Our nation’s academic medical centers are crucial to the future of health care in our country and throughout the world. Yet public opinion polls indicate that few people, even those living in cities that have academic medical centers, understand the complex nature of these vital institutions and the roles they play in our society.

An academic medical center is composed of an accredited medical school and one or more affiliated teaching hospitals whose medical staff are faculty physicians from the medical school. In the United States there are 125 academic medical centers with approximately 400 closely affiliated hospitals.

The nation’s academic medical centers train future physicians, other health professionals, and research scientists. They conduct more than half the total research supported by the National Institutes of Health, and provide the clinical research settings where scientific discoveries are translated into advances in patient care. Academic medical centers serve as regional referral centers for highly specialized medical services, and they provide a large proportion of the country’s charity care.

From my standpoint as a community volunteer who is privileged to chair the University of Washington Academic Medical Center Board, I can assure you that the faculty, staff, and students of the center are worthy of your support. The center is third among all academic medical centers, and first among public academic medical centers in the receipt of federal funding for biomedical research. Many major discoveries have taken place at the UW Academic Medical Center. These discoveries have changed the course of science and medical care. And today, the center has ongoing research programs on nearly every aspect of health and disease, and in the basic sciences fundamental to medicine.

To prepare the health-care professionals and scientists of tomorrow, the UW Academic Medical Center student body includes 780 medical students, 440 Ph.D. students in the basic sciences, 1,030 medical and surgical residents, 750 post-doctoral fellows, 155 physician assistant trainees, and 175 students in allied health programs (physical and occupational therapy, medical technology, and prosthetics and orthotics). Its educational programs are regarded as among the best in the country.

In fulfilling its role to care for the needy, UW Academic Medical Center hospitals account for more than 60 percent of the charity health care provided by hospitals in King County and more than one-third of the total provided state wide.

The UW Academic Medical Center excels in an area especially important to me – community service. Through such efforts as students running the Community Health Advancement Program and faculty donating their time and services to worthy causes, the UW Academic Medical Center is an exemplary public institution committed to addressing needs of nearby and distant communities.

I hope that you enjoy reading in this 2001 Dean’s Report about some of the specific ways the UW Academic Medical Center shines in carrying out its research, education, patient care, and community service activities. My hope is that these examples will bolster your understanding of the essential roles that the UW Academic Medical Center fulfills in our community.

Boh Dickey
Chair, University of Washington Academic Medical Center Board