Byline: Anita Weier The Capital Times
Milwaukee area legislators and the Milwaukee mayor are questioning a plan by UW-Madison for a University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health -- saying that Milwaukee is the obvious location for a public health school.
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents is scheduled to vote on the proposal this week, but four legislators have asked for a delay.
UW-Madison Provost Peter Spear says the matter to be considered by the regents Thursday and Friday at Van Hise Hall on the UW-Madison campus is simply a name change, reflecting programs that have already been established.
But five legislators from both political parties say that public health needs in Milwaukee are the worst in the state, and that the regents should wait until collaborative agreements are worked out between the University of Wisconsin Medical School, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the city of Milwaukee Public Health Department.
Legislators making that request are Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills; Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee; Rep. Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee; Rep. Christine Sinicki, D-Milwaukee; and Rep. Sheldon Wasserman, D-Milwaukee.
'As Milwaukee has the largest urban population in Wisconsin, public health outcomes in Milwaukee have a disproportional effect not just for those living in Milwaukee, but also elsewhere in the state,' Carpenter said in a written statement.
'I'm adding my voice to that of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in urging that any decisions regarding a School of Public Health be developed in conjunction with and participation from Milwaukee's educational and health care community.'
Barrett recently wrote a letter to Phillip Farrell, dean of the UW Medical School, complaining that the UW-Madison had apparently made a unilateral decision without input from Milwaukee authorities.
Because of financial realities, 'the likelihood of establishing a school of public health in Milwaukee drops precipitously if a school of public health already exists in Madison,' Barrett added.
The other four Milwaukee legislators said in a written statement: 'The Board of Regents need to ensure that the citizens of Milwaukee, who bear a disproportionate share of the state's public health problems, are not excluded from the benefits associated with the establishment of a school of public health.'
Spear said, however, that the board should go ahead and act on the matter this week.
'What we are doing is changing the name of the existing Medical School. That name change would reflect existing programs. We already have in place a master's of public health program, which was approved by the Board of Regents in December 2004. The first class started this fall with 31 students. So we are not requesting any new programs,' Spear said this morning.
UW-Madison officials also stressed that society today faces a mix of health problems unlike any other in recorded history - including new infectious diseases, health disparities among population groups, problems related to an aging population and environmental pollution by toxic chemicals.
However, public health schools have traditionally been separate from medical schools. Laura Rasar King, executive director of the Council on Education for Public Health, which accredits such programs, said this morning that 'it would not be possible for them to be accredited as a school of public health in the college of medicine because of the accreditation standards.'
'They can change their name to whatever they want it to be,' she said. 'Accreditation is a voluntary thing.'
Medical School Dean Farrell said Rasar King visited campus last week and the situation is not that straightforward.
'We are not seeking accreditation as a school of public health. We have established a new academic program, a master's in public health, and we will seek accreditation as a program in public health. We have transformed the UW Medical School into a new model, an integrated program of medicine and public health,' Farrell said.
'Integration of public health into our mission does not depend on accreditation. And I anticipate that in three to five years there will be more flexibility about schools of public health. Yale University and Boston College met the criteria. We already have accreditation as a medical school, in part because of public health programs.'
Farrell also stressed that the UW-Madison Medical School is a statewide medical school with 100 sites around the state, including clinics, joint research centers and programs on American Indian reservations.
'We have an NIH grant coming for a national children's health study in Waukesha County, and we have a Center for Urban Population Health in Milwaukee that is a joint program with UW-Milwaukee,' he said. 'We are linking communities around the state with public health.'
Planning for a public health school at UW-Madison can be traced back to 1999 when Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin started the process of becoming a for-profit company. In 2000, the company gave more than $300 million each to the UW-Madison School of Medicine and the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee to make up for the years of tax-free nonprofit status.
An oversight advisory committee was established in 2002 and a Wisconsin Partnership Fund for a Healthy Future was approved by the Board of Regents in 2003. That approval included transformation of the UW-Madison Medical School to a school of medicine and public health, he said.
Spear also stressed that nothing prevents the Medical College of Wisconsin or UW-Milwaukee from creating a school of public health that might have a different focus.
'A focus of our program will be rural public health, so a program in Milwaukee may be complementary,' he said.
The Regents' Education Committee had been scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Thursday to consider the matter, but because of the interest on the part of legislators and the Milwaukee mayor, the rest of the regents will join the committee at 11:30 a.m. at Van Hise Hall. The full Board of Regents were expected to vote on the proposal on Friday at Van Hise.
'The regents should go ahead,' Spear said. 'The academic programs are already in place.'
E-mail: aweier@madison.com
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Peter Spear
