A NEW RESEARCH STRATEGIC PLAN FOR SUNY UPSTATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE Saravanan Thangamani, Upstate; Chair, Chris Morley, Upstate; Margaret Formica, Upstate; Telisa M. Stewart, Upstate; Brian F. Leydet, ESF; Hyatt Green, ESF; Lee A. Newman, ESF; Mary B. Collins, ESF; Telisa M. Stewart, ESF; Maureen Fellows, ESF A concise narrative describing current strengths and capabilities. Summary: Our current strength includes faculty with diverse area of expertise in environmental and public health, microbiology and eco-epidemiology. Proximity to and relationship with SUNY ESF provides excellent opportunity to initiate innovative collaborative research programs that bridge environmental/ecology researchers and clinicians. The core facilities at Upstate and equipment availability at ESF are key strengths that has spurred innovation. In particular, the strategic recruitment of recent hires in Vector-borne infectious diseases area, and the construction of a vector biocontainment facility will advance Upstate’s capacity to secure larger programmatic grants on emerging infectious diseases and will foster collaborative initiatives with ESF on the ecology of infectious diseases. 1. Center for Environmental Health and Medicine (CEHM) has a strong leader with excellent potential. 2. Proximity to and relationship with ESF is critical and should be leveraged. 3. The institution is filled with brilliant, incredibly motivated and hard-working people with diverse areas of expertise that can propel this area forward (population/public health, epidemiology/biostatistics, environmental health, microbiology, etc.), well-established labs and a Center that incorporates environmental health and is well-poised for further expansion, as well as established local/regional connections. 4. The core facilities and available equipment are an important Upstate strength that has spurred innovation. 5. Increasing strengths in VBDs. VBL will advance the Universities capabilities. Upstate’s molecular biology core is an obvious strength. Upstate’s ties to ESF bring a breadth of environmental experts (under one roof ) that is unique when comparing other institutions where biology departments are small or are fractured by subdisciplines. Action items: 1. We cannot be a leader in all areas of environmental health and medicine. We have to focus on our current strengths and capitalize on them. With the recent hires and investment into CEHM and VBL, it is prudent to make additional investments (eco-epidemiologists, public health scientists, eco-modelers and research core facilities) to strengthen our capacity on environmental/ecological consequences on human health with a strong emphasis on vector-borne diseases.
90
