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JAN.
18, 2002 | Using funds from the nationwide tobacco
settlement, scientists in Arkansas will produce an
“explosion” of research to help reduce the death rate
from smoking-related illnesses and stimulate economic
growth, the director of the new Arkansas Biosciences
Institute (ABI) predicted today.
S. Michael Owens, Ph.D., spoke at the first meeting of
the institute’s board at the University of Arkansas
System office in Little Rock. Dr. Owens is a professor
in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in
the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas
for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
The ABI is a partnership of scientists from the
University of Arkansas (UA) Division of Agriculture,
the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
(UAMS), the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (UAF),
Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH), and Arkansas
State University (ASU). It was created as part of the
Tobacco Settlement Proceeds Act, endorsed by 64
percent of voters in a 2000 general election.
”We want to take the dollar from the state and turn
it into three or four dollars,” Dr. Owens said. He
told the board that basic science research has
multiple benefits for Arkansas – attracting top
physicians to UAMS, creating new treatments and
prevention techniques for tobacco-related illnesses,
and spawning new high-technology industries.
Milo
Shult, Ph.D., vice president for agriculture of the
University of Arkansas System, called the ABI the
state’s “best vehicle” for stimulating basic
science research that will improve Arkansas’s public
health and economy.
Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., of UAMS called the
prospects for collaboration among scientists at the
member institutions and elsewhere an important goal.
”I’m passionate about excellence in research,”
he said.
The ABI board elected B. Alan Sugg, Ph.D., president
of the University of Arkansas System, chairman. Dr.
Sugg told the members that tobacco-funded scientific
research will be “a fabulous opportunity for our
state.
”Tobacco
use is the greatest risk factor, other than age, for
cancer,” Dr. Sugg said. Tobacco use also contributes
to other health problems and an estimated 20 percent
of all deaths in Arkansas, he said.
The other board members are: John W. Ahlen, Ph.D.,
president, Arkansas Science and Technology Authority;
Jonathan Bates, M.D., president and chief executive
officer, Arkansas Children’s Hospital; Daniel A.
Casciano, Ph.D., director, National Center for
Toxicological Research; John C. Freeman, regional
president, Union Planters Bank, N.A.; Phillip L.
Rayford, Ph.D., Department of Physiology, UAMS College
of Medicine; Dr. Shult; J. Leslie Wyatt, president,
Arkansas State University; John A. White, Ph.D.,
chancellor, University of Arkansas; and Chancellor
Wilson.
Dr. Owens presented a summary of the research underway
at each of the partner institutions:
*Scientists with the UA Division of Agriculture are
investigating ways in which foods can be grown
containing nutrients that will prevent cancer and
other diseases. They will also build new research
programs linking medicine and tobacco-related
illnesses, such as identifying plant genes and gene
products with medical implications. Much of this
research will be in collaboration with scientific
colleagues at UAMS.
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S. Michael Owens, Ph.D.,
chatted with Phillip Rayford, Ph.D., and John C. Freeman,
members of the ABI board, and the board’s first meeting
Jan.18, 2002. (All photos by JohnPaul Jones)
President B. Alan Sugg, Ph.D.,
of the University of Arkansas System greeted Wesley Burks,
M.D., and Charles Winter, Ph.D., of UAMS.
Jonathan Bates, M.D.,
president of Arkansas Children’s Hospital (left), and
UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., shared a laugh
before the first meeting of the board of the Arkansas
Biosciences Institute.
J. Leslie Wyatt, Ph.D.,
president of Arkansas State University (ASU), brought
Michael E. Dockter, Ph.D., of the University of Tennessee
Health Sciences Center in Memphis, to the meeting of the
Arkansas Biosciences Institute board. Dr. Dockter is a
consultant to ASU for research planning.
University of Arkansas at
Fayetteville Provost Bob Smith, Ph.D.; C. R. Geren, Ph.D.,
UAF associate vice chancellor for research and dean of the
Graduate School; and Don Bobbitt, Ph.D., associate dean
for research in the UAF J. William Fulbright College of
Arts and Sciences, chatted before the first meeting of the
Arkansas Biosciences Institute board in Little Rock
Jan.18, 2002.
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