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Wednesday, 19 December 2007 |
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Page 3 of 3
One of the largest research collaborations is Health Sciences South Carolina, which was founded in 2004 to expand South Carolina’s ability to attract and recruit nationally renowned researchers, accelerate economic development, compete more effectively for national grant support and attract additional federal, state and private funds. The collaboration includes all three research universities as well as Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center, Palmetto Health and the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System. As part of the program, MUSC and USC integrated their two schools of pharmacy into the South Carolina College of Pharmacy and expanded it to Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center’s campus.
“Clemson is not a medical school, so for us to engage in biomedical research we need a hospital or medical university to provide a setting for us to conduct clinical research,” Przirembel said. “We’ve also got a significant partnership with MUSC where we have placed several of our faculty members in MUSC facilities to really encourage and foster research collaboration in biomedical science between Clemson and MUSC, as well as with USC and the other hospitals.”
In its first 18 months, Health Sciences South Carolina funded two endowed chair proposals, has a third approved for funding and submitted three additional proposals for funding consideration that are under review. Collaborative partners have pledged approximately $2 million each for the next 10 years toward research projects that support their respective individual missions as well as collaborative projects.
The S.C. Bioengineering Alliance was formed in 1985 to promote, strengthen and develop bioengineering research, education and technology transfer around the state. One of the alliance’s recent advancements is planning construction on a 100,000-square-foot bioengineering/cancer genomics building on the MUSC campus. The building will house engineering students and faculty from MUSC, USC and Clemson who will work together with MUSC’s life and health science students and faculty.
“There’s no doubt that cooperation is at an all time high—if you didn’t have football competition it would’ve happened a long time ago. But I think it can be better, frankly,” said USC’s Pastides. “Having said that, there is still a competitive side, too. Our main job is to advance our individual universities.”
Pastides agrees that the state’s commitment to more funding for research and more collaboration between research universities is a step in the right direction for South Carolina’s future as a national competitor.
“I think it gives me a lot of hope that there’s a new partnership between the state and the universities—an understanding that we need help from each other,” Pastides said. “I would say there is cause of optimism that in the future South Carolina will be like North Carolina and Virginia were in the past. Hopefully things will continue to get better.”
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