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Office of the President

Kevin P. Reilly, President, University of Wisconsin System

UW-Madison Biotechnology Center

Thursday, November 3, 2005

Michael Forster Rothbart/UW-Madison

Good afternoon. I’m Kevin Reilly, president of the University of Wisconsin System. Before I introduce Governor Doyle, I’d like to say a word or two about the university’s capacity for progress, not just in health research and scientific discoveries, but also in the economic vitality of our state.

Recently, UW-Madison was selected by the National Institutes of Health as the federal government’s first and only National Stem Cell Bank. The designation brings with it $16 million in funding over the next four years, and again emphasizes why UW-Madison is consistently recognized as among the top research universities in the nation, by a variety of measures. The value of the therapeutic research we’re supporting here is the result of cloning cells. Let me remind everyone that we are not talking about cloning human beings, which the UW System opposes.

Let me also add that the National Stem Cell Bank will be working with the existing stem cell lines approved by the Bush administration, so this research is sanctioned, and supported, by the federal government.

This recognition of UW-Madison by the federal government is no accident, but is testament to the collaborative efforts of our colleagues at UW-Madison and throughout the research community. And it is also testament to our long-standing, productive partnership with the citizens of Wisconsin. Their historical support for public higher education has made it possible for this university to develop some of the world’s most groundbreaking discoveries, and to share the results far and wide for the benefit of the greater good.

This relationship — known best as the Wisconsin Idea — is, at this very moment, changing thousands of lives. Patients and families in Wisconsin and across the nation are winning the fight for their health, thanks to medicines and technology the UW has made possible.

And this effort is rapidly changing Wisconsin’s economy — for the better. The spin-off companies and technology transfers our research creates mean thousands of high-paying jobs in knowledge-economy businesses, and in turn, bring important tax support for the state of Wisconsin.

Best of all, University of Wisconsin science and discovery benefits the quality of life and health in Wisconsin — and the nation — which is central to our mission as a public university.

Someone who shares this vision for university research and education is our governor, Jim Doyle. Governor Doyle has championed the research and scientific capacity of this university — and he has put his support where it matters — in our laboratories and classrooms.

Just recently, he provided state funding for groundbreaking Alzheimer’s research, and to establish the Institute for Discovery. We’re grateful for the Governor’s leadership and commitment in these areas. And we thank him for the message he is about to send to our researchers — that they are valued and welcomed for their compassionate work on life-saving remedies for disease.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Governor of the great state of Wisconsin, Jim Doyle.

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