Dear Alumni and Friends:

This issue of Medicine at Michigan features two topics that portray the dynamic leadership and innovation taking place every day at the University of Michigan Medical School and the health system of which it is part: cardiovascular research and treatment, and remarkable advancements in medical imaging techniques that obviate many of the invasive, less accurate diagnostic and treatment-planning procedures of the past.

On September 5, ground was broken and excavation begun for the new U-M Cardiovascular Center, a $199- million, 350,000-square-foot facility being built on the site of Old Main, immediately south of University Hospital. The center, due to open in 2007, will bring together in one place the many disciplines and talents needed to better understand, prevent, diagnose and treat the leading cause of death in the United States.

This integrated approach is becoming fundamental to health care delivery, maximizing communication and cooperation among all the fields of expertise — from cardiology to geriatrics, from psychiatry to surgery — that need to be brought to bear on health and disease, and no other university has a stronger collegial culture than Michigan does. The structure currently being built will house clinics, clinical laboratories, classrooms, patient rooms and operating rooms, while plans move ahead for a crucial companion building which will be devoted to basic science cardiovascular research. The two facilities combined will help Michigan make great strides on behalf of future patients by facilitating the transfer of cardiovascular research from bench to bedside.

Having spent my medical career in the field of radiation oncology, it is especially exciting to me to see the wonderful advances in medical imaging and their clinical application here in the U-M Health System. We have come such a long way since Karl Wilhelm Röntgen, a physics professor in Germany, made his discovery of X-rays in 1895. Much of the progress has come in just the last 30 years. From PET (positron emission tomography), CT (computed tomography) and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), each of which in its way revolutionized our ability to see inside the human body, we now have 16-slice CT scanners and combination PET/ CT equipment that bring incredible accuracy and visual acuity to even the most minute physiological structures. The world of diagnosis and treatment planning has been transformed by this technology, greatly increasing physical comfort and better treatment outcomes for countless patients with a wide variety of health conditions.

The frontiers of medical imaging at Michigan extend into the realm of research as well. The Departments of Radiology and Radiation Oncology received over $21 million in NIH research funding in fiscal year 2002, ranking them as the top radiology departments in the nation. This level of research activity assures that Michigan will be at the forefront of future innovations in medical imaging technology, in ways perhaps unimaginable today.

As the year comes to an end under the new leadership of Bob Kelch, the University's executive vice president for medical affairs who himself is featured in this issue, the U-M Health System and its medical school are poised for a rich and exciting future filled with challenge, promise and discovery, all the while preparing our cadre of the next generation of physicians and researchers. Collectively, and with the ongoing support of alumni and friends, Michigan will continue to be a part of startling new directions in medicine, research and health care delivery, playing a leadership role of which we can all be very proud.

Sincerely,

Allen S. Lichter (M.D. 1972)
Dean