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From the Dean

I have sad news to report. For those of you who haven’t heard, Janelle Eken, wife of Randy Eken, our recently retired associate dean for administration and finance, passed away last week after a courageous 11-month battle with pancreatic cancer. A terrible loss; Janelle had a way of making friends with anyone and everyone. The […]

Wow! What a week! I hope that the severe weather was no more than an inconvenience to you, and that you and your family are safe…and warm! We had a problem with the furnace at our home in the midst of the cold spell, and were reminded again of how vulnerable all of us are […]

Susan and I are looking forward to attending tomorrow night’s Recognition and Awards Banquet hosted by the UND SMHS medical student class of 2021. The festivities begin at 5 p.m. at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks. This annual event is held to celebrate hard work, promote professional relationships, and recognize those students who have […]

As I mentioned in last week’s column, this past Tuesday we testified in front of the North Dakota House Appropriations Committee – Education and Environment Division. Following morning testimony by the North Dakota University System (NDUS) and then President Kennedy and colleagues from UND, Dave Molmen and I testified in the afternoon on behalf of […]

As I mentioned last week, the SMHS will testify before the House Appropriations Committee—Education and Environment Division at the state capitol on Tuesday afternoon. Recently retired Altru CEO Dave Molmen will join me in testifying on behalf of the UND SMHS Advisory Council that he chairs. Dave has graciously agreed to continue in this role […]

Happy New Year! I trust that you had an enjoyable holiday break, although the storm last week certainly wasn’t in keeping with the holiday spirit! And there is a flu bug going around to boot. Thus, while 2019 arrived with some challenges, it also signals the arrival of new opportunities. So all the best to […]

Dean Joshua Wynne’s weekly For Your Health column will return on Friday, Jan. 4, 2019.  He and his spouse, Dr. Susan Farkas, wish everyone a happy, healthy New Year.

This past Monday, my wife Dr. Susan Farkas and I had the pleasure and honor of attending a retirement celebration in honor of Dave Molmen, who is retiring at the end of December as chief executive officer (CEO) at Altru Health System after some 40 years of health care service. Fortunately, Dave has agreed to […]

This week, we celebrated the holiday season with parties on the Southeast (Fargo) and the Northwest (Minot) campuses, finishing the cycle of parties at all four regional campuses that began last week. As at the parties on the Southwest (Bismarck) and Northeast (Grand Forks) campuses last week, we took time to recognize and thank the […]

As I mentioned in last week’s column, there was a lot going on in Bismarck this week. On Monday, the UND SMHS Advisory Council met in preparation for the upcoming North Dakota Legislative Assembly. There were three important items on the agenda, the first being a review of the Fifth Biennial Report of Health Issues […]

Next week marks the “official” beginning of the new legislative session in North Dakota. Although the Legislative Assembly starts on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019, there is a “pre-session” meeting of members Monday through Wednesday of next week, culminating on Wednesday morning when Gov. Doug Burgum presents his Executive Budget for the 2019-21 biennium. We all […]

Dean Joshua Wynne is away from the office this week. His For Your Health column will return on Friday, Nov. 30.

I recently was briefed on the School’s philanthropic status. As you know, we work closely with the UND Alumni Association and Foundation (UND AAF) and partner to develop resources that support the School’s priorities. We have identified mitigation of student debt and the development of endowed professorships and chairs as our twin priorities for this […]

This will be a truncated column this week, as Susan and I returned from the annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) late Tuesday night, and I was seeing patients in the Adult Congenital Heart Disease clinic all day yesterday. By the way, the clinic (which I staff along with pediatric cardiologist […]

This past week was jammed-packed with exciting happenings. It was a particularly rewarding week for me because I help teach the cardiovascular pathophysiology section of Block 6 of the second-year medical student curriculum (there are four blocks in each of the first two years of medical school). In addition to my other activities, I had […]