Bloomberg School of Public Health
Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
Thursday, October 27, 2005 | 3:00 p.m. | 901st Meeting

Members Absent: Drs. William Brody and Steven Knapp.

Guests: Dr. Sharon Krag; Professor Stephen Teret; Mr. Herbert Hansen; and Mss. Diane Glover and Donna Helm.

Meeting Convened: Dean Michael Klag convened the meeting at 3 p.m.

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the 900th Advisory Board meeting of September 29, 2005 were approved.

Remarks by the Dean

Dr. Miller announced that an undergraduate student on the Homewood campus has died as a result of bacterial meningitis. His sudden death has caused a great deal of concern in the Hopkins community. The course of the student's illness was very brief. Persons in close association with the student are being contacted and provided with preventive antibiotics.

Dean Klag reported on the recent Board of Trustees meeting. The University-wide fund-raising campaign has been extended for a year and the size of the campaign increased from $2 billion to $3 billion. The largest portion is for new facilities for the School of Medicine. The School of Public Health has not yet reached its goal. Vice President for Development Robert Lindgren has announced his departure from the University to become president of Randolph-Macon College. Retention of major gift officers has been problematic. It is not yet clear what the most appropriate and cost-effective solution to this concern will be.

Dr. Klag acknowledged Dr. Groopman's critical role in the recent Comprehensive Cancer Center site visit. Two issues raised by the site visit team were faculty diversity and the role of informatics. The long-standing search for the head of the Cancer Control group of the Comprehensive Cancer Center will continue. Dr. Klag will discuss collaboration with the School of Medicine around the NIH Roadmap grants that will transform the General Clinical Research Centers. This is a very large initiative requiring substantial commitment from the Schools. He briefly described the new "Global Field Experience Fund" to make small awards to students engaging in hands-on practice or research experiences in domestic or international settings. The fund will be linked to credit- bearing experiences such as Special Studies. Nominations for 2006 University Society of Scholars have been requested from the professorial faculty. The Society of Scholars recognizes contributions by former faculty and by students who completed post-doctoral work at the University.

Dr. Miller reported that the Broadway garage has closed and will be taken down, and that the Board of Trustees has approved construction of two new clinical buildings that will replace outdated facilities; another new building devoted to educating School of Medicine students will be constructed as well and will include some common space. Dr. Hill then announced that a new building will be constructed adjacent to the present School of Nursing building that will include additional space for Nursing as well as for the Hopkins Bioethics Institute. Dean Hill has invited Dean Klag to be a part of the architect selection and site planning committee in anticipation of future adjacent building(s) by the School of Public Health.

Report of the Faculty Senate

Dr. Spannhake reported that Dr. Klag was the guest at the most recent Faculty Senate meeting. A survey of faculty is being conducted to identify issues to be addressed in meetings between faculty and members of the Committee on Appointments and Promotions. Ms. Nancy Fink will represent the Faculty Senate at the November 17, 2005 workshop on "Worklife" sponsored by the University Human Resources office. The agenda of the Joint Faculty Senate/Committee of the Whole meeting on November 17 will include an update on the self study process for the CEPH reaccreditation, the NIH on-line application process, and review of changes in the PPM on departmental reviews as proposed by the department chairs.

Other Business

Potential Agreement with American Legacy Foundation

Dr. Holtgrave reviewed a draft agreement with the American Legacy Foundation, which has approached the School about developing a partnership to expand activities in tobacco research and policy with a domestic focus. The "National Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy" would enable its members to develop collaborative activities and seek funding from external sources. Dr. Klag noted that an earlier discussion about this potential partnership indicated the importance of taking into account the academic mission of the School. Dr. Samet commented that the domestic focus of the Foundation would be synergistic with the School's Institute for Global Tobacco Control, but cautioned that the partnership would need to be real in every way. Dr. Brookmeyer commented on the exciting prospect of identifying internship opportunities for students.

Dr. Holtgrave reported that the Institute would provide seed money for small projects, and that the funding would come from the American Legacy Foundation. Several additional comments related to the importance of School and faculty oversight of any faculty appointments, and that appropriate faculty appointments should be provided on a part-time basis. While there was general consensus in support of the agreement, several administrative issues were raised that would need to be worked out in advance. Dr. Holtgrave will work with Ms. Helm and others to move this agreement forward.

2001-2005 Sponsored Activity Report

Ms. Helm first noted that NIH has announced a timeline for requiring that all grant submissions will be electronic, however the timeline is at odds with the parallel timeline for initiating the JHU HopkinsOne pre-award segment. Thus, the timeline has been accelerated. COEUS software purchased from MIT will interface between HopkinsOne and electronic NIH grant submissions. The system will be tested in Spring 2006 in preparation for partial adoption on October 1, 2006 (for all R0-1s) and full-scale adoption by May 2007. A plan for training faculty across the University within the next year is being developed. Ms. Helm and Dr. Krag will review the plans for jointly accommodating the NIH and HopkinsOne systems at the November 17 Joint Faculty Senate/Committee of the Whole meeting.

Ms. Helm then reviewed the 2001-2005 Sponsored Activity Report. Sponsored funding has been essentially flat over the past three years. While organized research has increased modestly, instruction and other sponsored activities have decreased over the same period, as have the F&A recovery rates. The Advisory Board discussed several reasons why the F&A rates have decreased, among them that the size of the faculty grew while the sponsored activities did not share the same growth rates. Dr. Zeger expressed concern that more of the NIH budget will be consumed by very large projects at the expense of smaller RO-1 types of funding streams. He encouraged the School to move forward in a coordinated fashion to attract or participate in large awards.

Ms. Helm reported that funding success rates have decreased, both in the School and across the University. She then reviewed funding activities within the departments, and commented on decreased flow of AID funds to the Center for Communication Programs.

In reviewing the declines in F&A recovery, the Advisory Board discussed the mix of sponsored activities in which the School is engaged, and the critical need to develop new sources of unrestricted funds to balance the School's budget, including new academic initiatives and philanthropy.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:25 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Robin Fox

© 2005 The Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland. All rights reserved.
Last updated 29Nov05 by dgips@jhu.edu