New Medical School Dean Optimistic Despite Cuts

              New medical school dean optimistic despite cuts
ST 8-31-86
Bv LARRY BURTON
Times Medical Writer
Dr. Darryl Williams is proud of the
two black captain's chairs across from
his desk.
Each bears the round emblem of
Louisiana State University Medical
Center.
The chairs, he feels, convey a sense
of tradition and pride. And that's
something he wants to see grow at the
Shreveport institution.
Monday the 48-year-old adminis-trator
and professor will officially be-come
dean of LSU School of Medicine
— an integral part of the medical
center. His management duties will
also extend to adjacent LSU Hospital.
Williams emerged ahead of 36 ap-plicants,
most from outside Louisiana,
to land the job he's held on a tempor-ary
basis since September 1985.
Williams sees three broad goals for
the institution — advancing student
education, patient care and medical
research. He already points to some
nationally recognized programs — the
burn center, for example — and feels
LSUMC has made substantial gains
since its beginnings in the late 1960s.
"I think one of the exciting things
about being at this institution now, de-spite
the effects of state budget cuts
and the local economy, is the growing
relationship it has with the communi-ty,"
he said in an interview recently.
"I think in the last few years there
has been recognition by the communi-ty
of the important resource this in-
Times photo/MIKE SILVA
Dr. Dorryl Williams, dean of LSU School of Medicine
stitution serves. I think in years past
people thought of this hospital as often
a place for patients to go as a last re-sort.
I believe they've begun to realize
the many good programs here.
"And I think in the early days, the
faculty here tended to isolate them-selves
within the institution. But that
too has changed."
Still, Williams acknowledges the
severe blow of budget cuts. The cam-pus"
spending plan for this fiscal year
contains around $104 million, of which
more than half is state funds. The state
appropriation is around $10 million
less than hoped for.
"Just like everybody, we didn't get
all we asked for," he says. "We didn't
get all the money we thought we
needed. But I think we recognize the
serious financial situation the state is
in."
The cuts have led to some extreme
decisions, like virtually eliminating
plans for any new equipment. That has
brought cries from some faculty and
hospital employees.
Beyond that, the institution is
already reeling from a state-imposed
hiring freeze that ended July 1, which
has created around 500 vacancies in a
workforce of 3,000.
"I think with those numbers you can
appreciate that we have been very
hard pressed. What we are really look-ing
at is a severe cutback in the
number of people to do the job here....
This year the freeze is over, but we are
going to still have to operate with our
internal controls. We will continue to
operate with fewer people than we'd
like."
Only enough money exists to plug
the most urgent vacancies, Williams
says.
Yet there are bright spots for the
medical center. Though the medically
indigent continue to comprise most of
LSU Hospital's patients — 50 percent
receive totally free care — a small but
growing number of privately insured
patients has meant more income to the
institution.
"Our self-generating revenue is in-creasing.
Our faculty is involved in
seeing patients from really all econ-omic
strata," said Williams. "But that
doesn't mean we are shirking our re-sponsibility
to the indigent. We are
committed to serving them."
Another bright spot — research
funds from the National Institutes of
Health to faculty members have near-ly
doubled since a 1984 study of
Shreveport cited concerns over
LSUMC's competitive edge.
"Research is an area we really must
emphasize," said Williams. " ... In the
coming months, we are going to re-cruit
a number of new department
heads... and we'll be looking for young
investigators.
"A number of people here will be re-tiring
in the next couple of years,
many who were instrumental in get-ting
the School of Medicine started."
Having served as acting dean, as-suming
the post permanently will
mean little transition for Williams,
who's been on LSUMC's faculty since
1977. The Denver native sees his job
basically as "keeping everybody hap-py."
"It doesn't always work," he says,
laughing. " ... This institution is a very
large and complex operation so it's
hard to get consensus on many things."
Still, Williams terms the job fun.
"I am having a good time. I think for
the first time in my academic career
I've begun to see the big picture of how
different parts of the medical center
fit together. ... I guess what I enjoy
most is meeting new people. One
minute you may be meeting with the
planning committee and the ffext
minute discussing architectural mat-ters
and building codes."
Williams says he's basically shy —
"maybe a dean should be more outgo-ing;
I'll work on it." He easily pokes
fun at himself and describes his style
of management as open and relaxed.
"I like to find out what people think.
I try to keep an open door and I'm will-ing
to take other people's thoughts into
consideration."
To unwind, he and his wife, Susan,
sometimes travel to her family's East
Texas farm. They also swap out cook-ing,
which Williams finds relaxing.
At work, he relishes the challenges
of his time-consuming job.
"I'm enjoying myself," he says.