Haslam Pushes Research Consortium Funding During Memphis Visit

The Daily News
Mar 17, 2011
By Bill Dries

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam told members of the Memphis Research Consortium that his decision to include $10 million in funding for the effort wasnt a gift but an investment in the citys future as a biomedical research center. Haslam met Thursday with more than a dozen heads of private businesses, public universities and public-private foundations who are part of the consortium. The meeting at the FedEx Institute on the University of Memphis campus came three days after Haslams state of the state address in which Haslam made the operating grant one of the few specific funding references in his remarks. Were investing it because we think it will create jobs and help solve problems, Haslam said after Thursdays meeting. Theyll be able to increase research capacity, which at the end of the day means theyll be able to bring in more people to do the cutting-edge research thats happening in Memphis now. Haslam said his decision to push for the funding in his first budget proposal was also based on momentum he saw building behind the coalition that includes the University of Memphis, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp., Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, the Memphis Bioworks Foundation and the countys medical devices industry. Haslam also told reporters he has no plans to wade into pending legal disputes now that Memphis voters have decided the schools consolidation referendum. Asked about a call by Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey for the state to take over Memphis City Schools, Haslam said the state has no plans to do that. The state of Tennessee is not anticipating taking over the Memphis City Schools. There are certain tools the state has and we intend to wherever we can to jump in and do that, Haslam said. This is too big of an issue to let it get caught up in politics.