Productive SPH faculty responding to state, federal, global needs

By John R. Finnegan, Jr.
Dean and Professor
University of Minnesota School of Public Health
Feb. 4, 2008

Our faculty have done it again. In fiscal 2007, they generated some $92 million in extramural research funding, second only to the Medical School. This is an amazing accomplishment when you consider the depressed funding environment and the fact that the SPH faculty is just 16 percent the size of the Medical School and 30 percent the size of the Institute of Technology.

This is a level of research productivity of which many of my colleague deans at the U and in other schools of public health are, well, envious. If we were a business focused on the bottom line for our shareholders, we could end this discussion now and simply celebrate our productivity. But we are part of a public research land-grant university. We are in the knowledge business to improve people's lives, a privilege provided and supported by the people themselves. We search for knowledge, discover it, learn it, teach it, and turn it into impact on human lives today and in the future. Dollars alone are easy to measure. "Impact" is a lot more varied in its measurement, although the two are related of course.

Here are a few observations about "Minnesota Impact":

• In many areas of public health research, I believe we are responding not only to state, federal and global agendas, but also leading agendas for the next generation of research questions. I see this in each faculty member who serves with the NIH, CDC, the IOM, AHA, AHQR, APHA, ACS and all the public and private organizations that make up the "alphabet soup" of public health.
• We are not alone in our work but create impact together with University schools and colleges, and community public and private partners.
• So many of our faculty spend so much time with the media. I believe that this is an obligation we have as faculty. It arises from the privilege of serving the public. The obligation is to translate and disseminate our findings in ways that the public, health professionals, and decision-makers can understand it, and make use of it to improve their lives and the lives of others.
• In some areas of public health, we are among the most "watched" sources of information. For example, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) website is regarded as one of the top information sources of its kind in the world for information about infectious disease, preparedness, and avian influenza.
• On the basis of productivity and "weight" of publications, an independent service ranks our Divisions of Biostatistics and Environmental Health Sciences, 5th and 8th in the nation respectively. The programs of our Divisions of Epidemiology and Community Health, and Health Policy and Management are regarded by independent reviewers as among the very best in the nation.
• Many of our faculty are honored locally, nationally, and even internationally for the importance of their work in public health and often appear among the most published in their areas.
• Finally, a measure of our impact as a School is in the students who want to come here. Remember, they have 39 other accredited schools to choose from and about 60 accredited programs. The fact that they come here (in increasing numbers) says something very positive to me about "Minnesota Impact."