From the Dean: A healthy dose of holiday cheer

As the fall semester winds down, holiday celebrations abound! This past week was busy with events at UND and the SMHS. On Monday, CEO DeAnna Carlson-Zink and her fantastic teammates at the UND Alumni Association and Foundation (UNDAAF) sponsored a reception for the UND family and especially benefactors of UND who are in the area. The philanthropic contributions the School gets from donations made through the UNDAAF are essential for the scholarship support we are able to give to our students in an effort to reduce their debt load, as well as the endowed faculty positions we use to recruit and retain the very best professors and researchers. There was a strong turnout and a lot of discussion about the $500 million capital campaign that the UNDAAF just announced publicly.

The following day, the School held its annual holiday luncheon event that attracted over 450 folks! It was fun to visit with faculty, staff, students and guests at the tables that were set up throughout the west atrium of the Grand Forks building. Later that night, we held the first of four holiday events that we sponsor at each of our regional campuses (in Grand Forks, Fargo, Minot, and Bismarck). A simultaneous event was held at JLG Architects in downtown Grand Forks with two virtual tours of the new Altru Hospital that is under construction on Columbia Road. It was a challenge for several of us – including Susan and me as well as Andy and Kathy Armacost – to attend both events, but manage we did! By the way, the new Altru facility looks fantastic. We – and the community – can’t wait until the building opens in 2025.

Yesterday, we not only hosted almost 130 faculty and staff online at our recurring Java with Josh event (and thanks to SMHS CFO Namil Choi for taking the reins of the discussion when my computer lost power about 45 minutes into the event!), but held the second regional campus holiday celebration in Fargo. And next week, Susan and I will be in Minot on Tuesday and Bismarck on Thursday to join our faculty, students, and staff on each of these regional campuses for holiday gatherings.

These are all wonderful events that allow our UND SMHS teammates on each of our four regional campuses to gather together and share thoughts in a relaxed and festive atmosphere. We had great turnouts at each event this week, and we look forward to next week’s celebrations.

Finally, here is an update on the recruiting front. I’ve mentioned before that we have about a half-dozen ongoing searches for members of our management team. Well, the number of ongoing searches has decreased by two! With the start of the new year, we will be welcoming our new chair of the Department of Indigenous Health, who joins our new associate dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

I’m thrilled to announce that Dr. David Wilson has accepted our offer as Indigenous Health chair. But not only that: he also will be the associate vice president (AVP) for health research for UND! In his departmental chair role, Dave will help guide and grow the Indigenous Health team at the SMHS, and through his role as AVP he will help guide the entire UND campus in health-related research, especially efforts related to Indigenous communities.

I’m also thrilled that Dr. Victoria Haynes will be joining us to help coordinate our efforts to be as equitable and inclusive an institution as we possibly can be. After all, two of the foundational values UND espouses in the new UND LEADS Strategic Plan are Equity (E) and Affinity (A), along with Learning (L), Discovery (D), and Service (S). To that end, we’re very excited to continue moving forward in this arena.

So please help me extend a warm SMHS welcome to both Dr. Wilson and Dr. Haynes. Victoria will be on campus next week, and Dave will join us in January. Please introduce yourselves and say hello. Welcome to both!

Joshua Wynne, MD, MBA, MPH
Vice President for Health Affairs, UND
Dean, UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences