From the Dean: Sixteen years, nearly 800 columns, and a ‘huge sense of gratitude and satisfaction’

My first column for the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences weekly electronic newsletter that we originally called E-News, and now call For Your Health, appeared on Jan. 9, 2009. I had been at the School for a little over four years at the time, and had been asked by then-UND President Robert Kelley to function as the School’s Executive Dean while then-dean (Dr. H. David Wilson) transitioned to a new position elsewhere. I thought that it was crucial to establish a frequent means of communication with faculty, staff, students, legislators, donors, supporters, friends, and the general public – hence this column that I’ve written almost every week since then. That makes nearly 800 columns over the ensuing nearly 16 years!

I trust that you have enjoyed these columns over the years and found them to be a handy method for learning about the many developments at your UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences. Over the years I’ve emphasized the “your” when referring to the School because none of the many accomplishments that we’ve seen over the past 16 years would have been possible without the efforts of many stakeholders (a word that former UND President Mark Kennedy was fond of using).

So to all of you in the extended UND SMHS family, I say thank you for all that you do – and have done – for the School. It is with this sense of immense gratitude that I write this, which is my last column. I typically push pause – appropriately – on my column for the week that we recognize both Native American Heritage Month and Thanksgiving, which is next week. And because we hit December 1 immediately after Thanksgiving, incoming Dean Marjorie Jenkins will take the reins of the School as I return to the faculty ranks.

Accordingly, as we look both forward and backward with the transition coming next month, I step down from my administrative positions as vice president and dean with a huge sense of gratitude and satisfaction. As I reflect on the many accomplishments that have occurred over this time, I am confident that we have more than complied with the purpose statement for the School that is in the Century Code (the codified laws of North Dakota). It expects the School to focus on education and workforce development for the state, to engage in meaningful discovery efforts (research) that enriches the lives of North Dakotans, and perhaps most of all – to serve the people of the state with efforts that improve the quality of their lives.

I believe that together we have done this – and more! Just look at some of our accomplishments over the past decade and a half or so:

• A significant improvement in the retention rate of SMHS medical program graduates for clinical practice in the state and retention of nearly half of North Dakota’s health sciences licensees (physical and occupational therapists, physician assistants, lab scientists, athletic trainers, etc.).
• Expansion of class sizes, along with the addition of new departments and programs, including emergency medicine, radiology, Indigenous health, population health, public health, and more.
• A more than doubling of the number of residency slots (post-MD required training), with the addition of multiple new programs, including hematology/oncology, forensic pathology, geriatrics, neurology, orthopedic surgery, hospital medicine, pediatrics, and soon – cardiology.
• All programs are fully accredited.
• A major growth in philanthropic donations that has allowed us to significantly increase scholarship support for students, thus reducing their educational debt load.
• A major expansion of our research enterprise, with a more than doubling of external funding (that typically comes from the federal government, especially through the National Institutes of Health) over the past decade.
• A substantial improvement in the physical plant, both in Grand Forks and at the regional campuses:
  • Fargo – New regional campus office space that is in much closer proximity to Essentia and Sanford Hospitals, as well as the internal medicine residency program.
  • Minot – New space for the regional campus office.
  • Grand Forks – Brand new clinical space for the Sports Medicine program; new signage on the north side and in front of the Grand Forks building.

Speaking of our main building in Grand Forks, it is now eight years young, and in most ways still feels like it is brand new. It was completed on time and on budget and continues to be an amazing facility to support the efforts of our faculty, staff, and students.

Perhaps most important of all, there is a palpable sense that our stakeholders, including hospital CEOs, practitioners throughout the state and beyond, donors, legislators, and others, now view the SMHS as a major asset for the state, and are highly appreciative of our efforts to support and further grow the healthcare workforce for North Dakota. One really couldn’t ask for much more!

Thank you.

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