The new director of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute would be a vice chancellor under a proposal that cleared a legislative panel Tuesday.
In a voice vote, the Legislative Council's personnel subcommittee recommended that the council approve UAMS' proposal when it meets Friday.
The new director's responsibilities will include obtaining a National Cancer Institute designation for the institute and the state of Arkansas, UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson said in a letter to state Division of Higher Education Director Maria Markham.
UAMS received $10 million from Gov. Asa Hutchinson's rainy-day fund last month to assist its bid for the National Cancer Institute designation, said Tony Robinson, personnel review subcommittee administrator for the Bureau of Legislative Research.
In this year's regular legislative session, the cancer institute also received authorization for 90 new positions, he said.
Dr. Michael Birrer, a gynecologic cancer researcher with experience leading a comprehensive cancer center, will be the next director of the Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Patterson announced two months ago.
Maurice Rigsby, UAMS' vice chancellor for institutional relations, said Birrer is arriving from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he was a director of a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center.
"Dr. Birrer is coming and bringing $4 million in grants with him," including three National Cancer Institute grants and three U.S. Department of Defense grants, he said.
"This will definitely put us on the road to being designated an NIC cancer center," he said.
Birrer's salary will be paid out of clinical revenue, state funds and other sources such as philanthropic and research dollars, Rigsby said.
Birrer will start his new job Dec. 1, Leslie Taylor, UAMS vice chancellor for communications and marketing, said after Tuesday's meeting. He will be paid $700,000 a year, she said.
"We told Dr. Birrer that we were going to pursue adding the vice chancellor title," Taylor said in a written statement. "However, his acceptance of the job was not contingent on that. Dr. Birrer is committed to the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and leading it to National Cancer Institute Designation."
Dr. Laura Hutchins is interim director of the institute and her salary is $391,500 per year, Taylor said. She said the previous director, Dr. Peter Emanuel, was paid $500,000 a year, before he departed July 31, 2018.
During Tuesday's meeting, Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, recalled that UAMS had been in financial distress in 2018.
"To the overall financial stability of the institution, given the recent history not that long ago, [are] you guys keeping it between the ditches or we getting close to going to the wrong direction actually?" Hammer asked.
"We are actually doing really well," Rigsby said.
"Dr. Patterson has worked well with the team and our CFO," he said. "We submitted a balanced budget to the board of trustees for [fiscal] 2019 and [fiscal] 2018, and we were actually $40 million ahead of budget during the most recent year, so not only have we gotten out of the ditch, I think we have really worked to be fiscal stewards of the generous resources y'all give us.
"I think Dr. Patterson has us on sound footing, and I think that allows us to do things like this in a way that is beneficial to all Arkansans," Rigsby said.
Rigsby said Patterson and the UAMS advancement office will raise matching funds for the $10 million a year in state funds to help with the bid for the National Cancer Institute designation.
Hutchinson signed a letter dated Oct. 3 releasing the rainy-day funds to the cancer institute designation trust fund, according to state Department of Finance and Administration records.
Asked why the governor chose to release the full amount, as allowed by state law, Hutchinson spokeswoman Katie Beck said Tuesday in a written statement that the "release of the full $10 million will avoid delays in moving toward [the] designation," Beck said.
The law is Act 997 of 2019.
In addition to phasing in an increase in the minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21 by 2021, Act 580 increases the markup on cigarettes, raises taxes on cigarette papers, repeals the reduced border city tobacco tax rate and shifts some medical marijuana tax revenue to dedicate to UAMS.
State revenue generated from a 4% privilege tax on medical marijuana sales will be directed to UAMS for the National Cancer Institute, said finance department spokesman Scott Hardin.
Information for this article was contributed by Hunter Field of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 11/13/2019
CORRECTION: Act 997 of 2019 allows Gov. Asa Hutchinson to release $10 million from the state’s rainy-day fund to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for its National Cancer Institute Designation Trust Fund. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the release was authorized by a different law, Act 580 of 2019, which outlines the taxes that also provide a source of money for the trust fund.