Posts Tagged

dean

All faculty, staff, and students are invited to join us virtually for the next Java with Josh on Tuesday, Aug. 16, with their own coffee, tea, or juice! SMHS Dean Dr. Joshua Wynne will answer your questions about SMHS operations and events, research news at the School, and the upcoming academic year. Join us online […]

Commencement 2022 is here at the UND SMHS! Tomorrow, 69 medical students officially will join the medical profession as they are awarded their MD degrees. Following a celebration brunch where outstanding students and faculty are recognized, we will reassemble in the Chester Fritz Auditorium for the afternoon Commencement. You can watch the ceremony, which starts at […]

Susan and I recently “attended” (virtually) the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology (called ACC22) that was held in Washington, D.C., from April 2-4. It was a hybrid event, with a moderate number of in-person attendees and a fair number online (like Susan and me). I spent a total of 18 hours participating […]

As one of UND’s vice presidents, I had the pleasure to be part of the interview team that visited with the four outstanding final candidates who are under consideration for the deanship at the UND School of Law to follow Dean Mike McGinnis, who is stepping down in June. I enjoyed chatting with all of […]

As I mentioned in last week’s column, last Friday was Match Day for our graduating medical students. The vast majority of them matched in a residency that they will start after graduation, and in which they will learn their chosen specialty over the next three to five years. Most matched with their first choice or […]

Today is Match Day! At noon today (EDT), some 42,000 medical students across the U.S. and indeed the world – and especially our own UND SMHS senior medical students – will learn where they will be doing their residency training following graduation from medical school. Residency training is required for state licensure, and lasts from […]

Early this past Tuesday morning, I observed something that struck me as typical North Dakota while I drove down our local street. We and our neighbors had put out our recycling bins at the end of our driveways the night before so that the collection truck could use its mechanical arm to tip the recycling […]

This has been an exciting week of recognition for a number of high-performing students and faculty at the School. I’ve often said that it’s really the people that make schools and programs great, beyond “just” great facilities and support services like information technology, dining services, human resources, and maintenance services. Well, we have outstanding faculty, […]

Last week I discussed the changing landscape around the globe due to the omicron variant. Unfortunately, this week I need to update that overview with comments about the burgeoning impact of omicron locally across North Dakota. We have seen a rapid increase in cases statewide, with increasing numbers of new cases over the past week. […]

As we enter the third calendar year of SARS-CoV-2 (ugh), I see storm clouds close by, and the real possibility of brighter skies by the spring. First to the storm clouds. The omicron variant, as you know, is highly contagious and spreading very rapidly. The chart above is from the Financial Times and shows the […]

Academic medicine veteran Namil Choi, MBA, CPA, has been named Associate Dean for Administration and Finance and Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS). Originally from South Korea, Choi is joining the SMHS from the prestigious University of Chicago’s Biological Sciences Division (BSD), where he has served as […]

Welcome “back” and Happy New Year! It’s a cliché to say that those of us in leadership positions stand on the shoulders of giants, but in the case of Dr. Robert Eelkema, it’s absolutely true. As you may have heard, the UND SMHS family lost Bob last week at age 91. He was a giant […]

On Wednesday we held our annual Holiday Party, and as with last year, it was a virtual event. But unlike last year the attendance was modest and down from last year. We suspect that this modest turnout was a reflection of our “pandemic/virtual meeting fatigue” and, interestingly enough, may have been a demonstration of one […]

This past Tuesday was notable in two regards. Most important of course is that it was the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The other event of note is that a federal court stopped (at least temporarily) the implementation of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccination mandate for employees working on federal contracts. Since […]

Yesterday UND sponsored a Town Hall meeting for faculty and staff to discuss the recent federal mandates for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) vaccination. There was a productive “back and forth” discussion of the issues and implications for UND. Here’s a brief overview of what was discussed. There are three ways the Executive Order regarding vaccine requirements are […]