A welcome to the Medical Class of 2007: Getting connected

By Dr. D. Craig Brater , Dean of the IU School of Medicine

In a few weeks, a fresh crop of medical students will arrive in Indianapolis along with a handful of new Indiana University School of Medicine faculty members. I can’t consider this new group without thinking about how things have changed in the last couple of decades.

Fifteen years ago, when the IU School of Medicine tried to recruit students and attract and retain faculty, we frequently heard the refrain: "I’m just not interested in living in Indianapolis" all too frequently. No matter how much we sold our programs, facilities and learning opportunities, we often couldn’t get people to think beyond our location.

The Circle City had a stigma as a bland and stagnant place. Why would a young professional with an exciting future waste his or her time visiting a city that would be neither fun nor enriching?

I can happily say those days are behind us. Indianapolis has developed a new reputation. This city is now seen as a vital, family-friendly community with a reasonable cost of living. It’s a community that, thanks to efforts like the Central Indiana Life Sciences Initiative, is preparing for the future. It’s been a remarkable turnaround, an evolution that should make us all proud. People who a decade ago might have said, "Indy? No way," now are telling us how impressed they are with the city.

Some of the reasons are obvious. You simply need to walk around our downtown—the same downtown that used to be such a recruiting liability —to get a sense of this city’s progress. Prospective students and faculty are always impressed by the city’s public spaces, sports facilities and new buildings that blend so well with our historic architecture, as well as by the construction crews they see everywhere. They see that Indy’s not just better; it’s continuing to improve.

Indianapolis has developed a cultural depth and breadth that is especially helpful to people who are highly focused on their work. We struggle to limit our residents in training to 80 hours a week at work, so they must be able to tap into a community quickly and easily. They don’t want to spend their precious free time looking for something to do. They want to spend it doing.

And in Indy, they do. They attend the symphony, visit museums, go to festivals, patronize favorite restaurants, and become active in cultural organizations. They find it easy to meet people, and easy to navigate their new hometown. They find the schools they want for their children, and the lifestyle they want for their families.

In short, they get connected, and they develop an attachment to the city.

That attachment is not to be undervalued. When students or faculty members get involved in cultural organizations, they put down roots, and then they find it hard to leave. In that way, the community that was once a hindrance has become a retention tool. Not so long ago, cultural development was viewed as a by-product of economic development. These days, social scientists are reporting that this relationship is reversing – cities with thriving cultural amenities are the ones best equipped to develop economically.

Indianapolis is proving that. But we must continue pushing ourselves to further develop our cultural offerings and cultured environment. That’s why the city’s Cultural Tourism Initiative is important in continuing to attract the best and the brightest. To understand the impact we have and can continue to have, you need only look at our newest students and faculty. They aren’t just coming here to be a part of medical school. They’re coming here to be a part of our culture and community. And we all benefit.

Reprinted with permission of Indianapolis Business Journal, IBJ Corp., Copyright 2003.