Interview: President Ramsay Speaks About His Accomplishments, Challenges, and the Future
Clarence Lam and Bhavik Desai
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Dr. David J. Ramsay, president of the
What accomplishment do you look back upon with the most satisfaction?
Growth and quality. No doubt about that. And the thing that I’m most excited about is the BioPark, I've actually seen that start almost from nothing to what it is now in a fairly short space of time.
Research money seems to be tighter than in the past. What can the university do to prevent investigators and students from being deterred from a career in research?
Firstly, we will push as hard as we possibly can to start to increase the research budget. What has happened really was that there was this huge push to double the NIH [National Institutes of Health] budget, and then everybody sort of relaxed a little bit because it really was this big political effort…we [now] have an administration in power that basically does not believe quite so fervently in the importance of biomedical research. But that will change, [as it] tends to go in cycles.
I think there’s a huge amount of support in Congress at the moment, on both sides of the aisle, that we’ve got to in fact reinvest more money in the life sciences or we’re going to lose our prominent position. There are many other countries in the world now that see the importance of biomedical research…so we [also] have to reinvest and increase [our research spending]…I would say, “Okay, we’re in a flat period at the moment but that’s not going to go on forever.”
Secondly, I would say that we have got to get our research universities to take our role much more seriously in the terms of commercialization of research which is exactly why we’re building the BioPark and why we’re increasing our activity in that area. You do research [which] is largely supported by taxpayers dollars, [but] the job’s not over when you write your paper. The job’s just only beginning because promising discoveries, you want to get translated into new drugs, new medical devices, new cures, and so on as soon as you can [and] that’s a source of money. I think we’ve got to learn how to diversify the support base of the universities. You can’t just rely on state money and contracting grant money anymore…One of the ways you can do that is to be as business-like as you can in developing the intellectual property…Even though we have one building fully operating (BioPark 1), we’re beginning to get some positive cash flow coming in. That’s where the source of money I think [is] to help [with] seed money, bridge money, when investigators fall between grants.
Besides the continuation in the building of research facilities and the workforce issues in nursing and pharmacy, where do you see UMB going in the next decade?
I would like to expand our reach in terms of population health [for] a number of reasons. I think that we’re thinking a lot more about the health of populations as opposed to treating disease in individuals [and] this country is beginning to understand the notion that the promotion of a healthy lifestyle and disease prevention…actually does pay off. The Schools of Public Health can help [with that area].
The other area is global health…We do have a lot of programs across the campus that deal with global health. The Institute for Human Virology is a good example…Then there’s the Center for Vaccine Development, which is developing vaccines which are tested and being used nationally and I think a school of public health could be very, very helpful with that. So I see much more activity there, and of course that will bring in people from all of the schools because there’s a lot of interest in the environment and law which links in the law school and the school of public health. It’s a whole interdisciplinary package now.
I think the other thing that [interdisciplinary programs and the
The crime situation here remains one of the main concerns for students, especially for those of us who live close to campus. How do you think this can be addressed?
I think one of the problems, as I’ve said which seems to be almost insoluble, there’s such a disparity in the crime statistics…and it changes within a few blocks. If…you’re in the
[One] of the sad things about it is that you see kids being brought up in some of the neighborhoods quite close to campus that just lose hope at a very early age, and it’s led to the path of the drug culture and violence and so on…so we’re trying aggressively to get into one or two of the local schools, early, [because] if you wait until kids are 14 or 15, it’s too late. Trying to—and that’s where the School of Social Work is very important—get in there and provide help in tuition, particularly in science and math, [and] offering as many placements as we possibly can during the summer…with the support and help of Elijah Cummings, our local representative, [we] had a very successful program this summer. It’s just a handful of kids, it’s not going to have a massive effect, but I think that’s the way you have to do it.
[The safety of students is] very important to us…and I think our police have done a superb job of keeping this campus and the BioPark crime-free. But I understand very well that some of you live in areas that aren’t so safe. We do everything we can to participate in whatever types of programs there are but it’s just a horrible problem.
It always strikes me in such a rich state that we are (citing a recent article in the Baltimore Sun), the gap between those that are doing pretty well and living a comfortable life and those that are really in areas where the social fabric has just disappeared.
What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
I think the budget is one of the most challenging things, and that is ensuring that you have sufficient resources to do what you want to do. The interesting thing about the job is that every day is different, and it’s a strange job because you have no training for it. You come in one day and suddenly people look at you like you’re meant to be in charge and you’re making all the decisions, but you really don’t have much training for it. Deans don’t [have much training] either because they tend to be faculty and be very, very successful and suddenly they just run the joint.
Are there specific goals or upcoming initiatives that you would like to highlight?
The expansion of the
The next [goal] is Health Sciences 3 (HSF3). That is absolutely crucial for the campus. We have to do everything we can to make that happen.
I think the other thing I’m going to work very hard on in the next three or four years is [that Maryland]…usually number one as a state in terms of the amount of federal research money that comes in…but we’re in the middle of the pack in terms of states in terms commercialization of that. Nobody’s really put their finger on why that is. People say, well [the state has] got a bad business climate. But it hasn’t. If you look carefully at the tax structure, it actually compares very well, quite favorably with the surrounding states. The state has put its future saying that it’s going to be in the life sciences which includes biotechnology, so it’s very important that we get it to work…We’ve really got to think about how this state is going to invest itself in research infrastructure. So one of the things that we’re working on very hard is actually to help the government build up the case that we’ve got to increase revenues. Because no longer can we do the things we want to do as a state unless we actually have more money coming into the state’s coffers. And we are the richest state in the country, so we should be able to afford it. It’s really that link all the time between what a university does and the way that benefits the community—the community in terms of the bioscience industry, the community in terms of the people, and the immediate community. I think that’s the thing that will keep me going for a few years.
Your previous predecessor Dr. Errol Reece served as UMB president for three years. What accomplishments do you attribute to the stability that you have lent to this institution?
We’ve actually been able to recruit superb deans because they are key to running a professional school campus like this…We’ve been able to recruit some excellent deans who are the leaders in their fields…because deans don’t want to go anywhere that’s unstable. They want to be able to get in there, do what they can in terms of building the quality [of the school and programs], getting good faculty, improving the education, et cetera.
Professional school comes across as very different from undergraduate campuses. The dean’s jobs are truly jobs where people expect to come for a long period of time, five to ten years as an average across the country, so that they can do something. What a dean has to do, and to a certain extent what the president has to do also, is no longer can you get your fulfillment from your own personal research. You now get it from [creating] a situation where other people can actually do their research: making sure that you can provide good facilities, that you don’t get in their way, [and] that you encourage them. So you get more of what I call an “institutional fulfillment” as opposed to a personal one.
What are your long-term goals of remaining here as president?