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From the Dean

This has been an event-filled week – and the events will continue through the weekend! Things started off with a bang on Monday when the UND Alumni Association & Foundation (UNDAAF) announced a $6.5 million gift to UND from Sanford Health. Tiffany Lawrence, the CEO of Sanford Fargo, was present for the announcement event at […]

Yesterday the SMHS held its 44th annual Frank Low Research Day. Named in honor of the former SMHS professor of anatomy who came to UND in the 1960s and pioneered a series of new techniques using the electron microscope, Frank Low Research Day is the culminating event of the academic year for many area researchers […]

Congratulations – and thanks! – to our physician colleagues in celebration of National Doctors’ Day that took place this past Saturday, March 30. All of us are grateful for the dedicated, caring, thoughtful care that physicians and the entire cadre of other healthcare professionals provide to all of us. I’m reminded of the days during […]

Last week I attended the annual meeting of the Council of Deans, sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). More than two-thirds of all North American medical school deans attended the meeting, and there was a general consensus that it was a quite successful meeting. Enough time was allowed for us to network […]

It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of Judy DeMers. Judy retired from the School in 2010 after spending 27 years as the associate dean for student affairs and admissions at the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences. In addition, she devoted years to serving as a legislator in both […]

By virtue of my administrative and academic positions at UND and at your School of Medicine and Health Sciences, along with my clinical role as a cardiologist, I have the opportunity to talk with a wide spectrum of individuals, including potential and current students, residents-in-training, physicians and other health professionals engaged in clinical practice, researchers, […]

Each year around this time, supervisors are expected to do a performance evaluation on most UND employees (both faculty and staff members). This is a requirement of the North Dakota University System as well as UND (and a best business practice, by the way). A slightly different evaluation rubric is followed for faculty, relative to […]

In follow-up to last week’s column where I discussed work/life balance and whether a career in healthcare delivery is a calling or a job (I posited that it’s both), last Saturday’s SMHS Medical Student Awards Gala, sponsored by the medical student classes of 2026 and 2027, reinforced the concept that tomorrow’s doctors certainly see part […]

As I consider my transition later this year out of my administrative roles as Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the UND SMHS, I’ve been thinking a lot about balance – that is, what is the right mix of various activities, professional and otherwise, to maximize one’s sense of accomplishment and satisfaction? In […]

Continuing the philanthropy theme from last week’s column, I’m currently at the winter meeting of the UND Alumni Association & Foundation (AAF) Board of Directors, along with the senior leadership teams from UND and the Foundation. We’ve been meeting since yesterday morning and the meeting is scheduled to finish late this afternoon. The major theme […]

I had a most fulfilling experience recently as I read some of the thank you notes that students at the UND SMHS sent to donors who provided scholarship and other financial support to the students for their studies here. As you may know, the cost of higher education has skyrocketed in general and has placed […]

Susan and I recently attended a continuing medical education (CME) course in cardiology sponsored by the Mayo Clinic. As you probably know, CME credits are required for physicians and other healthcare providers to maintain their state licenses to practice and deliver clinical care. We’ve been to prior Mayo Clinic CME courses and – editorial comment […]

This past Wednesday the School celebrated the outstanding achievements of several students in the medical student Class of 2026 during the annual Sophomore Awards ceremony, held in the Charles H. Fee, MD Auditorium in the SMHS building in Grand Forks. The ceremony also marks the transition of the medical students to the clinical component of […]

As we welcome 2024 and students return to their studies, I thought it might be productive to outline some of the School’s priorities and areas of focus in this new year. Recall that UND, like most academic institutions, operates on an academic and fiscal year that runs from July to June, in contrast to the […]

The winter academic semester at UND ends today. It has been a busy week! Winter Commencement for undergraduates takes place today, with two ceremonies – the first is at 1 p.m. and is for the following UND schools and colleges: Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Mines, Nursing and Professional Disciplines, and Medicine and Health Sciences. […]