MUSC Reports Record Research Funding, Record Graduate Numbers

Contact: Heather Woolwine
843-792-7669
woolwinh@musc.edu

May 20, 2016

CHARLESTON, SC – The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Board of Trustees held its scheduled meeting May 19. Kathleen Brady, M.D., Ph.D., vice president for research, delivered a strong report on the expanding research enterprise. “Research year-to-date totals about $207 million, almost 25 million more than at this time last year, with funding up from NIH and corporate sources." MUSC is poised to surpass its previous record research funding total of $247 million (fiscal year 2015) in fiscal year 2016, which ends on June 30.
MUSC Provost Mark S. Sothmann, Ph.D., advised the trustees of a record-breaking year for MUSC graduates as well. On Friday, May 20, 600 students will participate in commencement ceremonies, with 79 bachelor’s, 63 master’s, and 458 doctoral students receiving degrees. Counting all of the MUSC graduates from June 1, 2015 through May 20, 2016, translates to a benchmark of 978 students who earned MUSC health care degrees in this academic year.

In the Diversity and Inclusion report presented by Willette Burnham, Ph.D., the university’s chief diversity officer, trustees learned some of the demographics concerning this largest-ever graduating class: 3 percent Latino, 8.3 percent African-American (self-identified by racial groups); 69 percent female / 31 percent male; and 75 percent from South Carolina (instate) / 25 percent out of state.

The board took time to issue a resolution in honor of Provost Sothmann, who is stepping down from his position at the end of June. The resolution expressed the trustees’ gratitude for his “profound and positive impact on the long-term well-being, growth and development of MUSC” as well as his “nine years of service characterized by humility, integrity, and commitment to the highest standards.” Sothmann has served MUSC in a number of senior-level administrative roles and will join the faculty in the College of Health Professions in July.

“To be part of MUSC and part of Charleston has been a gift,” Sothmann said. “I want to thank all the people I’ve worked with over the years. I’ve taken more from them than I’ve given.”

The Board of Trustees also received progress reports on:

• The construction of the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and Women’s Pavilion, which is set to break ground in August.
• The opening of three new primary care facilities in the Charleston metropolitan area.
• Legislative relations efforts to expand MUSC’s statewide telemedicine network and garner funds for deferred maintenance and to retire debt.

About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is the oldest medical school in the South, as well as the state’s only integrated, academic health sciences center with a unique charge to serve the state through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and more than 850 residents in six colleges: Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. The state’s leader in obtaining biomedical research funds, in fiscal year 2019, MUSC set a new high, bringing in more than $284 million. Find out more about our academic programs.

As the health care system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest quality and safest patient care while educating and training generations of outstanding health care providers and leaders to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. Patient care is provided at 14 hospitals with approximately 2,500 beds and five additional hospital locations in development, more than 350 telehealth sites and connectivity to patients’ homes, and nearly 750 care locations situated in all regions of South Carolina. In 2021, for the seventh consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina. Learn more about clinical patient services.

MUSC and its affiliates have collective annual budgets of $4.4 billion. The nearly 25,000 MUSC team members include world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers and scientists who deliver groundbreaking education, research, technology and patient care.