TULANE TALK

September 20, 2002

Good Morning:

This has been a particularly hectic week. The Board of Governors of the Health Sciences Center, the University’s Board of Administrators and the President’s Council all met this week. Agenda topics covered the waterfront from research and education to fund raising and community outreach. These leadership groups really delve into the issues and are a wonderful source of advice.

Their guidance is particularly useful with regard to several new partnerships we have formed in recent years with LSU through our Health Sciences Center. The newest partnership in this area is the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium through which Tulane University and LSU scientists will work together on cancer research, treatment and prevention. This collaboration is garnering praise for both universities throughout the state.

The consortium was formed during this year’s Special Legislative Session and is funded by the state’s new tobacco tax. We hope that this collaboration of the state’s two leading Cancer Centers will ultimately lead to National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation–the gold standard for excellence in cancer research. There are 60 such NCI-designated centers in the United States, but none in Louisiana, which has the highest cancer mortality rate in the nation.

The consortium is just one of many partnerships we have formed with LSU and other universities throughout the state. These partnerships enhance the quality of life for all Louisianians, strengthen our profile as a national research university and underscore the importance of outreach and teamwork in reaching a common goal in which everyone benefits.

In addition to working with other universities, Tulane has also strengthened its efforts to increase collaboration and communication between researchers on our own campuses by establishing the Inter-Campus Collaborative Research Web site at http://www.tulane.edu/~collab/ This Web site provides researchers with information ranging from funding and partnership opportunities to the fastest way to travel between campuses. As we grow, it is more important than ever that we increase our communication and interdisciplinary approach to addressing today’s research and educational challenges. Make sure you take a moment to check out this new Web site.

Have a great weekend,