Message from Dennis Okamoto, Chair of the UW Medicine Board

	Dennis I. Okamoto

This year, as it has throughout its history as the nation’s leading public medical research institution, UW Medicine has made major strides in discovering and applying new knowledge. Two of the three new national genome research centers will be located at the UW, thereby expanding UW Medicine’s already preeminent position in genome sciences. Genome-based research holds promise in determining why individuals are susceptible to certain diseases and resistant to others. Genome-based studies of infectious agents, for example, may lead to better drugs to fight diseases, especially in the tropics where such diseases take a heavy toll.

In other areas of research, this year UW Medicine scientists have made advances in understanding heart disease and cancer, and have opened new directions in the study of neurological diseases and immunological disorders. UW scientists also are creating new computational tools for the rapid gathering and analysis of data in many fields of investigation.

UW research findings have the potential to improve the human condition. Several of the UW’s partner universities in the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) region also have recently received major National Institutes of Health grants to increase their research activities. This investment of our tax dollars in research has both humanitarian and economic returns. Translating research findings into appropriate, effective screening, diagnostic or treatment applications provides a public good while strengthening the region’s financial base.

As a business executive and member of the governor-appointed Board of Directors of the Washington Technology Center, I have learned how biotech firms and other industries rely on innovations coming out of university biomedical research. Development of these ideas enhances the creation and retention of jobs in companies throughout our state and region, and has made Seattle one of the leading biotech centers in the world. UW Medicine continues to build programs that assure that university-industry relations are conducted in ways that preserve scientific integrity and ethics while helping companies form and grow.

Research is also critical to the social fabric of our communities. Many UW medical students and faculty study unmet health-care needs in underserved urban and rural areas, devise service projects, and then evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions. Their work has helped improve access to care for the disadvantaged. The level of support UW Medicine receives from private individuals validates the importance people place on medical research.

Advancing knowledge. Building our economy. Strengthening our communities. Helping individuals. These are among the key roles biomedical research plays in our region—roles UW Medicine will continue to champion now and far into the future.

Dennis I. Okamoto
Chair, UW Medicine Board