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Medical School to Buy Research Lab

Posted on: Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 21:00 CST

By PATRICIA ALEX, STAFF WRITER

Even as word came from Trenton on Tuesday that the state's medical university would suffer a 20 percent cut in state funding, the school approved a plan to spend $4.5 million to buy a renowned research lab that owes it $6.8 million in back rent.

The Public Health Research Institute, which specializes in the study of infectious diseases, will now be affiliated with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The institute sits on land owned by UMDNJ in Newark's Central Ward.

Under the agreement, the back rent will be forgiven, and the institute will be affiliated with UMDNJ's New Jersey Medical School. The institute's staff of about 125 scientists will be on the university payroll.

The costs to UMDNJ will be offset by nearly $12 million in research grants the institute brings with it, university officials said.

"The arrangement is a win for us," said Dr. Robert Johnson, dean of the medical school. "They are really good, top-notch researchers, with projects all over the world."

Johnson and others characterized the acquisition as an investment in research that would enhance the medical school's reputation. The deal will also get the university out of a lease agreement with the institute that has led to lawsuits.

The laboratory has been on the cutting edge of infectious disease research since its founding in New York in the 1940s. It has done work on the smallpox vaccine, the discovery of the gene for toxic shock syndrome and the identification of a multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis strain. Its scientists will now be attached to the medical school's microbiology department.

The lab was involved in an incident last year in which it reported that lab mice infected with the plague had gone missing. The mice were never found, and health officials said they posed little threat to human health.

The trustees also reorganized Tuesday, naming former Attorney General Robert J. DelTufo as the new chairman.

DelTufo promised a stronger board to lead the institution out of the financial and legal troubles that resulted in its being placed under the direction of a federal monitor.

"In the past, boards have been somewhat marginalized," he said. "We have to be more aggressive in asserting our power."

The federal monitor, Herbert J. Stern, said he forwarded to the board the names of two candidates to lead a more independent office of compliance for the university. Compliance officers make sure all state and federal regulations are followed.

In recommendations forwarded to the board, Stern, a former U.S. attorney and federal judge, proposed that the compliance office report directly to the board. In the past, compliance officers have reported to the legal department. The university's compliance officer and legal chief were both forced to resign in December after the U.S. Attorney's Office found evidence of double billing at UMDNJ's University Hospital.

Stern said his recommendations would "go far in preventing the problems of the past from happening again."

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E-mail: alex@northjersey.com

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Source: Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.

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