Institutional Environment

Last updated Oct. 3, 2011

 

Children's Research Institute

Children's Research Institute advances state-of-the-art pediatric health care practices through dedicated laboratory and clinical research. The institute focuses solely on initiatives that promise to provide new answers and improved solutions to children's unmet health care needs.

Children's Research Institute is the only research center in Wisconsin dedicated solely to issues of children's health. The institute supports the full continuum of interdisciplinary pediatric research to benefit children's health. The proximity of the research institute to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin is expected to improve access for both researchers and patients to the latest and best developing therapies available in treating pediatric diseases. The research facility has more than 80,000 square feet of wet labs and facilitated access to an additional 120,000 square feet of vivarium space in addition to other support space and administrative support.

430 Children's Research Institute investigators.

2009 Children's Research Institute Extramural Funding Total Awards = $29,995,978.

 

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, founded in 1894, is the only freestanding children's hospital in the state, and serves a geographical region encompassing the state of Wisconsin, the upper peninsula of Michigan, and the northern counties of Illinois. Approximately 93 percent of all pediatric hospital admissions in the greater Milwaukee metropolitan area are to Children's Hospital. In 2009, Parents magazine rated Children's Hospital third in the nation in its Best Children's Hospital survey, and five Children's Hospital specialty areas earned top 10 ratings, including Emergency Medicine - No. 2, Neonatal Care – No. 5, Pulmonary Care – No.7, Cardiac Care – No. 9 and Cancer care – No. 10. Children's Hospital is certified by the American College of Surgeons as a Level I trauma center, the only such pediatric center in the region defined above. Children's Hospital, the flagship facility located near Milwaukee, opened a 12-story, 425,000 square foot hospital expansion for patient rooms and clinics in March 2009, increasing the number of hospital beds to 296, with room for 72 additional in the future.

Among other specialty units, Children's Hospital currently has a 24-bed intensive care unit (cardiac Pediatric Critical Care Unit) for children with known cardiac anomalies requiring surgical or medical management; a 24-bed multispecialty intensive care unit (Surgical-Medical Pediatric Critical Care Unit) for immediate postoperative needs of patients requiring intensive airway management and physiologic monitoring such as those recovering from spinal fusion or trauma requiring surgery; a 24-bed multispecialty intensive care unit (Medical-Surgical Pediatric Critical Care Unit) for children recovering from diabetic ketoacidosis, sepsis, respiratory illness or other problems requiring intensive medical management, including those with special needs; a 24-bed unit (Hematology/Oncology/Transplant Unit) where nurses care for children with cancer or blood disorders and children undergoing bone marrow transplant; and a 24-bed acute care unit (Hematology/Oncology and Immunology) where staff provide care for hematology, immunodeficiency and oncology patients, as well as patients who have undergone liver or kidney transplants, or who have nephrology or rheumatology issues. In addition, Children's Hospital also has a 41-bed unit (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) designed for the individualized care of critically ill newborns and their families from admission to discharge. Infants on this unit have a variety of medical or surgical needs, or both. Infants and families are cared for by interdisciplinary caregivers including neonatal nurses, neonatal nurse practitioners, lactation consultants, physicians, respiratory care practitioners, social workers, dieticians, internal case managers and physical, occupational and speech therapists.

During 2010, 24,615 infants, children and adolescents were admitted and 332,648 were seen in the hospital's specialty outpatient clinics. The Emergency Department/Trauma Center treated 61,928 children and 15,883 surgical procedures were performed. More than 70 specialty clinics provide outpatient diagnosis and treatment for a wide variety of pediatric disorders, including cardiology, cleft lip and palate, diabetes, gastroenterology, neurology, orthopedics, oncology, and pain and palliative care.

Children's Hospital is a leader in blood and marrow transplants, particularly between unrelated donors and recipients, as well as providing care for critically ill newborns and children with congenital heart disease. The Herma Heart Center, among the busiest in the nation for pediatric heart surgeries, cares for some of the most complex cases and has the best outcomes for these procedures. Several other regional centers also are based at Children's Hospital. These include the Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, the Wisconsin Poison Center, the Center for Craniofacial Disorders, the Genetics Center and the Child Protection Center.

 

The Medical College of Wisconsin

The Medical College of Wisconsin is a private, national, freestanding institution. The Medical College offers the MD, PhD, MS, MPH and MA degrees. Residency training is offered in almost all medical specialties and subspecialties. There are more than 1,200 students enrolled in educational programs at the Medical College. This includes 820 medical students, and more than 450 graduate students. The Medical College faculty supervise approximately 650 physicians in residency training and 240 physicians in fellowship training through The Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals. Approximately 200 scientists are engaged in postdoctoral research fellowship training through the Office of Postdoctoral Education.

The Medical College has:

  • More than 5,400 faculty and staff (approximately 4,970 full-time equivalents).
  • More than 1,540 full-time and part-time staff.
  • More than 3,440 full-time/220 part-time/210 project and limited-term.
  • Approximately 4,550 faculty and staff work on the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center campus and more than 860 work at 28 other health care facilities in eastern Wisconsin.
  • Approximately 1,475 physicians from the community serve as volunteer faculty. The Medical College is the 9th largest private employer in metro Milwaukee.

The Medical College is a major national research center, in fact, the largest research institution in the Milwaukee metro area and second largest in Wisconsin.

In fiscal year 2009-2010, faculty received approximately $161 million in external support for research, teaching, training and related purposes, of which approximately $148 million is for research. This total includes highly competitive research and training awards from the National Institutes of Health.

In the federal government's fiscal year 2010, the Medical College received $108 million in NIH funding. The Medical College ranks 44th among the nation's 133 medical schools for NIH research funding.

College faculty conducted more than 2,000 research studies, including clinical trials, in fiscal year 2009-2010.

Federally Designated Centers

International Center

College Centers

In fiscal year 2009-2010, Medical College faculty and students reported 34 new discoveries and inventions to the Medical College's Office of Technology Development. The Medical College currently has 220 pending and issued patents in the U.S. and foreign countries. To bring these new technologies and related products to market, the Medical College has research and development affiliations with campus institutions, other major universities and research institutions, health care organizations, as well as government and venture capital groups in Wisconsin and elsewhere. The Medical College has launched 18 startup companies and licensed technologies to 50 pharmaceutical, diagnostic, biotechnology and medical device corporations.

Each year, Medical College physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and psychologists care for more than 400,000 patients, representing nearly 1.6 million patient visits.

Medical College physicians practice at three major affiliates - Froedtert Hospital, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, and the Zablocki VA Medical Center - and many other hospitals and clinics in the Milwaukee area.

The Medical College is one of six organizations working in collaboration on the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center campus. Most physicians who staff the clinics and hospitals on campus are full-time faculty physicians of the Medical College. Other campus organizations (and number of hospital beds) are: Froedtert Hospital (451), Children's Hospital of Wisconsin (294), Blood Research Institute of the BloodCenter of Wisconsin, Curative Care Network and the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division (230). The Medical College and its Medical Center affiliates employ approximately 13,000 people on campus.

Medical College Libraries comprise three facilities: the main research library located in the Health Research Center; and two clinical libraries, one in Children's Hospital and one in Froedtert Hospital. The libraries hold among the largest health sciences collections in the Midwest, with more than 252,000 volumes and 6,000 online journals, 3,400 electronic books and 90 databases. The library has an active education program training users in accessing online information. The library is a leader in providing evidence-based-medicine resources and instruction for the Medical College community. The library is open to the public and serves a number of health consumers, including patients and their families.