Distributed October 24, 2002
For Immediate Release

News Service Contact: Scott Turner



Campaign for Brown Medical School exceeds $70-million goal

The Campaign for Brown Medical School raised $73.2 million to support professorships, scholarships, library resources, a proposed Life Sciences Building and other key elements of its mission of teaching, research, community service and patient care.


PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Brown Medical School announced today the successful completion of its first full-fledged fund-raising campaign. The $73.2-million Campaign for Brown Medical School surpassed its $70-million goal.

The five-year fundraising effort for the 27-year-old Medical School was designed to strengthen its innovative role in providing a liberal medical education, its place as a leading research institution and its role in improving health care in Rhode Island and the nation.

“In a mere quarter century, the Brown Medical School has proved to be a significant asset to our University, our region and our nation,” said Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons in a letter that will be shared with donors during an end-of-campaign celebration on The College Green, Thursday evening, Oct. 24, 2002.

The Brown Medical School “has helped to attract outstanding faculty and exceptional students,” Simmons wrote. “It has transformed the landscape of local health care by promoting pioneer research and making the highest-quality treatments available in our affiliated hospitals. It has contributed to the profession by producing a generation of superbly trained physicians.

“The achievements of this Campaign will help Brown continue to position itself on the forefront of education, scientific inquiry and commitment to community.”

The campaign reinforced key elements of the Brown Medical School. A total of $29.8 million was raised to strengthen the faculty. The funding creates endowments for eight new clinical and basic science professorships. Two additional professorships are currently in the process of being funded through the generosity of donors.

Endowing professorships allows the Brown Medical School to continue to attract and retain outstanding physician-scientists, to provide them the resources necessary for their research, and to guarantee them time to teach.

During the campaign, $9.2 million was raised in financial aid, including scholarship funds established by the local CVS Charitable Trust and The FleetBoston Foundation. This financial aid bolsters the school’s ability to interest top-flight students.

Several donors contributed a total of $16 million toward a future Life Sciences Building. The facility is proposed as a center of multidisciplinary teaching, learning and research, designed to foster both intellectual vigor and improvements in health care.

In an age when information is at one’s fingertips, close to $1 million was raised to expand the availability of online medical resources used by students, residents and faculty members. More than $1 million was raised for the annual fund, which is used for scholarships, to upgrade labs, improve student facilities and support professional development.

All told, $9.9 million was received in undesignated gifts – monies that will be used to further support faculty members, students, the library and other resources.

“The Division of Biology and Medicine, so generously supported by this campaign, is central to the University's mission of research, education, and contribution to society,” said Provost Robert J. Zimmer. “It is a locus of original and important scientific inquiry, outstanding teachers, and intellectually engaged and committed students. This successful campaign will dramatically enhance our capabilities.”

The Brown Medical School is Rhode Island’s only school of medicine. It is affiliated with seven local teaching hospitals. Together they attract more than $100 million in federal and private research funding to the state annually. About 330 alumni of Brown Medical School practice medicine in Rhode Island. Nearly 2,100 physicians in Rhode Island and southeast New England have faculty ties to the School.

Chancellor Emeritus Artemis Joukowsky chaired the campaign. “This is also a time to celebrate the Medical School’s vital partnerships with our hospitals and the enormous mutual benefits that flow from them, including the priceless improvements in the quality of medical care that these collaborations bring to our region,” he said.

Student and faculty participation are among the greatest legacies of the campaign, said Joukowsky, who as part of his support for the campaign offered a challenge match to every gift made by students. More than 90 percent of medical students participated. Faculty contributed more than $2.2 million.

“This effort has helped secure the place of Biology and Medicine as the jewel in the crown of the research enterprise at Brown,” said Ronald D. Vanden Dorpel, senior vice president for advancement.

The Brown Medical School

The Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME) is an innovative approach to study in the life sciences. This eight-year program leads to both bachelor and M.D. degrees. PLME combines the open curriculum of the College with the competency-based curriculum of the Medical School. It accounts for the majority of the medical students at Brown. More than 320 students are enrolled in Brown Medical School.

In the past decade, the Brown Medical School has:

  • Introduced an innovative new curriculum for medical education. The “M.D. 2000” curriculum has become a national model.
  • Added 12 new professorships across a range of medical specialties and recruited nationally prominent faculty whose programs of research improved patient care in Rhode Island.
  • Created a Master of Public Health degree, the first and only such program in Rhode Island.
  • Launched a variety of new interdisciplinary centers, institutes and programs, including the Brain Sciences Program, Brown University Oncology Group, Center for Statistical Sciences and Program in Public Health.

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