UMass Chief To Push For Med School Funds, Grants
New University of Massachusetts President Robert L. Caret said he intends to push hard for state funding and public research grants, which are vital to UMass Medical School and the Worcester area economy.
"I think states just need to step up to the plate," Caret said during a visit today to North High in Worcester. "I really am sensitive to (the fact that) they have other budget issues. But the bottom line is you just can't let education go."
Caret met with several business people this morning in Worcester before visiting North High with UMass and city officials. He is in the middle of a four-day statewide bus tour.
‘Lifeblood' Funding
Caret called research funding the "lifeblood" of the research at the medical school and crucial to discoveries that will serve society in the future. (The school receives more than $250 million in research funding annually.)
Caret said he was heartened to hear recently that there may be a small uptick in federal funding next year for the National Institute of Health and National Institute of Science, despite the push among some in Congress for deep budget cuts. That would mean research funding would not drop, as some had feared.
In 1996, the medical school partnered with North High and other Worcester schools, as well as Abbott Bioresearch Center, Quinsigamond Community College and others to form the Worcester Pipeline Collaborative. The program pushes minority and economically disadvantaged students toward careers in health care and the sciences.
Kudos For North High Program
Caret said he was impressed by the North High program and said there are public-private workforce partnerships at other UMass campuses that seek to steer area high school students into nursing and STEM careers.
"Each campus does its own things and most of those things are pretty good," Caret said.
Caret said he may push for an analysis of the programs across the state to make sure they're as successful as possible. He said some programs may be scalable and could become models for other campuses.
"It would be nice if (we could) review it all and figure out the ones that work the best to give us the biggest return on investment," he said.
CORRECTION: The original version of this story incorrectly characterized the five-year capital plan recently approved by the University of Massachusetts board of trustees. The plan includes the construction of the $400 million Albert Sherman Center, which is already underway, but does not include additional research buildings for the medical school campus.
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