Message from the Director

As a physician and scientist, there has never been a more exciting era in biomedical research. 

New discovery is rapidly shifting from the cellular to molecular levels, a new vista of possibilities is open to us, with more potential to alleviate human suffering – the key goal of our benefactor, the late A. Alfred Taubman.

From mRNA technology to epigenetics, our ability to personalize diagnoses and treatments is ever closer.  We are learning new ways to identify and categorize disease processes, and to confront challenging health conditions using the skills and insights from multiple disciplines — such as engineering, informatics and advanced imaging — in harmony with traditional medical approaches.  At the Taubman Institute, our connections and readiness to collaborate with talented investigators worldwide is unsurpassed. 

In addition to advancing the research careers of MD/PhD investigators through our Taubman Scholar and Taubman Emerging Scholars programs, which provide financial grants and project management support to individual laboratories, we are at the forefront of Michigan Medicine’s team science via our Taubman Institute Innovation Program, supporting groundbreaking studies in realms such as autoimmune disorders, vision loss and communicable diseases. 

As always, medical science faces hurdles.  The dual role of clinician and scientist is challenging, requiring intellectual rigor, stamina and the special characteristics of leadership that define the Taubman “phenotype.”  And, today, external forces and uncertainties have introduced new obstacles to funding, regulatory matters and the exchange of ideas. 

Now, more than ever, it is important that we honor the visionary ideas first proposed nearly 20 years ago by our original benefactor, Alfred Taubman, whose dream was to build the biomedical breakthroughs that will bring hope, options and better quality of life to patients and their families.