Posted on: Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Medical school at capacity
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
Even before it opens this fall, the John A. Burns School of Medicine's new research building in Kaka'ako is too small — and more space is needed to accommodate additional researchers the university wants to hire, school officials say.
"We'll need more space in the immediate future — maybe in a year," said interim dean Sam Shomaker.
"We did plan it to be bigger and we ran out of money and we had to downsize. It was supposed to be at least 10 (percent) to 20 percent bigger."
Without space for new faculty, the medical school's ability to attract new grants would be limited, as would the speed in which it grows as a biotech engine for the state's economy, officials said.
Top-flight researchers can bring huge federal grants to the institutions that hire them. The money not only pays for their work, in some cases it can also go to support other institutions in the community, such as medical centers. Some of the medical school's most recent hires have garnered about $60 million worth of federal funding as part of multiyear grants.
Shomaker said the school is already negotiating with five or six additional researchers who will need space if they are hired. "We're already recruiting faculty with funds budgeted," he said, "but there's no space for them."
The new $150 million school of medicine in Kaka'ako has two major structures: an education building for classrooms that students are already occupying, and the research building, which is scheduled to open in September to accommodate 40 researchers, including nine or 10 from the Cancer Research Center.
The project was fast-forwarded after Sept. 11, 2001, when the state wanted to find a new economic engine to speed recovery. The Legislature authorized UH to float bonds backed by the tobacco fund to pay for construction.
Shomaker said the medical school must continue to recruit researchers to keep the momentum going on programs already under way. Without recruiting new faculty, growth at the medical school will plateau, he said.
The medical school is already looking at a multifaceted approach to raising money to recruit additional researchers. The money would come from the National Institutes of Health, fundraising through the UH Foundation and partnering with biotech companies in entrepreneurial enterprises.
This past session the Legislature authorized $3.2 million and $3.6 million to cover the cost of operating the education building for the next two years. The shortfall occurred because projections were not met that grants would fully pay for operations for the school's first year, officials said.
"If we can count on a stable source of funding for that, that will make it more comfortable in looking for other funding to bring additional faculty on board," he said.
Nearby Kaka'ako does have some warehouse space that could be used on an interim basis and converted to labs for those being recruited, said Shomaker, but the university would have to negotiate for their use with the property owners.
Shomaker said the money to pay for temporary lab expansion in nearby warehouses could come from "indirect cost" funds that are included in research grants.
The university is planning a second medical school biotech research building in Kaka'ako. The new facility would be about the same size as the first, and would be built in the diamondhead-makai corner of the property.
The university is hoping to enter another public-private partnership to build that structure, but it wouldn't be complete for at least four or more years. That building's footprint would be much the same as the current research building, providing space for about 40 principal investigators and their research teams. About 300 researchers will be housed in the new research building, and a similar number in the prospective building.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
