We are pleased to introduce the 2003 Annual Report for The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center. Throughout the report, you will find concrete evidence of the extent of our progress over the past year, as well as a vision of where we are headed in the next year and beyond in our endeavor to build healthy traditions through our three-fold mission of education, research and service.

To paraphrase a question from the musical, "Rent,"--how do you measure a year? While the answer generated in the musical was "in daylights and sunsets, in cups of coffee and midnights," for a health science center, the past year could be measured in things like research dollars, new facilities with their thousands of additional square feet of space, faculty and student recruitment, student achievements, numbers of degrees granted and new opportunities for service. In all of these ways, it is clear that our young institution, which is now five years old, is solidly and measurably in a season of growth.

Our most recent strategic plan reflected the common-sense principle that we had to begin at the beginning, and we have done exactly that. Our leadership team is now in place. We have written the fundamental policies for the health science center and put administrative processes into place. We have completed the critically important accreditation process and now enjoy full 10-year accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The health science center and its various components are also seeing the completion of a number of new facilities. So it has been with a definite sense of satisfaction that, in the last few months, we have been able to check off as complete most of the things that our last strategic plan committed us to do.

Now we are ready to look a little further down the road. With the administrative team in place, faculty and student recruitment on the rise, and bricks-and-mortar growth becoming a reality from McAllen to Temple, from College Station to Dallas, we are ready to raise the bar that defines excellence. It is time for us to determine what we consider excellence in every aspect of our work and what binds us together as a single institution. Though budgetary and financial conditions have never been more arduous than they are now, there is no better time for long-range goal-setting than during such tough times.

A vision that will work in the most challenging setting is one that will endure well past the difficult times and guide us into the future with certainty.

In the pages that follow, you will get a glimpse of where the A&M Health Science Center is going--by seeing where we have recently been. Many of the exciting initiatives in research, teaching and service that have been launched in the last year are, in fact, just now gaining momentum, as the resources needed to make them a reality are falling into place--from highly skilled, dedicated scientists and educators and talented students, to new laboratory, teaching and service space.

As we build healthy traditions with every aspect of our mission, we invite you to join with us in this rewarding adventure.

Nancy W. Dickey, M.D.

President and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs

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