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With USF Affiliation, Byrd Center Can Focus On Alzheimer's Research

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 24, 2008

It's good to see former state Speaker Johnnie Byrd and other directors of the Alzheimer's center come to their senses.

Byrd and the board have approved a plan to link the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center to the University of South Florida.

The affiliation makes so much sense that it's hard to believe Byrd and some of his colleagues were willing to jeopardize the center's mission to avoid affiliating with USF, where it is located.

Nowhere in the nation does a research center exist on a university campus without an affiliation with that school.

Yet during this spring's legislative session, Byrd, using his clout as a past speaker, called on Speaker Marco Rubio to prevent his legacy project from being supervised by USF, where the troubled center would get needed oversight and stability.

Sen. Ronda Storms, a Byrd ally, then fought to eliminate all funding for Alzheimer's research. She wanted to show that USF was only interested in getting its hands on the center's money. This was nonsense, of course, since USF generates far more research revenue than the new Alzheimer's center.

But Storms and Byrd prevailed in keeping the center independent, a hollow victory since they also wiped out its funding.

The turf battle further damaged the reputation of a center plagued from the start by governance turmoil, recruiting problems and questionable financial practices.

Byrd, whose high-handed ways alienated much of the Legislature during his tenure, has belatedly come to understand that political posturing does nothing to fight the disease that claimed his father's life.

He told the Tribune's Adam Emerson that he changed his position after business consultants warned that continued enmity with USF would hurt the center's ability to generate private support. That, Byrd said, "was a showstopper."

It should not have taken the counsel of business consultants for Byrd to see that joining USF would increase the institute's prestige, cut its expenses and enhance its research.

USF's medical school ranks in the top 10 in the National Institutes of Health funding for neurosurgery. The school's doctors already are treating Alzheimer's patients and performing related research.

The new arrangement calls for USF health sciences Vice President Stephen Klasko to oversee the center, replacing CEO Huttington Potter, a highly regarded scientist whose tenure as an administrator has been rocky.

Klasko can handle the job. He oversees the university's medical, nursing and public health schools, which have a budget of about $550 million. The Byrd center's budget, in contrast, was about $15 million.

Klasko says USF and the Byrd Center will consolidate services, such as lobbying and fundraising, to ensure that dollars are well spent.

He's already scheduling a "synergy social hour," where center and medical-school scientists will develop an "asset map" on what research should be done where.

The agreement keeps the center as a nonprofit corporation, ensuring it retains its identity. But its politically appointed board becomes advisory. Klasko will report to a new board, with four members appointed by USF board, three by the Byrd board.

The new arrangement eliminates duplication and bolsters accountability. It should help the fight to restore recurring dollars from the state.

All this should help the Byrd center finally focus on its mission: Finding a cure for Alzheimer's.

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