, he has served at many prestigious institutions including John Hopkins University, Ohio State University, Duke University, Medical University of South Carolina, Universite Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and the University of Miami. He has a long list of honors and awards, beginning in 1980 with his graduation as a medical doctor and Valedictorian of Class of 225 from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
The list of his patents, works, publications, articles and abstracts numbers more than 500. His 250 invited lectureships and speaking engagements are a testimony to his professional and business expertise.
Dr. Goldschmidt has served as a tenured Professor at Duke University School of Medicine, Ohio State University (OSU) and University of Miami, as Center Director at Johns Hopkins, Chief of Cardiology at OSU then Duke, Chairman of Medicine at Duke, and Dean of the Miller School of Medicine and Founder/CEO of UHealth at the University of Miami.
He was responsible for the University of Miami Health System (UHealth) that expanded to include not only a medical practice (UMMG), but also three hospitals -University of Miami Hospital, Anne Bates Leach Eye Hospital (the home of US #1 Eye Hospital: Bascom Palmer), and University of Miami Hospital and Clinics- and major outpatient clinic facilities along both coasts of South Florida, where clinical revenues increased from less than $40 million per month in 2006 to in excess of $120 million per month in 2016, which represented one of the fastest compound annual growth rate for academic medical centers in the USA, with net operating earnings from the practice, hospitals and clinics of more than $160 million yearly.
During his tenure at the University of Miami (from 2006 – 2016), the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine rose up 13 positions (from 51 to 38 out of 177 U.S.-M.S.) in the national rankings of medical schools based on research grants received from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Miller School of Medicine increased its NIH funding by an average of $20,000,000 per year since 2006, thus establishing this School as the highest-ranked medical school in Florida. This accomplishment opened the door to establish the following new Institutes and Centers that brought in groundbreaking new knowledge, jobs, millions in research funding, and poised the medical school and health system for continued excellence. The following “Big Science Team Research Platform” was developed under Dr. Goldschmidt’s leadership:
§ The John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics
§ The Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute
§ The Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Biomedical Nanotechnology Institute of UM
§ AIDS and Emerging Infectious Diseases Institute (Also researches new epidemics such as Ebola)
§ The first NIH-designated Clinical and Translational Science Institute at UM
§ The UHealth Ear Institute
§ The Global Institute for Community Health and Development
§ Miami Transplant Institute
§ The Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute
§ The Center for Therapeutic Innovation
§ The Peggy and Harold Katz Family Drug Discovery Center
§ The Center for Communication Sciences and Disorders
§ The UHealth Sports Performance and Wellness Institute
§ The Crohn and Colitis Center
§ iCAMP, Integrative and Complementary Academic Medicine Programs of UM
Dr. Goldschmidt also led the expansion of existing Institutes during his tenture that include:
1. Bascom Palmer Eye Institute was named the number one eye hospital nationwide, for a remarkable 12th year in a row, and 14 in total, which is more than any other U.S. eye center, and actually more times than all eye centers together.
2. Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center’s growth and success was responsible for the majority of the health system growth, thus combining the strength of more than 115 cancer researchers with 130 cancer specialists, Sylvester discovers, develops and delivers more targeted therapies leading to better outcomes for each patient. In 2015, Sylvester was named a Cancer Center of Excellence by the State of Florida, one of just four in the state and the only one in South Florida.
3. The Diabetes Research Institute working finding a cure for type 1 diabetes mellitus. The Institute, funded by more than $225 million from the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, is making progress in the transplant of pancreatic, insulin- producing islet cells.
4. The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis addresses one of the most daunting medical challenges: restoring function to a spinal cord that has been severed by injury, using Schwann cells and other therapies.
5. The Batchelor Children’s Research Institute and the Department of Pediatrics, advance the state of knowledge relating to child health, diseases, and brain development.
6. The William Lehman Injury Research Center is an internationally recognized Miller School research program that was established to improve the treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation of traumatic injuries resulting from blunt trauma.
7. The Wallace H. Coulter Center (WHCC)/U-Innovation/UM Life Science and Technology Park (created by Goldschmidt and his team). This program is focused on turning translational research in biomedical science and engineering, into products and services by commercializing research projects that address unmet clinical needs and have market potential.
ALZADY International LLC (USA) was founded by Dr. Goldschmidt in December 2016, for the purpose of consulting for organizations interested in developing American Healthcare Systems and Health Sciences Universities around the world, where he has helped develop medical schools, universities and healthcare systems in Singapore, Haiti, China, Abu Dhabi, Morocco and Namibia.
Dr. Goldschmidt has joined (01.01.2018) the Team of European Care Global QHCI Ltd. (UK) as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President. ECGQL is an organization that aims at "Optimizing the health of people by establishing efficient, effective, patient centric, and evidence-based Health Systems" (ecgql.com). Goldschmidt was recruited for his expertise in Healthcare creation and management and also in University and School creation and management. He, Roberta Kale and Anoup Treon are the three Directors of the company.
Goldschmidt received a standing ovation from the unanimous Board of Trustees, in recognition for his outstanding leadership, at the full Board Spring session of May 2016, when he announced his desire to step down as Dean of the Miller School. Since retiring from UM in January of 2018 to join ECGQ, Goldschmidt is now Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus for the Miller School at University of Miami and UHealth.
He immigrated to the USA from Belgium in 1983, and is a US citizen since 2002, fluent in French, English, proficient in Spanish and some Dutch.
Ten Years of Progress at the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine and UHealth
The University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine made phenomenal advances during the past decade. These were tough years in which the nation endured the worst recession crisis since the Great Depression. Despite the challenges, the medical school’s mission of transforming lives through research, education, and service thrived and soared to new heights. This success was a result of the efforts and groundbreaking work of the talented faculty, staff, and students at the Miller School and UHealth – the new University of Miami Health System since 2007. This progress was also powered by a powerful strategic plan developed by my team and I, after collecting spontaneousand highly insightful thoughts and ideas from across our campus and University, and by extraordinary gifts from donors, such as the Miller family, whose generosity represents an investment in higher education and health care of nearly $220 million, as well as thousands of other benefactors who contributed gifts of all sizes and amounts.
Additionally, the Miller School rose up to 11 positions (from 51 to 40 out of 130 U.S.-M.S.) in the national rankings of research medical schools, based on the well establish criterium of research grants received from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Such a gain is particularly significant, considering the ongoing reductions in NIH grants that have caused many medical schools to fall in the rankings, especially for schools that, like our Miller School, did not rank in the top fifty in 2006. NIH grants, as well as other sources of funding, are vital for advancing research that leads to a greater understanding of a wide variety of diseases and public health issues. According to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, the Miller School has increased its NIH funding by an average of $20,000,000 per year since 2006, thus establishing our School as the highest-ranked research medical school in Florida. USNews and World Report has similarly improved the rankings of the Miller School by twelve positions from 56 (2006) to 44 (2015) amongst research medical schools.
These are accomplishments that have opened the door for a great future. This document highlights some of the incredible progress we have made over the past ten years – as a Health System and as a Medical School with new Institutes and Centers that have brought in groundbreaking new knowledge, jobs, hundreds of millions in research funding, and leave us poised to become the next best medical school and health system in our great nation and beyond.
New Institutes and Centers
1. The John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics was created in 2006 to give our physician-scientists and researchers access to the latest, cutting-edge, technologies to identify genes and epigenetic drivers, involved in human diseases for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of illness. These technologies are essential for the transformation of our research, with team science, and precision medicine efforts in a myriad of scientific disciplines. The Institute was named in 2009 with a generous, $20 million gift from John P. Hussman, one of a few large gifts at a time of great challenge for our economy. John Hussman collaborated on autism research projects with Margaret Pericak-Vance, Ph.D., Director of the Hussman Institute and the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Professor of Human Genetics, and her husband, Jeffery M. Vance, M.D., Ph.D., professor of human genetics and founding Chair of The Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics, the naming of the Director Professorship and Department of Human Genetics was to recognize an extraordinary gift from the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation. The department was also created in 2006 to provide support and the necessary genetic academic platform to foster the work of hundreds of world-renowned faculty, committed staff, and trainees who are experts in this discipline, or are clinicians who are using genetic and epigenetic knowledge to advance their medical discipline. Under the leadership of current Chair Stephan Zuchner, M.D., Ph.D., the department continues to excel in all aspects of human genetic research. A leader in research breakthroughs, the Hussman Institute has received over $60 million in support from the state of Florida and has been awarded more than $200 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health.
2. The Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute (ISCI) was also established in 2006 to spearhead the development of new, regenerative therapies, using primarily mesenchymal stem cells extracted and grown from the bone marrow of healthy young adults, according to protocols approved by the FDA and significantly funded by the NIH. The goal is to provide solutions for debilitating or incurable disorders that currently lack effective treatments. Dr. Joshua Hare, Director of ISCI, and his team have received several substantial gifts to further research efforts in stem cell therapies, including $26 million from Don Soffer and the Soffer Family Foundation; $17.7 million from The Marcus Foundation; and a $10 million gift from the Starr Foundation. ISCI also received more than $150 million in NIH grants and created 100 new jobs at the Miller School. Dr. Hare was recruited from The Johns Hopkins University as Director of ISCI and is also a professor of molecular and cellular pharmacology, the Louis Lemberg Professor of Medicine, Chief Sciences Officer for UHealth, and Senior Associate Dean for Experimental and Cellular Therapeutics. Dr. Hare is known for his pioneering work in the area of myocardial repair with bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. ISCI’s stem cell work is now benefiting more than 15 medical disciplines.
3. The Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Biomedical Nanotechnology Institute of the University of Miami (BioNIUM) was established at the Miller School with a cumulative leadership gift of greater than $10 million from the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation. BioNIUM serves as a collaborative institute that links investigators from the Miller School with colleagues from the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering to explore and develop novel applications of biomedical nanotechnology, by allowing chemists, engineers, physicists, and physicians to combine their unique talents to find new tools for diagnosis and treatment of serious disease. BioNIUM has created new jobs and has received more than $100 million in NIH grants. Critical to the establishment of BioNIUM was the recruitment of Richard J. Cote, M.D., Director of BioNIUM and Joseph R. Coulter Chair of the Department of Pathology, as well as Sylvia Daunert, Ph.D., Pharm.D., Associate Director of BioNIUM and Professor and Lucille P. Markey Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Ram H. Datar, Ph.D., Co-Director of BioNIUM and Associate Professor of Pathology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The work of these leaders and their teams are transforming the tools available to prevent, diagnose, and treat a myriad of human illnesses.
4. In 2009, UM was selected for the first time as one of only 20 NIH-designated Centers for AIDS Research and is supported by an $11 million grant from the NIH. In addition, state funding allowed us to establish the AIDS and Emerging Infectious Diseases Institute (AEIDI). The AEIDI, led by Dr. Mario Stevenson, has received $3 million from the state of Florida to develop a vaccine and cure for HIV. The Institute also researches new epidemics, such as those caused by Ebola and Zika viruses. Savita Pahwa, M.D., professor of microbiology and immunology and pediatrics, serves as the Director of the Miami Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and as the Director of the Laboratory Sciences Core of the Miami CFAR. Mario Stevenson, Ph.D., Director of AEIDI is also Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases within the Department of Medicine, and co-Director of the Center for AIDS Research.
5. The first NIH-designated Clinical and Translational Science Institute at UM (CTSI) was established in 2011 with an award of $20 million from the NIH, the largest in the history of UM research. It has allowed us to transform our clinical research education and infrastructure, by bringing substantial emphasis on health disparities, diversity, and minority-engaged research. The CTSI has allowed us to develop extraordinary projects that have made a real difference in improving health opportunities for our South Florida community. The breadth of the impact ranges from educational activities that led to Florida becoming the 17th state to have a certification process for community health workers, to research initiatives such as the development of a tool (URIDE, led by Dr. Nick Tsinoremas) to run feasibility analysis for clinical trials by directly searching de-identified data from UHealth Electronic Patients Health Records, and to legislative language that supports the first Needle Exchange Pilot Program of Florida, an extraordinary accomplishment of Dr. Hansell Tookes, who was a Miller Medical Student when he started this project. José Szapocznik, Ph.D., former Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences, and now a senior advisor for Public Health Science Program Development, was the founding principal investigator of the CTSI grant. Ralph L. Sacco, M.D., M.S., Chairman of the Department of Neurology, Olemberg Family Chair in Neurological Disorders, and Leonard M. Miller Professor of Neurology, Epidemiology and Public Health Sciences, Human Genetics, and Neurosurgery, has taken on the leadership of the NIH grant and is the New Director of the CTSI. Elaine Van der Put, Ph.D., Chief Strategy Officer at the Miller School and Chief of Strategic Operations for CTSI, has been the executive administrator since the inception of the grant.
6. The UHealth Ear Institute has been transformed by a move to its new facility to become a global center for all hearing loss conditions, evaluations, and treatments, as well as a primary location for continuing medical education and NIH research. The Institute, led by Fred F. Telischi, M.D., professor of otolaryngology, neurological surgery and biomedical engineering, the James R. Chandler Chair in Otolaryngology, and Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology, aims to advance the research and clinical dimensions relating to hearing disorders, from complete deafness to milder forms of hearing loss. A gift of $5 million from Barton G. Weiss through the Barton G. Kids Hear Now Foundation established The Barton G. Kids Hear Now Cochlear Implant Family Resource Center, one of the nation’s premier cochlear implant programs. The Institute also received $3.5 million from Miami-Dade County. The Department of Otolaryngology has risen into the top 15 ranking in NIH funding, with unique expertise in genetics of hearing disorders lead by Dr. Xue Zhong Liu, M.D.-Ph.D. (see below).
7. Now an integral part of Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Jay Weiss Institute for Health Equity was established in memory of philanthropist Jay Weiss, the founding Chair of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center Board of Governors and UM Board of Trustee member, who had a major impact on improving the health of the underprivileged members of our community. The Institute focuses on serving the uninsured population of South Florida with research, services, and education. The Institute’s emphasis is on advocacy, detection of illnesses, and early treatment, especially for cancers, where health inequities are among the worst. Erin Kobetz, Ph.D., M.P.H., Senior Associate Dean for Health Disparity, Associate Director for Disparities and Community Outreach at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Program Director for Community Engagement at the Miami Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and the Director of the Jay Weiss Institute, and her team are funded by more than $20 million in NIH grants.
8. The Global Institute for Community Health and Development, which has received more than $7.1 million in gifts, is led by Barth Green, M.D., who is also professor of neurological surgery, neurology, orthopaedics, and rehabilitation medicine, Co-Founder of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and Executive Dean for Global Health and Community Service. The Institute supports not only South Florida but also communities around the world. The Miller School of Medicine was able to respond within 24 hours after a massive earthquake rocked Port-au-Prince, Haiti on January 12, 2010. Our response included the establishment of a 250-bed field hospital in Port-au-Prince, which has treated more than 30,000 patients, with the help of Project Medishare, an NGO created by Dr. Green, and volunteers from across the United States. More than six years later, Project Medishare and Miller School of Medicine physicians and surgeons are still providing trauma care at the Bernard Mevs Trauma and Critical Care Hospital in Haiti’s capital and providing public health services in Haiti’s Central Plateau region. Our intervention was recognized by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) with a Special Award for Exceptional Service: “The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine laid the foundation for what would become one of the most successful post-disaster emergency medical responses ever mounted by a university.” (See http://tinyurl.com/z8tue2o.) Currently, the Global Institute is participating in relief operations following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed hundreds in Ecuador.
9. Miami Transplant Institute is a joint program between the Miller School and Jackson Memorial Hospital and is one of the world’s premier transplant centers. The Institute has one of the top programs in liver, kidney, pancreas, and multiorgan transplants and is rapidly expanding in heart and lung transplants. The Institute is led by Rodrigo Vianna, M.D., professor of surgery and Director of Transplant Services and Chief of Liver and Gastrointestinal Transplant. The MTI has trained some of the finest transplant surgeons in the United States and is dedicated to seeing the day when transplants can be safely conducted for all those who need it, and increasingly without the need for lifelong, anti-rejection drugs.
10. The Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute has received $14 million in gifts from the McKnight Brain Research Foundation and other philanthropists and more than $15 million in NIH funding to advance research on age-related cognitive decline. The McKnight Brain Institute is led by Clinton Wright, M.D., associate professor of neurology, epidemiology and public health sciences, and neuroscience, Scientific Director of the Institute, holder of the Evelyn F. McKnight Endowed Chair for Learning and Memory in Aging, and Chief of the Division of Cognitive Disorders, and Ralph L. Sacco, M.D., Chair of the Department of Neurology, Executive Director of the Institute, Olemberg Family Chair in Neurological Disorders, and Leonard M. Miller Professor of Neurology, Epidemiology and Public Health Sciences, Human Genetics, and Neurosurgery. Dr. Sacco was also the first neurologist to serve as the President of the American Heart Association from 2010-2011. A key leader in the field of stroke, he currently serves as President-elect of the American Academy of Neurology and has been a member of the World Stroke Organization since 2008. The McKnight Brain Institute excels in advancing fundamental and clinical research, as well as patient care, for individuals suffering from a decline in cognitive function as a result of aging or in the context of various disorders.
11. The Center for Therapeutic Innovation was founded by Claes Wahlestedt, M.D., Ph.D., member of Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Associate Dean for therapeutic innovation and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, to advance knowledge and therapeutics, especially relating to small molecules, to prevent, detect, and treat neurological and psychiatric disorders as well as cancer and certain rare genetic disorders. With more than $15 million in federal funding, this Center has made remarkable advances in the epigenetics and therapeutics of a number of serious diseases.
12. The Peggy and Harold Katz Family Drug Discovery Center, led by Alessia Fornoni, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension and holder of the Peggy and Harold Katz Family Chair, was established by a $5 million gift from the Katz family. The Center has received more than $9.8 in grants from the NIH and corporations to pursue research on kidney disease, diabetes, and other conditions affecting renal function and is focused on developing therapeutics to prevent and treat kidney diseases.
13. The Center for Communication Sciences and Disorders was established by Xue Zhong Liu, M.D., Ph.D., Leonard M. Miller Professor of Otolaryngology, Human Genetics, Biochemistry, and Pediatrics; Director of Miami Otogenetic Program; Director of the Center for Communication Sciences and Disorders; and Vice Chair of Research for the ENT Department, who has discovered more genes involved in hearing disorders than anyone else in the world. Dr. Liu has brought in $7.1 million in NIH grants. He created the Center to bring together clinicians, scientists, and educators with expertise in sensory sciences and disorders. Defects in hearing and the other senses often signal the onset of life-threatening illnesses, so early detection of these defects can help prevent neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
14. The UHealth Sports Performance and Wellness Institute is a multidisciplinary effort that delivers the best in evidence-based medicine, rehabilitation, and exercise physiology to maximize optimum, human performance, injury care, and prevention for active individuals. The Institute conducts research into the use of stem cell therapy and genetic markers in the prevention and rehabilitation of sports injuries. TheInstitute was established and is led by Lee Kaplan, M.D., professor of orthopaedics, Chief of UHealth Sports Medicine in the Department of Orthopaedics, and Medical Director and Head Team Physician for UM Athletics and the Miami Marlins. The Institute has secured a $5 million gift from the Don Soffer family for stem cell research in sports medicine and a $2 million gift from Petra and Stephen A. Levin to endow the Chair of the UHealth Sports Performance and Wellness Institute.
15. The Crohn and Colitis Center is a clinical and research center that aims at bringing new therapies to patients, children and adults, who are affected by these dreadful ailments. With Director Maria Abreu, M.D., the Center provides a platform to accelerate promising research from the laboratory to the beside. Powered by generous gifts, thephysician-scientists of the Center strive to develop the next wave of leading-edge therapies in the crusade against Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). The Center aims to discover how the microbiome interacts with the gut, the innate immune system contributes to IBD, the genetics of IBD varies in minorities, the genetics of gut bacteria (microbiome) impact IBD, quorum sensing relates to IBD, and with the Hussman Institute for human Genomics at UM, how individual’s genetic variation in IBD, can lead to personalized medicine.
While these new Centers and Institutes, and several future and developing centers and institutes, such as the Miami Brain Tumor Initiative of Ricardo Komotar, the Lung Research Institute of Marilyn Glassberg, the Urology Institute of Dipen Parekh, the Pain Management Center of David Lubarsky, the Schiff Liver Center of Eugene Schiff and Paul Martin, the Miami Heart Research Institute of Dr. Jeffery Goldberger, have all become pillars of our research and clinical enterprise at the Miller School, they are powered by faculty, staff and students of our Discovery (Basic) Science Departments and Clinical Departments. We have created two new Departments, one at the intersection of research and clinical sciences, the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics lead by Stephan Zuchner, M.D.-Ph.D, and the other is the brand new Department of Interventional Radiology, first such department of its kind in the U.S., lead by Govindarajan -Raj- Narayanan, M.D.
Furthermore, while these Institutes, Centers and Departments were created and expanded, during the same decade, the Centers and Institutes that existed before 2006 have expanded and flourished. These include:
1. Bascom Palmer Eye Institute was named the number one eye hospital nationwide, for a remarkable 13th year in a row, and 15 in total, which is more than any other U.S. eye center, and actually more times than all other eye centers together. Led by Eduardo C. Alfonso, M.D., the Kathleen and Stanley J. Glaser Chair in Ophthalmology, Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, and Director of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, the Institute is increasingly bringing its world-class care closer to patients. Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at Naples opened in October, and a dedication ceremony was held recently for the Dr. Nasser Ibrahim Al-Rashid Orbital Vision Research Center, which was established thanks to a generous $10 million gift from the Dr. Nasser Ibrahim Al-Rashid family. The BPEI whose reputation is rapidly growing around the world, has received more than $100 million in gifts from the Ophthalmology Research Foundation and generous patients.
2. Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, led by Director Stephen Nimer, M.D., was created in 1986 with an initial gift of $27.5 million from Harcourt Sylvester, Jr., made in honor of his parents, through the Harcourt M. and Virginia W. Sylvester Foundation. This gift was quickly followed by an additional $5 million gift that brought the total founding donation to $32.5 million. His daughters, Laura Sylvester and Jayne Malfitano, have continued their father’s legacy of support, contributing more than $16 million through the Sylvester Foundation for Sylvester’s growth and success. With the combined strength of more than 115 cancer researchers and 130 cancer specialists, Sylvester discovers, develops and delivers more targeted therapies leading to better outcomes for each patient. In 2015, Sylvester was named a Cancer Center of Excellence by the State of Florida, one of just four in the state and the only one in South Florida. This recognition of extraordinary patient care, research, and education is a key step in obtaining National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation as a comprehensive cancer center. Dr. Nimer and his team are engaged in cutting-edge research, education, and clinical care in such fields as precision medicine, genetics, epigenetics, and immune therapy.
3. The Diabetes Research Institute, led by Director Camillo Ricordi, M.D., is closer than ever to finding a cure for type 1 diabetes mellitus. The Institute, funded by more than $225 million from the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, is making amazing progress in the transplant of pancreatic, insulin-producing islet cells. A novel approach to mimic the native organ has been created using the patient’s own plasma as a biological scaffold to house these cells on the surface of the patient's omentum (a lining covering the abdominal organs). This technique, together with advances in the fields of immunology and stem cells, is likely to lead to the first cure for this devastating ailment.
4. The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, co-founded by Barth Green, M.D. and Nick Buoniconti more than 25 years ago, addresses one of the most daunting medical challenges: restoring function to a spinal cord that has been severed by injury. This research enterprise is led by Scientific Director Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D., Kinetic Concepts Distinguished Chair in Neurosurgery, Senior Associate Dean for Discovery Science, and 27 other world-class scientific investigators. It is funded by more than $108 million from the Buoniconti family and The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, whose President is Marc Buoniconti. The Miami Project is now performing human clinical trials of the impact of Schwann and other stem cells on paralysis. Its research progress has propelled The Miami Project to the top of the list of neuroscience institutes in the world.
5. The Batchelor Children’s Research Institute, and the Department of Pediatrics, led by Judy L. Schaechter, M.D., M.B.A., Chair, Department of Pediatrics, the George E. Batchelor Endowed Chair in Pediatrics, and Chief of Service, Holtz Children’s Hospital/Jackson Health System, and Daniel Armstrong, Ph.D., professor of pediatrics and psychology, Director of the Mailman Center for Child Development, Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, are rapidly advancing the state of knowledge relating to child health, diseases, and brain development. The Institute and the Department, extraordinary resources for the children of the South Florida region and beyond, have received nearly $40 million from the Batchelor Foundation.
6. The William Lehman Injury Research Center is an internationally recognized Miller School research program located at the Ryder Trauma Center of the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, that was established to improve the treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation of traumatic injuries resulting from blunt trauma. The Center which is lead by Carl I. Schulman, M.D., M.S.P.H., is named in honor of the late Congressman William Lehman, who championed the cause of injury and prevention. He is also credited for the initial congressional mandate, issued in 1991, for the center to improve automobile safety through research and education.
7. The Wallace H. Coulter Center (WHCC)/U-Innovation/UM Life Science and Technology Park This program is a partnership between the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, UM and Developers who, like Wexford Science and Technology, saw the opportunity for Miami to develop as a major biomedical, bioengineering, technology platform at the tip of the Florida Peninsula. Here, the University of Miami is focused on turning translational research in biomedical science and engineering, into products and services by commercializing research projects that address unmet clinical needs and have market potential. Lead by Norma Kenyon, Ph.D., our team works with investigators to help them carry the project from a translational stage to a tangible product or service that impacts the public and their health. The success metrics for our center include either successful licensing to an established company or creation of new professionally managed and financed UM start-ups. Under Kenyon's leadership, U-Innovation went from producing one new company in eight years, to producing eight NewCos in one year, and celebrating our first successful IPO based on a discovery of Dr. Eckhard Podack. Wexfordhas built the first of five buildings that will constitute the entire LSTP.
Clinical Expansion
Since we established UHealth in 2007, with the purchase of our first acute care hospital for UM, University of Miami Hospital, powered by our University practice group, the University of Miami Medical Group (UMMG), and the medical science produced by the Miller School, we have improved the quality of the medicine we deliver on our campus and throughout South Florida. We were able, and for the first time in our history, to provide the full complement of care to our patients and within our own facilities, except for a few specialties, that, out of respect for our affiliation with the Jackson Health System, we continued to practice exclusively at Jackson Memorial Hospital. We have been transforming the University of Miami Hospital into a true academic teaching hospital, with outstanding physicians and nurses that provide unique opportunities for patients in distress due to a multitude of illnesses in the various specialties of: Cardiology, Otolaryngology, Urology, Orthopedics, Sports Medicine, Neurosurgery, Neurology, Emergency- Intensive- General- and Geriatric-Medicine and Surgery, Gastroenterology- Liver- Lung- Infectious Diseases- Endocrine- Rheumatology-Medicine, Gynecology, Vascular- Bariatric- Maxillofacial- and Reconstructive-Surgery, Psychiatry, Human Genetics, Dermatology, and for the sickest patients in need of Surgical and Medical Oncology care. All such disciplines are supported by outstanding connective disciplines such as Anesthesia, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Pharmacology, Radiology, Interventional and Radiation Oncology, Rehabilitation Medicine, and Physical Therapy. And our UMMG physicians perform also state of the art medical and surgical services at the facilities of our two affiliate systems, Jackson and the Miami Veteran Administration Medical Center in multiple disciplines, including Obstetrics, Pediatrics, Trauma, and solid organ transplant, to name a few.
Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center (SCCC) at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, which is part of UHealth, has received a perfect score from the ASCO-QOPI (a program developed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology), and a myriad of other awards attributed to top cancer centers in the U.S., provides patients with outcomes from most cancers that greatly surpass the national average. Other cancer hospital in the region had to upgrade their cancer care to compete with SCCC for patients. A recent article in The Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that Sylvester is one of 11 cancer hospitals nationally where patient outcomes exceed those of other academic and non-academic hospitals.
UHealth provides many benefits for the people of South Florida. At Sylvester, we are offering the only truly integrated, multidisciplinary cancer care in which medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, oncological surgeons, along with experts in many other disciplines, form tumor boards and collaborate to review diagnoses, select the best treatments and provide access to cutting-edge research opportunities.
Some 50 years ago, Ed Norton had the clairvoyance of starting a nascent Health System for the University with the establishment of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the Anne Bates Leach Eye Hospital. By delivering outstanding care, the Institute climbed rapidly in patient volumes and reputation to become what it is today, the best Eye Hospital in the World, where new technologies are invented and care is optimized.
As a young academic Health System, in the economic environment of the 21st Century, and especially in South Florida, we sure experienced bumps and growing pains, related for example to access for patients, deploying our first Health IT (Epic), navigating our complex physical landscape, managing to remarkably multicultural character of our team, which we embrace and are so proud of, dealing with urgent crises like the earthquake of Port Au Prince that killed 300,000 Haitian friends in January of 2010, but we made it!
As UHealth has expanded to include a practice (UMMG), three hospitals (University of Miami Hospital, Anne Bates Leach Eye Hospital, and University of Miami Hospital and Clinics), and outpatient clinic facilities along both coasts of South Florida, our clinical revenues have rapidly increased from less than $40 million per month in 2006 to in excess of $120 million per month in 2016, which represents one of the fastest compound annual growth rate for academic centers in the U.S, with net operating earnings of our practice, hospitals and clinics or more than $160 million yearly, which we are reinvesting entirely in our charitable missions of research, education, and services to transform lives in our community.
Educational Progress
We have made tremendous strides in our educational programs during the past 10 years. We have renewed our accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, and our primary training program at Jackson Memorial Hospital has once again become fully reaccredited, with an average cycle length (a marker of quality) of four to five years (best is five). All specialty programs at Jackson are now fully accredited with an average cycle length of 4.5 years.
We created the first allopathic residency program in medicine and surgery in Palm Beach County, and the program is highly successful. We also have created an allopathic training program in emergency medicine that spans three hospitals: University of Miami Hospital, Jackson Memorial Hospital, and Holy Cross Hospital. We have launched a unique, four-year M.D./M.P.H. (Master’s in Public Health) program, in which more than 25 percent of our M.D. class is now enrolled. We have developed pathways to allow our students to differentiate themselves from their peers by acquiring expertise in specialized fields ranging from genomic medicine to social medicine and informatics.
Medical education at UM is more successful than ever, with nearly 9,000 applicants (up from 4,000 in 2006) and better than average scores on standardized tests. But, most importantly, we are producing graduates who demonstrate exceptional compassion and desire to support their community. Every year, our students organize nine health fairs through the Mitchell Wolfson Sr. Department of Community Service (DOCS), with support from faculty. These fairs span South Florida and represent the only opportunity for many of the attendees, who typically are uninsured or underinsured, to access primary and preventive care. Participants who require follow-up care are referred to federally qualified health centers or one of our free clinics, where our students see patients under the supervision of our faculty. Our students also work to help Floridians acquire health insurance on the exchange market.
The Michael Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education is located in the Don Soffer Clinical Research Center on the medical campus. The Gordon Center is advancing the field of measuring competence for a variety of health care providers, including medical students, nursing students, postgraduate trainees in medicine and nursing, emergency medical service providers, and military care providers. The Center has received more than $51 million in federal and state support and nearly $23 million in gifts. “Harvey,” the cardiopulmonary, patient simulator developed at UM by Dr. Michael Gordon continues to grow as a core tool for medical and nursing schools, and is being sold around the world.
We are blessed with dedicated students who not only are outstanding academically but also are exceptionally compassionate toward their fellow humans.
Fundraising
We conducted the boldest fundraising campaign in the history of our school, raising more than our $1 billion target ahead of schedule for Momentum2: The Breakthrough Campaign for the University of Miami. The proceeds of the campaign are helping to fund the construction of several buildings, including:
1. The Lennar Foundation Medical Center will be the home of UHealth Coral Gables and was made possible by a gift of $50 million from The Lennar Foundation. The building, a state-of-the-art ambulatory care facility, is scheduled has opened on the 6th of December 2016. Patients have access to targeted cancer diagnostics and therapies from Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center experts; specialized UHealth physicians deliver men’s and women’s health, cardiology, sports medicine, and neurology services; and ophthalmology care comes from Bascom Palmer Eye Institute experts. This is UHealth opportunity to move into the future of medicine with care that is the most advanced in the world, delivered holistically to provide also the best patient experience associated with the delivery of minimally invasive, highly respectful and dignified care, no matter the complexity of illnesses and necessary procedures.
2. The Miller School of Medicine Center for Medical Education was made possible by a $50 million gift from the Miller family. The inspirational building will be a flexible, cutting-edge facility, which will help drive the development of educational innovation and position our curriculum for the next century by offering new and flexible learning environments
3. The Christine E. Lynn Rehabilitation Center, a partnership between The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, UHealth, and the Jackson Health System, is financed by a $25 million gift from Christine E. Lynn to The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, along with Jackson General Obligation Bonds, issued by Miami-Dade County. The Center, which will house a 100-bed rehabilitation hospital, is scheduled to break ground in October 2016. Not only have we succeeded with our own share of the fundraising, but we also helped Jackson campaign for the $830 million in General Obligation Bonds that voters approved in 2013. This money is enabling the Jackson Health System to improve its existing facilities and to build new ones.
Conclusion
The past 10 years have seen daunting challenges, but also incredible progress. For our mission to become sustainable, the Miller School, UHealth and the University of Miami have had to make difficult changes and sacrifices. All the while, we remained focused on our common purpose of transforming lives through teaching, research, and service, and on our UM values of Diversity, Integrity, Responsibility, Excellence, Compassion, Creativity and Teamwork (DIRECCT). Our common purpose was backed up by a comprehensive strategic plan create in 2006 and that was reviewed by substantial experts such as then President Donna Shalala, Ph.D., Harry Jacobson M.D., former Chancellor of VanDerBilt University Health System, and by Ralph Snyderman M.D., former Chancellor of the Duke Health System, which we have accomplished diligently and with great discipline and tenacity. We aim to promote a culture of belonging, so rightly advanced by new UM President Julio Frenk. Our focus must be on how we can best participate in our community. We have created Women in Academic Medicine, the Diversity Council, and the Associate Dean position for Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, with the support of our Faculty Council and Faculty Senate, because we firmly believe in the expansion of diversity and cultural sensitivity. Working together to shape our culture is an important part of our effort to become the best medical school and health system in our great nation and beyond.
After ten years of working closely together and producing increasingly great medical products and services, it is time to recognize what has been accomplished thanks to our amazing students, staff, faculty scientists and clinicians, and leadership of Dona Shalala and the UM Board of Trustees. As we evolve our leadership team and pass the baton to the remarkably competent and accomplished leaders, Dipen Parekh, M.D. and Henri Ford, M.D., it was important to pause and remember the first ten years of UHealth and the astonishing progress of our top tier Miller school of Medicine.