Message from the Dean
I appreciate the support that so many of you have given me as I
begin my service as dean of the IU School of Medicine. As chairman
of the Department of Medicine for the past ten years, I had the
pleasure of working with a group of leaders who have a good eye
for talent. They have attracted many young faculty who have built
reputations for their work in education, research and patient care.
Along the way, they've attracted national funding and recognition
that enhances the reputation of this School. Now I have the opportunity
to work with all the other departments in the School and to learn
from and take pride in their accomplishments.
My predecessor, Dean Emeritus Robert Holden, MD '63, encouraged
and promoted the collaboration of faculty from various departments,
specialties, even schools, to create centers of scholarship and
research worthy of national funding. Today, we host the IU Cancer
Center, the lU National Center of Excellence in Women's Health,
the General Clinical Research Center, the Midwest Sexually Transmitted
Diseases Research Center, the Alzheimer's and Related Diseases Research
Center and the Indiana Alcohol Research Center; all are funded through
federal grants. The School is empowered through these kinds of activities,
which attract both public and private partners.
Creating additional opportunities for our partners in both sectors
to become more active in their relationships with the School of
Medicine is an important element of the strategic plan forged by
School leadership earlier this year. The plan would create administrative
change as well as a philosophy that more explicitly rewards success
in each of our academic missions. I'm now discussing the benefits
of this plan with faculty members at their departmental meetings.
Academic medicine is being challenged to improve. Social policy
changes that reflect the world's aging populations, diversified
communications and technology growth are having a tremendous impact
on the applications of medicine. To become a major player at the
national level, we will make changes in what we teach and how we
teach it, in what we choose to investigate and how we go about our
investigations and in how we serve our patients with medical knowledge
and understanding of individual needs.
We are on the cusp of the twenty-first century, an auspicious time
for all and a good time to renew our commitments to the most important
parts of our lives.
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