What's the Buzz for November 2014

What’s on my mind this month is the tenacity, bravery and dedication of the healthcare professionals who volunteer to go to the front lines of deadly infectious disease outbreaks because of their commitment to preserving the well-being of all people.

Since the news of an Ebola outbreak in Guinea was announced in March of this year, every day we hear updates about the toll this virus has taken on the people of West Africa. Ebola hemorrhagic fever has swept through multiple countries, killing an estimated 1 in 2 people who have become infected. The September 23, 2014 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), estimated that, under a worst-case scenario, 1.4 million people could be infected with the virus by January 20, 2015, and a similar report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, predicted that Ebola might become endemic to Africa, along the lines of HIV/AIDS.

What's the Buzz for April 2014

What’s on my mind this month is the public launch of the School of Medicine’s Accelerating Innovation and Discovery in Medicine (ACCEL-MED) Initiative, which forms the cornerstone of the research component of Shared Vision 2020. Shared Vision 2020 is our strategic plan for the near term, and has been implemented in partnership by the School of Medicine and Medical System. The goal is to accelerate the pace of discovery, collaboration, and innovation, and to provide the highest-quality, patient-centered care. Shared Vision 2020 is a roadmap for success in challenging times, addressing all of our key mission areas: education, clinical care, finance and philanthropy, and research. The emphasis of the research area is our new ACCEL-MED Initiative.

The Buzz - March 2014

What’s on my mind this month is the changing academic medical and biomedical research workforce, and how the School of Medicine can position itself to be the institution of choice and an institution of change.

Over the last few months, and in my 2013 State of the School address, I discussed the challenges we are facing in academic medicine: the budget cuts to the NIH, the cuts to Medicare, and the slow economic recovery across the country. I also outlined how the School of Medicine plans to surmount the roadblocks in our path, as well as the launch of our Shared Vision 2020 initiative.