As you are aware, the COVID-19 numbers for North Dakota (and Grand Forks County) are headed in the decidedly wrong direction. While I’d much rather have North Dakota and UND in the news because of the great things that are happening in our educational and research programs, our situation isRead More

Earlier this week, UND President Armacost and I presented the School’s budget request to the State Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The presentation went smoothly and there were no questions. We are requesting a needs-based budget in alignment with UND’s request for a 3% merit increase for faculty andRead More

This has been a full and exciting week! It started on Monday with President Andy Armacost’s Inauguration Ceremony as the 13th UND president. The event was quite poignant and moving. Andy’s closing remarks were sensitive, thoughtful, inspiring and gracious. But even Andy and his wonderful remarks were upstaged by theRead More

This past Tuesday, the leadership team at the UND SMHS gave new UND President Armacost a 2.5 hour introduction to the wide variety of activities at the School. Over a dozen UND SMHS leaders gave presentations summarizing the programs and operations in each of their areas of responsibility. I gaveRead More

Not long ago I discussed the importance of mentoring for medical and health sciences students. We know from many surveys that mentors play a major role in helping students decide on career choices, like in what area of medicine to specialize. The importance of mentors was reinforced this past MondayRead More

This past Monday, the UND SMHS Advisory Council reported back to the Interim Higher Education Committee of the North Dakota Legislature, as is customary prior to each legislative assembly session and as required by law. As you might already know, the next session begins Jan. 5, 2021. I testified (virtually),Read More

Today is the sad anniversary of the 19th year since the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and Pentagon in Washington D.C. My, has the world changed in the nearly two decades since that tragic event! I distinctly remember where I was when I heard aboutRead More

Earlier this week, the building we own and operate in Minot that houses our Center for Family Medicine and our Minot-based family medicine residency suffered a major setback when a water main in the building burst unexpectedly and flooded the basement, causing substantial damage and necessitating the closure of theRead More

As UND faculty, my wife Dr. Susan Farkas and I had the opportunity to undergo COVID-19 testing before the start of classes this past Sunday during the screening event sponsored through NDSU and held in the Fargodome parking lot near our home in Fargo. We had pre-registered online and theRead More

The recent trend in North Dakota of new COVID-19 cases is troubling, especially given the upcoming start of the fall semester for most UND students – especially undergraduates – next week. The number of active cases in the state has increased rapidly and worryingly in the recent past. Given theRead More

I am delighted to report the achievement of two records that were just finalized this week. Both are related to financial contributions to UND, and both are especially noteworthy in that they were achieved despite the impact of COVID-19 during the last part of the academic year that ended JuneRead More

We are now fewer than three weeks from the official start of the fall semester at UND, although our freshman medical students have been attending class virtually for the past month. And even as we continue to strive to keep our facilities as uncongested as possible from a staff andRead More

This past Tuesday there was a fun virtual event sponsored by Governor Burgum. It was a Virtual Summit on Innovative Education. During the time I was able to be online, I saw that there were about 800 other attendees, presumably from across the state. The Governor mentioned that there wereRead More

The virtual events we held last Friday for the incoming medical student Class of 2024 and their families went very well indeed by all accounts. As is my traditional role, I oversaw the Friday case wrap-up where the entire class “meets” (this year virtually) with the patient whose case historyRead More

As I’ve mentioned before, the medical students in the Class of 2024 began their studies with us this week. I welcomed them to the UND SMHS on Monday. But unlike in prior years, the meeting was not in person—it was virtual. And rather than discussing the moral imperatives of beingRead More