The University of Maryland, Baltimore, is the founding institution of the University System of Maryland.
The university includes schools of dentistry, law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and social work as well as an interdisciplinary graduate school.
The campus is affiliated withthe University of Maryland Medical System.
Dr. David Ramsay became president of the university in 1994. He discussed his vision for UMB recently with The Examiner.
Q How does a 200-year-old urban institution continue to grow?
A We?ve been lucky with the development of the Biopark on the other side of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
The space is for commercial matters, but if we see an exciting recruitment opportunity, we have the lab space.
For instance, the recruitment of Claire Fraser-Liggett to start the Institute of Genome Sciences, we couldn?t have done it if we didn?t have the space.
A couple of years ago, the Red Cross had labs out in Rockville, and they decided to get out of the research business.
You had this group of scientists who were essentially going to break up.
We said to them, “You can stay together, and you can stay in Maryland.”
We brought them up here.
Q Does hosting well-known researchers like Fraser-Liggett help attract business residents to the park?
A It does.
The idea is to bring the private companies in, or have a home for companies that are developed out of the university.
When we started this five years ago, we had started 25 companies with research done here.
Only two were located in Maryland.
Q The university has pulled all the stops for the bicentennial celebration. What impact will this have on the future of the school?
A It?s a marvelous way to bring people together, because we are going to launch our capital campaign in early October.
This place started as a medical school exactly 200 years ago, and it was a public medical school.
The Maryland Legislature gave us the name University of Maryland, Baltimore, in 1812, so you have this marvelous five-year bookend of an opportunity to capitalize on.
Q What do you see in the future of the university and your role with it?
A I think a very important role for a university like this is to try to help the state not only maintain its competitiveness in the life sciences, but improve its position.
Maryland tops the list of funding in terms of research grants, because we have some huge federal institutions but also because we have some major research institutions that are writing grants.
But we?re somewhere in the middle of the list in terms of the translation of research into the private sector.
It?s a very competitive game.
A lot of other states are putting a pretty significant investment into it.
Massachusetts just approved $1 billion, not only for research infrastructure for universities, but also for grants for startups.
I think one of the things I would like to see is the state, research institutions and the business community come together, so we can improve our competitiveness.
Q What do you expect to learn in the next five years based on research being conducted here?
A That?s a difficult one.
A lot of these advancements, when they come, there?s sort of a serendipity with a lot of achievements.
In terms of research, we?re going to see a lot more of what we call personalized medicine.
We?re going to find out by somebody?s genetic makeup which drugs are going to work better in that situation.
Instead of pharmaceutical companies making big batches of a huge drug they can give everybody, it?s going to be more personal.
FAST FACTS
» Founded in 1807, Maryland?s first public university received its official title ? The University of Maryland, Baltimore ? by an act of the General Assembly in 1812.
» It is the fifth-oldest of 125 medical schools in the United States and the oldest public medical school.
» Undergraduate students: 799, including:
» Nursing: 674
» Dental Hygiene: 70
» Medical Technologists 55
» Faculty: 2,212
» Total employees: 6,615
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI
» Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd I: 1856 graduate of the University of Maryland Medical Department and the Maryland doctor implicated and imprisoned for aiding John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
» Frank Cho: 1996 graduate of the School of Nursing. Born Duk Hyun Cho, he is an American comic strip and comic book creator, writer and illustrator, best known for his series Liberty Meadows.
» U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski: 1965 graduate degree from the University of Maryland School of Social Work.
» Gov. Martin O?Malley: 1988 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law.
