Greetings Alumni
Keith A. Joiner, MD, MPH
Vice Provost, Medical Affairs
Dean, College of Medicine
This is a time of great transition at the UA College of Medicine, with major growth anticipated in both the clinical and research arenas. This is made possible by new facilities, including the recent acquisition by University Physicians Healthcare, of the former Kino Community Hospital. The planned move of the Arizona Cancer Center clinical programs to the former Tucson General Hospital site is another exciting part of our expected growth in the clinical arena. Simultaneously, major new buildings are under construction that will allow us to substantially expand our research enterprise.
Fabulous news is the recent memorandum of understanding
between The University of Arizona, Arizona State University and the Arizona Board of Regents for a four-year College of Medicine in Phoenix. This will be a UA College of Medicine, substantially expanding our ability to teach physicians. At the same time, we are programming our efforts for the Arizona Biotechnology Collaborative building in Phoenix, to be adjacent to the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) facility. Any one of these initiatives
would be exciting in its own right, but when looked at in total, the opportunities for growth are truly phenomenal. It is easy to imagine that the faculty, the research space, and the number of patient beds will double in the next five to eight years.
What are some of the more immediate challenges?
Currently, six department
head positions need to be filled over the next two years. Further, we plan to launch new initiatives
to develop more research and clinical expertise in
diabetes and in human neurosciences. All of these
recruiting and building efforts are being considered on a broader scale than might previously
have been the case. In particular, we are looking
statewide, and specifically to Phoenix, as we plan
our programmatic growth. We want to both maximize the reach of our collaborative interactions
and minimize the duplication of effort as we look to investigators working in our particular areas
of focus, which also include cancer, respiratory
diseases, biomedical engineering, and biomedical
imaging. This will require both coordination and
communication, and puts a premium on our ability to reach out to alumni and colleagues to solicit
advice and information.
Obviously, an entire issue of Alumni Update could be devoted to the new four-year medical college in Phoenix. Plans are moving ahead
rapidly, both from the programmatic and facility
standpoints. The driving consideration as we develop
plans for the new school is to construct the
best possible educational environment for medical
students. Therefore, it is quite propitious that we
also are undergoing a complete reorganization of
the medical school curriculum.
Our intention is to emphasize integration of basic
science and clinical medicine across all four years,
along with life-long learning skills and humanistic
aspects of medicine. You undoubtedly will be
hearing more about curriculum changes as they
are finalized.
As you can tell, bold new initiatives lie ahead.
None of this will be easy and none of this will be
inexpensive. But let this not in any way deter us
from moving ahead with enthusiasm. Your help
and involvement in any way that you find appropriate will be greatly appreciated.
Keith A. Joiner, MD, MPH
Dean, UA College of Medicine |
