February 27, 2007

MINUTES
University of Minnesota
Academic Health Center
Deans Council
February 27, 2007

The regular meeting of the Deans of the Academic Health Center was held on Tuesday, February 27 at 2:00 p.m. in 475 ChRC.

Members present:
Frank Cerra, Senior Vice President for Health Sciences
John Finnegan, Dean, School of Public Health
Jeffrey Klausner, Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine
Patrick Lloyd, Dean, School of Dentistry
Charlie Moldow, Senior Associate Dean, Medical School (for Deborah Powell)
Marilyn Speedie, Dean, College of Pharmacy
Linda Watson, Director, Health Sciences Libraries

Staff present:
Terry Bock, Chief of Staff
Barbara Brandt, Assistant Vice President, Office of Education
Jennifer Cieslak, Special Assistant to the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, AHC
Mary Koppel, Assistant Vice President, Public Affairs
Beth Nunnally, Chief Financial Officer, AHC

Guests Present
Jasjit Ahluwalia, Executive Director, Office of Clinical Research, AHC
John Butler, Librarian, Digital Library Development Lab
Chad Fennel, Assistant Librarian, Bio-Medical Library
Stuart Speedie, Professor, Medical School Administration

Review and Approval of Minutes – January 23, 2007
The council approved the minutes of January 23, 2007.

AHC Portal
John Butler and Chad Fennel demonstrated the Library Tab on the University’s portal.  The portal will provide authorized content for the student at the point of admission, and continue to provide services for alumni once they have graduated.  John Finnegan commented that it was important to emphasize the concept of lifelong learning – partnering with students who have graduated.  Portal II will arrive in the next couple of weeks and will have major upgrades and upgraded software.  MyU Library is under development and will introduce capabilities for users to shape their own library web space.  The last phase should be completed by the end of next year.  Barbara Brandt suggested creating a faculty advisory group to develop a plan to increase the utility and usage of the portal by AHC students.

Institute for Interprofessional Health Informatics
The Institute for Interprofessional Health Informatics (IIIHI), established in the AHC in January 2006, is an interdisciplinary, interprofessional organization whose mission is to improve the quality and efficiency of health care and clinical research through research and education in health informatics.  Linda Watson and Stuart Speedie discussed the progress of IIHI over the past year, and their work toward building the foundation of the Institute.  The Institute will interface with the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research and the AHC information architect.  Funding for IIHI will come through the compact process.

CTSA
Jas Ahluwalia gave an update on the Office of Clinical Research (OCR) and the CTSA grant.  Accelerate, the monthly newsletter of the OCR, has been published since September 2006.  The Biostatistical Design and Analysis Center (BDAC) will offer statistical consulting and analysis for clinical trails and smaller-scale studies, as well as provide initial consultations to help investigators develop new ideas for review.  The BDAC will become an ISO in 1-2 months.  Jas Ahluwalia has become the PI for the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC).  The GCRC and Research Services Organizations (RSO) are working in collaboration and will cross-train clinical research coordinators.  They also continue to work with the Cancer Center.  The Office of Clinical Research is leading the University of Minnesota's application in response to the NIH's call for Institutional Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA).  This effort includes faculty and staff from across the Academic Health Center and proposes a centralized and integrated home for clinical and translational researchers across the University and its partners.  The next submission date for the CTSA is October 27, 2007.  The plan is to have a final draft completed by June 15 and sent to external reviewers by July 1.   The site visit will be sometime between July 14-August 15.

Outcomes Corridor
John Finnegan discussed the development of an interdisciplinary “corridor” initiative to improve health care processes, safety and outcomes as part of the clinical translational research activities.  To achieve this goal, the program initiative has three component projects coordinated through the “corridor” structure of a council of key investigators.  The three component areas are healthcare, reducing provider bias, and surgical outcomes improvement.

Research Corridors
The Deans Council reviewed the research corridors information video.  Frank Cerra asked the group for their feedback.  They were generally positive about the video but had several suggestions on improving the clarity of the message being conveyed.

University Strategic Positioning
Institute for Translational Neuroscience (ITN):  Jennifer Cieslak stated that Harry Orr will serve as the Director of ITN, for a  yearly renewable three-year term.  ITN, when fully developed, will have four programmatic themes.  They are the Center for Neuroengineering, Center for Memory Research and Care, neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases, and the Center for Neurodevelopment and Mental Health.  Frank Cerra stated that the ITN group will develop goals and a workplan.  They will work to incorporate other researchers and broaden and further shape the core corridors.

Academic Council:  Jennifer Cieskak thanked the deans for making recommendations for membership on the Academic Council.  The first meeting will be in late March.

Center for Interprofessional Education:  Jennifer commented that Gwen Halaas has been hired half-time to direct the Center for Interprofessional Education.  She will start next week.

The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathy Anderson
Staff to the Academic Health Center Deans Council