The University of Toledo announced Monday plans to pursue an academic affiliation between its College of Medicine and Life Sciences and ProMedica, as the UT Board of Trustees approved a resolution asking the administration to sign a letter of intent to begin negotiations on a long-term deal with the Toledo-based health system.

“This is a transformational day for UT medical and health science students, faculty at UT, physicians at ProMedica, and the long-term health of the community,” said Dr. Christopher Cooper, dean of the College of Medicine and Life Sciences. “This affiliation will provide our learners additional clinical learning experiences that are more varied and more local. The result will be more caregivers and more care options for northwest Ohio.”

In addition to clinical teaching, the affiliation will advance clinical and basic sciences research, said Cooper, who also serves as UT senior vice president for clinical affairs, noting that teaching and research form the core of the academic mission of UT’s academic medical center.

In their presentation to trustees, Cooper and Dave Morlock, CEO of the UT Medical Center, emphasized that the affiliation was with the College of Medicine only.

“UT will continue to independently own and operate the UT Medical Center, and UTMC plays no part in this agreement,” Morlock said. “UT has no plans to close or sell the hospital, and our priorities are unchanged: We will continue to focus on driving out hospital-acquired infections, improving the patient experience, and expanding ambulatory operations.”

Cooper said the letter of intent UT and ProMedica officials sign in the coming days will outline the framework for negotiating the final agreement, a process expected to take between three to six months.

Other elements of the affiliation the partners have agreement on include:

• A 50-year durable affiliation with limited abilities for either party to terminate the agreement;
• The UT Physicians practice group will remain a separate legal entity and interface with ProMedica in a clinically integrated network;
• Residency slots will be aggregated into ProMedica facilities, but the UT College of Medicine will maintain ownership of the residency programs from an accreditation perspective;
• ProMedica will accommodate substantially all UT Health Science Campus learners at ProMedica sites in northwest Ohio;
• Affiliation would be governed by an Academic Affiliation Operations Council, chaired by the dean of UT’s College of Medicine;
• UT and ProMedica will collaborate in the selection of clinical service chiefs at ProMedica, clinical department chairs at UT, and residency program directors;
• Subject to regulatory approval, ProMedica gets right of first refusal on certain transactions involving UTMC in future years;
• UT will have non-voting representation on the Toledo Hospital Board, and ProMedica will have non-voting representation on the UT Board of Trustees Academic Affairs Committee;
• ProMedica will provide $250 million in capital to rebuild the UT College of Medicine, in a location to be mutually agreed upon at a later date;
• ProMedica will provide at least $50 million per year in academic support payments;
• ProMedica will provide access to an electronic medical record; and
• ProMedica will provide access to clinic and office space.

Cooper said the affiliation would ensure for the next 50 years the continuation of the mission the College of Medicine’s founders envisioned when the former Medical College of Ohio was founded more than half a century ago.

“MCO’s founders wanted a medical school and an academic medical center in Toledo to ensure a healthy community,” he said. “By affiliating with ProMedica, UT’s learners, faculty and researchers will be able to learn, teach and conduct research in a premier health-care institution with the scale to accommodate UT’s medical, nursing, pharmacy, and health sciences students.”

The path to affiliation

In their presentation, Cooper and Morlock walked through the 18-month process they had followed to get to a letter of intent and in sight of the definitive agreements.

Reiterating comments from past board meetings and presentations across the University, the leaders reminded the audience of the vulnerability created by the mismatch between the size of UT’s College of Medicine and the size of its academic medical center.

The reason UTMC exists, Morlock explained, is to provide learning opportunities for UT health sciences students, research material for faculty and students, and capital for the academic mission.

UT’s College of Medicine, at 170 students per class, ranks in the 70th percentile nationwide while UTMC ranks in the 2nd percentile. The result is a hospital without enough patient volume or revenue to alone create long-term sustainability for the college.

With other industry trends, including the Affordable Care Act, the result, Morlock said, is that UTMC is financially strained today trying to provide capital for the College of Medicine and its own physical and equipment reinvestments simultaneously. And that tension would only be exacerbated over time, he said.

“Our learners are the overarching issue and as UT leaders, we have an obligation to them and to this community to ensure that in the decades to come, Toledo’s only medical school is adequately positioned to meet this region’s needs,” Morlock said.

“By affiliating UT’s College of Medicine with ProMedica, Toledo will become a net importer of medical talent and create a legacy we can all be proud of.”

Media Coverage
WTOL 11, NBC 24 and 13 ABC (May 11, 2015)
13 ABC and WTOL 11 (May 11, 2015)
NBC 24 (May 11, 2015)
Bloomberg (May 12, 2015)
The Blade (May 12, 2015)
The Blade (May 13, 2015)
The Blade (May 14, 2015)

BOARD OF TRUSTEES’ MEETINGS

Monday, May 11, 2015
Driscoll Alumni Center, Schmakel Room

10:30 a.m. Clinical Affairs Committee Meeting
1 p.m. Academic and Student Affairs Committee Meeting
2:30 p.m. Finance and Audit Committee Meeting
4 p.m. Trusteeship and Governance Committee Meeting
5 p.m. Special Board Meeting to discuss Naming Opportunity(s), College of Medicine Academic Affiliation and AAUP Contracts

A luncheon for Trustees will be held between meetings.

Any questions may be directed to the University Communications Office by calling (419) 530-7832 or via email at jonathan.strunk@utoledo.edu.

Monday, May 11, 2015
Driscoll Alumni Center, Schmakel Room

10:30 a.m. Clinical Affairs Committee Meeting
1 p.m. Academic and Student Affairs Committee Meeting
2:30 p.m. Finance and Audit Committee Meeting
4 p.m. Trusteeship and Governance Committee Meeting
A luncheon for Trustees will be held between meetings.

Any questions may be directed to the University Communications Office by calling (419) 530-7832 or via email at jonathan.strunk@utoledo.edu.

Following multiple exhaustive searches, University of Toledo Police Chief Jeff Newton confirmed there is no evidence to corroborate a report of a gunman or victim in UT’s Student Union.

UT Police issued the all clear following a report of a dangerous situation earlier this afternoon.

Just before 4 p.m., a man called Toledo Police’s non-emergency line and alleged he had a gun to his head and that he had stabbed his girlfriend in the Student Union.

The caller disconnected and then called UTPD dispatch and at 3:54 p.m. gave this same information to dispatchers.

UTPD officers were immediately dispatched to the Student Union at 3:56 p.m. and arrived before 4 p.m. The officers immediately evacuated all persons from the building and began a preliminary sweep.

Due to a potentially dangerous situation, a UT Alert — which consists of an email to every UT student and employee and a text message to those who have signed up to receive them — went out at 4:08 p.m. ordering the UT community to stay away from the Student Union. An outdoor public address announcement also was made and the information was placed on www.utoledo.edu.

Ottawa Hills Police, Toledo Police, Ohio State Highway Patrol and Toledo Fire responded to assist and a perimeter was established around the Student Union. A second sweep of the building was conducted looking for the alleged victim or suspect.

Toledo SWAT did a final intensive room-by-room search of every room in the building and no victim or suspect were found.

Anyone who has additional information about this incident or knowledge of anything unusual that would be helpful to this investigation is encouraged to contact University of Toledo Police at 419.530.2600.

The Student Union will remain closed until further notice.

Leaders of government and business will address The University of Toledo graduates at spring commencement ceremonies Sunday, May 10.

During the 9:30 a.m. ceremony, Sen. Keith Faber, representative of the 12th State Senate District in western Ohio, will speak to graduates from the colleges of Adult and Lifelong Learning, Health Sciences, Social Justice and Human Service, and the Judith Herb College of Education.

Faber

Roy Armes, CEO, president and chair of Cooper Tire and Rubber Co., will speak during the 2 p.m. ceremony for the colleges of Business and Innovation, Communication and the Arts, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Languages, Literature and Social Sciences.

There are 2,962 candidates for degrees, including 165 doctoral candidates, 646 master’s candidates and 2,023 bachelor’s candidates. The remaining 128 candidates are for education specialist, graduate certificates or associate’s degrees.

The ceremony will be broadcast live on video.utoledo.edu.

Faber will receive an honorary doctor of public administration.

He represents the 12th State Senate District in western Ohio, encompassing all of Allen, Champaign, Mercer and Shelby counties, as well as portions of Auglaize, Darke and Logan counties. Faber serves as president of the Ohio Senate. He previously served three terms in the Ohio House of Representatives.

Faber also served on several Senate committees involved with fiscal management, including chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Government Oversight and vice chairman of the Senate Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee. He represents the Senate on the State Ballot Board, the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, the Legislative Service Commission Board, and the Redistricting, Reapportionment and Demographic Research Legislative Taskforce.

He has received many accolades for his work; these include the Guardian of Small Business Award, the Outstanding Legislator of the Year in 2004, and being named a Watchdog of the Treasury five times.

Armes

Faber has been an active member in legal organizations, including the Ohio State Bar Association’s Public Understanding of the Law Advisory Board and the Board of Editors of the Ohio Lawyer Magazine.

He is the principal partner with Faber and Associates in Celina, Ohio, a law firm specializing in civil litigation and mediation.

Armes will receive an honorary doctor of business administration.

He was appointed CEO and president of Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. in 2006 and chairman in 2007.

He previously worked in a variety of roles for the Whirlpool Corp. in the areas of engineering, manufacturing, global procurement and international operations management.

Armes served as corporate vice president and general director of Whirlpool, Mexico, S.A. De CV, vice president of manufacturing technology for Whirlpool Asia in Singapore, and vice president of manufacturing technology-refrigeration products for Whirlpool Europe in Italy.

He holds leadership roles on numerous boards, including director of JLG Industries, director of the Manitowoc Co. Inc., director of AGCO Corp., and trustee of the Manufacturer’s Alliance for Productivity and Innovation Inc.

Armes and his wife, Marcia, were instrumental in establishing the Engineering Leadership Institute in UT’s College of Engineering to help undergraduate engineering students gain critical leadership skills. The Armes have long supported The University of Toledo through generous gifts to multiple departments.

Other commencement ceremonies taking place include:

• College of Engineering: graduate commencement 5 p.m. Thursday, May 7; undergraduate commencement 3 p.m. Saturday, May 9. Both ceremonies will be held in Nitschke Auditorium.
• College of Nursing: 1 p.m. Friday, May 8, in Savage Arena.
• College of Law: 10 a.m. Saturday, May 9, in the Student Union Auditorium.
• College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences: 10 a.m. Saturday, May 9 in Savage Arena.
• College of Medicine and Life Sciences: 2 p.m. Friday, May 29, at the Stranahan Theater.

For more information, visit utoledo.edu/commencement.

Media Coverage
The Blade (May 1, 2015)
The Blade (May 10, 2015)
The Blade (May 11, 2015)