Published on Dec. 19, 2019

Updated on Dec. 20, 2019

As we close the fall term and head into winter break, we would like to take a moment to thank the many staff, faculty and students who have dedicated their time and talents toward the development of the NextGen Precision Health Institute at MU. It is through the work of our remarkable community at Mizzou that we will bring new discoveries to those who need them most, here in Missouri and around the world.

We are eager to share some highlights of the progress thus far, as well as some next steps as we chart a course for the future together.

Vision

We seek to capitalize on our unique combination of research strengths and our rich interdisciplinary culture to solve grand health care challenges. This work further demonstrates our commitment as Missouri’s flagship, land-grant university, and one of the nation’s leading research institutions.

This is about much more than a building, but rather a broader effort to revolutionize how our scientists, scholars and industry partners work together to harness our best ideas — in the sciences, medicine, humanities, and others — to push the boundaries of personalized health.

We continue to refine the mission and vision for the institute with the help of our many stakeholders, and we welcome your continued feedback on that process. If you’d like to be more involved in this effort, please contact precisionhealthinstitute@missouri.edu.

Construction

Construction of the largest comprehensive research facility on campus since 2004 continues on schedule, slated to finish by fall 2021. The basement exterior walls are finished, floor slabs of a microscopy area are in place and crews have poured almost half of the concrete columns.

The facility at MU will provide tools and resources to scholars throughout our university and will anchor many activities for the statewide NextGen Precision Health Initiative, which involves enhanced collaboration among the four UM System universities. The MU facility will be the nexus for unprecedented collaboration among all who come to utilize its state-of the-art capabilities.

Planning

To further refine the vision, clarify operations and implementation moving forward, we are reinvisioning our planning group. This larger group – including dozens of staff and faculty from a variety of disciplines – will work in committees to make recommendations for recruiting diverse talent, operating the facility, optimizing our research opportunities and collaborations, designing features of the facility and effectively communicating the power and benefits of this effort to our many stakeholders.

Three committees will focus on the following areas: 1) faculty and research, 2) operations, and 3) external relations. Provost Ramchand and UM System Vice President for Finance Ryan Rapp will lead an executive committee tasked with refining our overall mission and ensuring coordination between the three committees. This executive committee will report to both the UM System President and MU Chancellor.

Partnerships

We continue to garner strong support for this effort. Whether it’s the Missouri Legislature, our partnerships with the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs and Siemens Healthineers, among others, or the encouragement from our generous donors. We are so thrilled by the outpouring of support for our larger ambitions around precision health.

We share this from Jim Fitterling, an alumnus and the CEO of Dow, who recently gave $6 million to the institute:

“Knowing that the University of Missouri will be transforming health care makes me very proud to be a Tiger. As a cancer survivor, I’m keenly interested in advancing research that helps patients and their families enjoy better outcomes and qualities of life.”

We are grateful that these critical partners have put their trust in Mizzou, in all of you: our extremely talented faculty, staff and students.

Again, please let us know if you’d like to be more involved in this effort by contacting us through the email above. We will continue to share information about our progress.

Thank you, and M-I-Z!

Alexander N. Cartwright, PhD, Chancellor

Latha Ramchand, PhD, Provost