Bloomberg School of Public Health
Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
Thursday, April 27, 2006 | 3:00 p.m. | 907th Meeting

Members Absent: Drs. William Brody, Robert Blum, Ron Brookmeyer, Diane Griffin, Edward Miller, and Jonathan Samet.

Guests: Dr. Sharon Krag; Mr. Herbert Hansen; and Ms. Diane Glover.

Meeting Convened: Provost Steven Knapp convened the meeting at 3 p.m.

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the 906th Advisory Board meeting of March 30, 2006 were approved.

Remarks by the Provost

Provost Knapp acknowledged the recent death of Dr. Cecile Pickart after a long battle with cancer. Dr. Pickart formerly chaired the School Committee on Appointments and Promotions and also served on the search committee for the dean of the School of Public Health. Dr. McMacken announced that a memorial service will be held on July 21, 2006 at 4 pm. Dr. Knapp also commented on the service held recently in memory of Dr. Cheryl Alexander, who died in March.

Dr. Knapp reported that the University is in final stages of the search for the director of the Peabody Institute, and is nearing the end of the search for the Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations. There are several remaining regional campaign trips, including to New York and Boston. The trips involve substantial efforts of local volunteers, offer an opportunity to showcase the faculty, and further involve alumni and friends of the University. The trips have been enthusiastically received by alumni in the six cities where the meetings have been held. Dr. Knapp also reported that the University is seeking to identify new themes for the campaign.

Dr. Knapp noted that the Maryland legislative session was productive for the University, with support for new building projects, stem cell research, and funding from the Sellinger program. He reported that the Advisory Board of the Urban Health Institute (UHI) has asked Dr. Blum to take on the role of interim director as of May 1, 2006. Dr. Yager will chair the UHI Executive Committee that will work to improve the connections between University faculty and academic programs, and the community. The Executive Committee will search for a permanent director, focusing on internal candidates who are familiar with community as well as with the Hopkins culture.

Remarks by the Dean

Dean Klag announced the names of the 2006 Golden Apple awards winners, given by students to faculty for excellence in teaching. The Advisory Board applauded Dr. Zeger, who will be awarded a Golden Apple at Convocation. Dr. Klag thanked the members of the Advisory Board who were able to attend the April 21 reception in honor of the newly appointed and promoted faculty.

Dr. Klag thanked Dr. Goldman for presenting a status report on the Interdepartmental Program in Applied Public Health at the March Advisory Board meeting. He will appoint a small committee to more formally evaluate its accomplishments over the past year. Dr. Klag then announced that the School will have its largest graduating class ever, including approximately 340 MPH students and more than 120 doctoral students.

Report of the Faculty Senate

Dr. Spannhake reported that Dr. Steinwachs and a HopkinsOne representative provided an interesting overview of HopkinsOne at the most recent Faculty Senate meeting. The faculty quality of life survey will be sent in May, and the Senate continues to explore and evaluate School policies for storage and confidentiality of files and documents kept on the School's computer systems.

Other Business

Follow-up to the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing Review Report

Dr. Groopman briefly reviewed the history of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) since its founding in 1981. CAAT has gone through two extensive reviews, one in 1990 and again in 2004. Both reviews had similar findings; CAAT garners a great deal of visibility and respect internationally, due to the leadership of Dr. Alan Goldberg; and CAAT needs to develop an academic role within the School and University, principally through closer connections with the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. A national search is now underway by the Department of Environmental Health Sciences for the new CAAT director. Dr. Lawrence is chairing the search committee. Dr. Lawrence reported that the search committee has met with Dr. Goldberg, and that position advertisements will appear very shortly. He further noted that one of the challenges in identifying a new director is to reassure the CAAT Board while simultaneously increasing links to the School's education and scholarly programs.

The Advisory Board thanked Drs. Groopman and Lawrence for the update.

Conflict of Interest

The Advisory Board briefly discussed a situation where the School of Medicine entered into a relationship with a private company, who then used the Hopkins name in its advertisements, with the permission of the Johns Hopkins Medicine. While the arrangement should have been better vetted in advance, Dr. Knapp noted that the University's present Conflict of Interest Policy does not cover institutional conflict of interest. The University has formed an external review committee to review similar proposals in the future.

Revisions of the PPM on Endowed Chairs

Dr. MacKenzie reminded the Advisory Board that the impetus for this discussion was based on a survey of current uses of funds derived from endowed professorships. The goal of the proposed changes is to provide flexibly as well as to protect both the faculty member and the department from financial risks. The Advisory Board discussed the proposed changes, and approved the revised PPM with minor changes. The Board noted that provisions of gift agreements supercede any other uses of the endowment.

Other Items

The Advisory Board discussed the request by the University for some faculty to recertify their most recent effort reports. There was then an extended discussion about effort reporting, and procedures to assure that the most accurate information is provided. Dr. Klag will set up a small committee to review some of the issues raised during the discussion. The committee will be asked to report and make recommendations at the June retreat of the department chairs and deans.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Robin Fox

© 2006 The Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland. All rights reserved.
Last updated 26Jun06 by dgips@jhu.edu