Dr. Owen, Mr. Del Tufo, and members and guests of the Board - My name is Ellen Townes-Anderson. I am the current president of the New Jersey Medical School Faculty Organization. I want to make a few comments about the tremendous concern that exists among the faculty about the financial situation at UH and the cuts to the NJMS budget.

As medical school faculty, we came here to teach the highly diverse, and academically outstanding, students and residents that are attracted to our Newark-based school; we came to lead research groups and make fundamental discoveries in biomedical science, and to provide medical care for the surrounding community most of whom, as you know, are poor. We are all committed to excellence in these endeavors but, in addition, there is something special about this place both historically, because of the Newark agreements, and now, as we continue to serve as the safety net for charity care in New Jersey . The association between this school and New Jersey is very deep- Let me share some statistics. NJMS and University Hospital educate over 700 medical students and 620 residents and fellows per year. Over 95% of the students come from New Jersey families. Students, faculty, and staff from the school have established and participate in over 17 separate community programs. Approximately 40% of MD's trained here stay in New Jersey . And physicians trained at University Hospital serve almost every city, town and village in the state. Although I have only highlighted our clinical training mission, there is, I believe, no dispute that NJMS and its faculty are a significant resource for the state.

Because of reduced funding, Dean Johnson has asked for an average 20 % budget cut from all departments of the school. It is demoralizing for us to know that such cuts will result in many faculty terminations. Among these will be the non-tenured faculty; many of these are junior faculty who represent the future of the university. We are concerned that reductions in support will also affect the future pool of doctors for the state and reduce access of talented New Jerseyians to our MD, MS, and PhD programs. Cuts could effect the quality of these program as well, certainly infrastructure is deteriorating. We know that it will become increasingly difficult to retain the talented researchers and the federal-supported research and clinical trials they perform in Newark . And perhaps most obviously, these cuts will substantially affect our ability to take care of the disadvantaged in our state. This situation will only be more pressing as the economic picture worsens. Already more than a third of our patients come from outside Essex County .

The faculty recognize that we must do our part to control costs and eliminate waste. We are ready to work with you to find solutions to these financial problems and we urge you to do everything you can to minimize the size of the cuts to the hospital and medical school so that your faculty can continue to do the work that we came here to do.

Thank you