Section Menu

Dear Colleagues,

How long would you guess it takes for a new treatment to make it from the discovery phase to a patient’s bedside? Believe it or not, the national average is more than 14 years.

That’s a long time, especially when you consider the patients here at MU Health Care who could benefit immediately from these new treatments.  

That’s why events like the annual NextGen Precision Health Pathways Symposium are so important. By bringing together all segments of the translational science pipeline and working together to jump start new projects while lowering research barriers, we believe we can accelerate research development.

The Pathways 2025 event took place Thursday, March 13 and Friday, March 14 at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.  The symposium attracted more than 70 research faculty, postdoctoral researchers and graduate students from a broad range of disciplines across the University of Missouri System.

This is a photo of me alongside several of the research team members who represented the Columbia campus at the Pathways 2025 event.
This is a photo of me alongside several of the research team members who represented the Columbia campus at the Pathways 2025 event.


Attendees watched presentations from faculty members, presented their work and had an opportunity to network with researchers in other fields. The event included more than 30 poster presentations from researchers on the UM System campuses in Columbia, Rolla, St. Louis and Kansas City.

MU postdoctoral graduate Malinda Jaythilake, shares his research findings during one of the Pathways 2025 poster sessions.
MU postdoctoral graduate Malinda Jaythilake, shares his research findings during one of the Pathways 2025 poster sessions.


On-stage speakers representing the Columbia campus included Zachary Berndsen, PhD, from the Department of Biochemistry;  Jussuf Kaifi, MD, PhD, from the Department of Surgery and MU Health Care; and Anne Sales, PhD, RN, from the Sinclair School of Nursing and the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

Jussuf Kaifi, MD, presents at the Pathways 2025 event on Friday, March 14 on his recent research publication “Preclinical Models to Study Lung Cancer Progression with Translational Relevance.”
Jussuf Kaifi, MD, presents at the Pathways 2025 event on Friday, March 14 on his recent research publication “Preclinical Models to Study Lung Cancer Progression with Translational Relevance.”

 

This year’s keynote speech featured Dennis Ridenour, president and CEO of BioNexus KC, the coordinating body for the Kansas City region’s life sciences research initiatives. Ridenour talked about how BioNexus helps our region become more efficient at commercializing technologies being developed right here in Missouri, and how that rapid transition can improve the health of our patients.

The Pathways 2025 event symbolizes the entire NextGen initiative, which is our dynamic effort to leverage the strengths of the entire University of Missouri System toward a better future for all Missourians.

Fourteen years is a long time. And I know through efforts like the Pathways 2025 symposium, we can harness our collective skills to reduce the time it takes for important discoveries to become clinical practice, ultimately improving the lives of our patients and beyond.

Sincerely,

Rick Barohn, MD
Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Hugh E. and Sarah D. Stephenson Dean, School of Medicine
rbarohn@health.missouri.edu