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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) Gov. Mark Dayton pledged $30 million in new state funding for the University of Minnesota Medical School on Wednesday to help boost the schools national standing and research capability, calling it a down payment on life-enhancing innovations.

Dayton, who wants the state to make a $230 million commitment over the next decade, will include the initial funding proposal in a two-year budget plan he gives lawmakers next week. The money would come from an anticipated $1 billion state surplus.

School leaders say the immediate infusion would help recruit and retain 50 medical researchers renowned in their fields, leverage more grants for studies of diabetes and other chronic diseases, and result in spinoff companies.

Success breeds success. Thats true financially as well if were really good researchers, said Dr. Brooks Jackson, the medical school dean. This will result in more biotech companies being formed, more jobs being formed. It will allow us to attract the best and brightest students, the best faculty.

Jackson said the money is instrumental in helping the school reach a goal of rising into the top 20 medical schools by measure of federal research funding. The school currently ranks 30th in the country, according to a report released this month by a commission Dayton appointed.

We shouldnt settle for 20th. We should aim for being top five, top 10, Dayton said while surrounded by more than a dozen lab-coated medical students.

The billion-dollar state surplus projected by state finance officials is the result of climbing tax collections from the economic recovery. And the governor isnt the only one sizing up the money for health advances.

Originally posted here:

Dayton Presses $30M Plan To Boost University Med School