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There
is no doubt about it. CEO Michael Johns’s vision
for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC) is nothing short
of ambitious. Since he arrived at Emory a little more than 10 years
ago, Dr. Johns has focused on enabling Emory to realize its full
potential and become the leading pioneer for progress in health
and healing in the world. Under his direction, the health sciences
center team is united around a commitment to lead in transforming
health and healing in this century. This transformation involves
a strategy to forge ahead in the field of predictive health to counter
illness before it starts. It involves tackling health care problems
that threaten people on a global scale. It involves revamping the
way health care is delivered by creating integrated, patient-focused
care teams. It involves creating state-of-the-art health care facilities
and new centers of excellence that provide unparalleled research
and patient care in transplantation, heart and vascular medicine,
neurosciences, lung health, and cancer. It involves ensuring that
our School of Medicine becomes recognized as one of the top 10 in
the nation, the Rollins School of Public Health as one of the top
five, the Woodruff School of Nursing (SON) as one of the top three.
It involves redefining the patient experience in the hospitals and
clinic. And it involves solidifying the reputation of the Yerkes
National Primate Research Center as an international leader in advancing
biomedical and behavioral knowledge.
With this extraordinary vision and
commitment, there is little doubt that Emory can lead the way in
transforming health and healing in this century. Robert W. Woodruff’s
gift in 1979 launched the health sciences center on this trajectory
of excellence, and continued far-sighted philanthropy on the part
of the Woodruff Foundation has built on this solid beginning. Recently,
the Woodruff Foundation made a generous financial commitment to
provide $240 million to modernize and transform our outpatient care
facilities. This support will enable us to create a place where
the physicians, scientists, and staff who are The Emory Clinic can
offer an ideal patient-centered experience supported by the power
of translational research. With this investment, we will set a new
world-class standard for health care, while continuing to serve
the more than 3 million patients we see each year. We must now build
on this infrastructure investment to ensure that we have funds to
support faculty, patients, students, and programs.
Our faculty have spent these decades
creating the basic infrastructure to make the move to greatness.
We have added significantly to our research capabilities by building
new facilities and recruiting brilliant scientists, health care
educators, and clinical investigators. We have completely rebuilt
our midtown hospital and upgraded other clinical facilities. We
have fortified our medical, nursing, and public health education
and training programs by literally rebuilding these schools and
investing in the excellence of faculty, making them among the very
best in the nation. To continue to recruit international leaders
and retain our current outstanding faculty, we must secure funding
for endowed faculty positions, start-up packages, recruitments funds,
research funds, and other personnel priorities as well as scholarship
support for our students. |
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So
now we are poised—to move from really good to great. However,
as Mike Johns describes it, we can choose to be even more than great.
If we follow through on vision and commitments, we can be indispensable—the
major academic health center where 21st-century medicine is catalyzed,
where the best and brightest want to work and learn, where people
who want the best care come. We are prepared to realize the full
potential of the amazing discoveries and advances that our scientists
and clinical investigators are making every day. We can become the
place where discovery, innovation, and cures are born.
My job as vice president for development
for the WHSC is to work with faculty and staff to gather the resources
to enable these dramatic changes to happen.
I am extremely encouraged by how excited
so many people are at the prospect of supporting and being a part
of such a compelling leadership effort. Yet I am still sometimes
asked why Emory’s $4.3 billion endowment isn’t enough
to cover new programs we might propose or buildings we want to build.
There are two primary reasons why spending the endowment is not
an option.
First, the vast majority of Emory’s
endowment has been given by donors who require that their gifts
remain as permanent investment funds and that the annual investment
income and gains from those endowed funds be used for donor restricted
programs. For instance, if an alumnus endows a scholarship with
$100,000, by agreement those
funds are permanently invested and all returns MUST be used for
student scholarships. Donors provide those funds trusting that Emory
will, in perpetuity, conform to their wishes.
However, even if we could spend the
endowment core or income at our own discretion, consider this: if
we started spending endowment on operating costs, we’d be
bankrupt in a few short years. Instead, the responsible use of endowment
funding is investing wisely for a future that enables us to completely
transform the way to health and healing.
That leads to another question I am
commonly asked: How will we pay for this vision?
Funding to cover the university’s
strategic plan and the WHSC’s vision will come from several
sources: Increasing clinic volume and making operations more efficient,
for one. Wise use of strategic planning funds, for another. Research
indirect cost recovery and debt are also potential sources for launching
ambitious new projects.
Emory’s comprehensive campaign
likewise presents the WHSC with an amazing opportunity. In September
2005, the university began the quiet phase of its first major campaign
since 1995. This phase, which will run through the fall of 2007,
is the first step in laying the groundwork for a major effort to
increase endowment, research funds, faculty support, student scholarships,
and capital construction funds. During the quiet phase, our efforts
are focused on working with lead volunteers, including members of
the board of trustees and others who are our closest friends and
advisers. This important group of “insiders” knows Emory
and its aspirations better than any external group. These volunteers
are the most committed to our success. The financial investments
made by this core group will set the pace for the WHSC and the university
and allow us to estimate realistic fundraising goals for the overall
campaign. Near the end of the quiet phase, we will be better positioned
to determine where to focus our efforts over the next five to seven
years to make Emory the best Emory it can be. |
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Perhaps an even more important question
to consider than how will we pay for this, is why would we do it?
Historically, Emory has attracted
countless talented and dedicated people who have worked for the
greater good. Through those individuals, through all of us, Emory
provides excellent services, outstanding care, premier education,
and vital discoveries to society. By doing so, Emory dramatically
improves the lives of the people it serves. From working to develop
a cure for diabetes to taking on the challenge of bringing safe
water to the 1.1 billion people around the world who currently lack
it, we are combining our talents to make a true difference. We are
translating basic science discoveries into applications at the patient
bedside, where they will do the most good. We are grounding our
nursing students in service learning, to extend beyond a traditional
education to embrace a larger mission. In short, we are committed
to transform health and healing because it is the right thing to
do for our community and our society.
In light of who we are as an institution,
it comes as no surprise that an outstanding group of volunteers
has stepped up to lead the various units of the WHSC in this campaign
and join with faculty and staff to make it succeed. These alumni,
community leaders, and philanthropists are committed to our vision.
What they understand—and what each of you validate in the
classroom, laboratory, clinics, and hospitals every day and night—is
that an investment in the WHSC is an investment in a better future
for families, the citizens of Atlanta and the Southeast, and, ultimately,
the people of the world.
But we also owe it to those volunteer
leaders to make our own commitments. Our individual commitments
may take many forms, not just financial. Your contribution of time
and talent, care, and understanding makes Emory a better place.
Every day we each use our talents when we come into contact with
people who have given us something special. One of our jobs is to
give back to them and to ensure that we are being great stewards
of their trust in us.
To whom much is given, much is expected.
Faculty and staff are absolutely critical to this campaign if we
have a fighting chance to be the world’s leader in the transformation
of health and healing. New buildings, mind-expanding programs, fresh
discoveries, and generous gifts from donors are possible only because
the people—faculty, staff, and students alike—who are
the WHSC enable the dream. This campaign is for all of us, and we
need the help of everyone. That means you. We’re in it together.
Together we will make this ultimate push to success.
Phil Hills is vice
president for development, Woodruff Health Sciences Center. Illustration
by Margaret Reigel |
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The
Insiders |
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The
following volunteers recognize a sound investment when they see
one. They are sharing their talents, time, and pocketbooks to serve
as leaders for the WHSC in Emory’s upcoming campaign.
WHSC, Doug
Ivester, former CEO, The Coca-Cola Company; trustee, Emory
University; chair, WHSC board of trustees
School of Medicine,
Pete Correll, retired chairman and CEO, Georgia Pacific,
and Ada Lee Correll
Rollins School of Public Health, Larry Klamon,
former president and CEO, Fuqua Enterprises, and Anne Estes
Woodruff School of Nursing, David Allen,
president, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associate; trustee,
Emory University; Emory Healthcare board of directors; and Beverly
Allen
Emory Hospitals, Bob Goddard, chairman,
Goddard Investments; Emory Healthcare board of directors
Yerkes National Primate Research Center,
Bill Dobes, Dermatology Consultants
If you’d like to join their efforts, contact Phil
Hills, phills@emory.edu, 404-727-5711. |
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