Clinical depression.

• Position: EASTERN REGION

East Carolina University officials are lobbying for more state money for doctor training this year, saying the Brody School of Medicine's finances have reached a critical point. Chancellor Steve Ballard requested $8 million more for the 2016 fiscal year and $30 million more annually after that. Gov. Pat McCrory partially agreed, including $8 million each of the next two years in his proposed budget, which North Carolina lawmakers will act on later this year. State support has declined to 20% of the medical school's budget during the 2013-14 fiscal year, from 53% in 1989-90, says Rick Niswander, ECU's vice chancellor for administration and finance. Adjusting for inflation, it receives about $25 million less per year, he says. "Over many years, and over many administrations and many legislatures, we have gotten to the point where we have to start turning it around."

Last year, the medical school reported revenue of $267 million, losing more than $14 million. The Greenville-based institution is one of two public medical schools in North Carolina, but differs from UNC Chapel Hill's because Brody doesn't own its teaching hospital. Instead, it...