Introduction to the University of Missouri

The University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) is an outstanding state institution that is one of only six universities nationwide with schools of medicine, nursing, health professions, veterinary medicine, agriculture, engineering, journalism, law, and a university hospital all on the same campus. MU has an outstanding research infrastructure in life sciences and is ranked first among public AAU universities in growth of federal research funding for the period 1994-2005.

MU also has numerous other distinctions:

1. the largest and most powerful university-owned research reactor in the world
2. one of only 12 NCI cancer nanotechnology platforms
3. the only NIH funded national swine resource and research center
4. one of thirteen regional biocontainment laboratories in the nation
5. the second largest research animal diagnostic laboratory (RADIL) in the country
6. one of only 3 mutant mouse regional resource centers in the nation
7. one of only 12 sites chosen for participation in the new NCI Comparative Oncology Trials Consortium
8. the only university in the nation to hold three major NIH national centers in comparative medicine

Perhaps the biggest asset at MU is the existence of a strong, unique interdisciplinary and collaborative academic culture. For example, the Departments of Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, and Nutritional Sciences are uniquely administered across multiple schools and colleges (Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture, and Human Environmental Sciences). Similarly, the Bond Life Sciences Center, as one example among several, houses collaborating interdisciplinary research faculty from six schools and colleges. Beyond this unique research infrastructure, MU hosts several research programs that are producing world-class translational science discoveries that have the capacity to provide national leadership in selected fields.

Examples of these outstanding “signature” research programs at MU include radiopharmaceutical science, comparative medicine, nutraceutical science, and microcirculation. Nuclear scientists at MU have invented a number of important FDA-approved cancer therapies, including Therasphere ® for liver cancer, Quadramet ® for bone cancer pain, and Ceratec for brain imaging to diagnose stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and other conditions.

In addition to outstanding interdisciplinary research infrastructure and programs, MU also has an exceptional graduate education environment; MU is one of only 12 universities west of the Mississippi ranked as “Doctoral/Research Universities – Extensive” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and MU has been recognized by NSF as one of the nation’s top 10 universities for successfully integrating research into undergraduate education.

Furthermore, MU is recognized as a national leader in the implementation of Problem-based Learning (PBL) within the medical school curriculum. Another unique relevant strength at MU is the rich culture of service to the community and the tradition of engagement with the stakeholders of the state which is reflected by one of the nation’s finest University Extension Programs and an exceptional state-wide Telehealth Network. Collectively, these many educational and research distinctions offer the potential to host a truly outstanding CTSA program on the MU campus.