Welcome from the COO

C. “Russ” Manley
Chief Operating Officer

At the end of FY 2013, I am happy to report that the Department of Medicine is vibrant and strong, more than able to carry on a legacy of superior clinical care, research, and education:

• Our institutional colleagues at the UVA Medical Center, and our dedicated physicians and staff in the University Physicians Group, have been integral partners in the successful expansion of our clinical mission. Clinical productivity and patient volumes have grown almost 20 percent over the past three years, despite increased competitive pressures from other providers in Charlottesville and the surrounding region. Our programs are well aligned with the strategic initiatives of the health system, most notably in cancer and cardiovascular care, and our faculty and staff are institutional leaders in patient safety and quality initiatives – the success of which are evidenced, in part, by continued improvements in the Department’s mortality indices, particularly in cardiovascular, pulmonary and general medicine. We are partnering with the School of Medicine and UVA Medical Center for a $10 million investment over three years to advance clinical care and research in gastroenterology, palliative care, oncology, cardiovascular medicine and solid organ transplantation.
• Despite a shrinking NIH budget and the end of research dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), our faculty have managed to increase their extramural research support over the past three years, through greater reliance on non-governmental sources of funding, including industry and foundations. They produce in excess of twenty-five external funding applications per month.
• We are transforming the manner in which teaching occurs on the general medicine inpatient services. Interest in our resident training programs is high, with students applying from the top medical schools in the country. We recently interviewed in excess of 500 applicants to fill 35 resident positions.
• In FY 2013, our faculty increased their productivity despite the unprecedented challenges effecting academic medical centers across the country. We recently completed an exceptional period of faculty recruitment that will add almost 40 new faculty members to our ranks in FY 2014. With the added teaching, clinical and research capacity these new colleagues bring, we will be better equipped than ever to achieve our strategic goals.

I am proud to serve in the Department of Medicine at UVA, with its long tradition of success in all its core missions: routine and advanced clinical care, groundbreaking research, and nationally recognized educational programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

C. “Russ” Manley
Chief Operating Officer