As announced during the October 2019 faculty meeting, I would like to welcome our students, faculty, staff, colleagues, and friends and communicate – from the dean’s perspective – about our ongoing activities, plans, directions and challenges that will influence our culture and shape the collective vision for the future of our MD College. I am planning on sending updates every other week during the academic year and if you have comments, suggestions or announcements of events of general interest, please let me know, so that such news can be shared with our whole community. Please address your queries and comments to jvieweg@nova.edu
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed meeting with our students during the 2019 Dean’s Cup and the Annual Thanksgiving Potluck last week, and – at the same time – welcome new student applicants for the future class of 2024. Clearly on display was our medical students’ energy, curiosity and compassionate determination to learn, innovate and transition to becoming a physician leader of the future. I am also spending considerable time listening to and working with faculty, colleagues, NSU leadership, our Executive Leadership Committee and community advocates on the issues felt to be most important to our medical school, the institution and the broader Broward County health ecosystem.
From its very inception, our collective vision and mission have not only focused on accreditation, but importantly, on how to align the medical school with the entire NSU ecosystem and to serve as a catalyst for institutional advancement in mission critical areas of health and economic expansion in the South Florida region. On that front, I am pleased about the progress, productivity and growing impact that our faculty is demonstrating on our health professions division, the university and our community as a whole. NSU MD is on a trajectory of excellence, innovation and inclusivity as drivers for our shared success.
Is also clear that we find ourselves in midst of one of the greatest ever transformations of academic medicine, that will require better cross-campus communications, strategic planning, investments, and nimble reactions in the face of rapid change, to address the challenges that both universities and academic medical schools are facing in this critical time. Tomorrow, prevention will supersede “sick care”; hospitals will evolve into health networks; fee for service models will be replaced by capitated reimbursement plans; practice plans will become interdisciplinary initiatives; empathy will supplant apathy; value will replace quality; and health IT/AI will permeate research and medical education alike. All these changes are here to stay and will profoundly affect our College and the institution as a whole.
As the NSU MD College continues to build a culture of inclusive excellence, we will also continue to communicate our academic vision which is well-aligned with the upcoming NSU 2025 strategic plan. The opportunity on hand is to capitalize on NSU’s comprehensive portfolio in the health professions, the landscape of NSU student interests, regional workforce needs, plus multidisciplinary research opportunities, to build the framework for a preeminent, comprehensive Health Science University, where the basic, clinical, and population health sciences are fully integrated into the advancement of health care as well as the advancement of our institution.
In future updates, I will outline some of the broader directions that I think are important in our journey toward full accreditation and how we innovatively address the challenges of academic medicine that lie ahead.
As December unfolds, the season for both religious and secular holidays begins in earnest. I want to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year.