Susan Wente

Posted by on Monday, June 25, 2012 in June/July 2012.

Susan Wente. Ph.D.

Associate Vice Chancellor for Research

What are the major changes you think will come to Vanderbilt and the Medical Center over the next 10 years?

We will see our physical footprint for research and education missions expand beyond the main campus. We’ll also see continued strengthening in our trans-disciplinary research and education efforts. And finally, I think over the next 10 years, we will begin to see more “dual” degrees (e.g. a Ph.D. in a biomedical science and an MBA, or Ph.D./J.D, or Ph.D./Masters Education) versus the more traditional M.D./Ph.D. The seeds of changes are from the changing economy and jobs.

Where do you see the seeds of those changes now?

The clinical enterprise has already done so with One Hundred Oaks, Williamson County, etc. The new efforts in joint engineering and medicine programs, the new efforts in the M.D. Curriculum 2.0 and updates to our Ph.D. programs (VISP—Vanderbilt International Scholars Program for Ph.D. students; the Med into Grad initiative).

What is happening now at Vanderbilt that has a chance to have impact all over the world?

Our research discovery missions are continuously striving for ground-breaking advances and we have consistently invested in strategic efforts to enable such visions. For example, the work seeded with the last research strategic planning initiative (Personalized Medicine, Drug Discovery, Public Health) is poised to have many impacts.

What are the biggest obstacles or challenges Vanderbilt and the Medical Center will face in the next 10 years?

Changes in funding from the NIH and changes in health care funding models.

What are your hopes for Vanderbilt and the Medical Center in the next 10 years?

That the research and training missions have national and international impacts, and that we continue to train and support the next generation of scientists.