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From the Dean

The rapidly evolving pandemic situation has been a major focus of attention as we gear up for the return of the majority of students – especially undergraduates – to the UND campus in a little over a week (of course, some SMHS students already are on campus and have been for a while). The challenge […]

We have a new academic department at the UND SMHS – and a world-first to boot! To the best of our knowledge, the School now boasts the first Department of Indigenous Health. Although the new department will not be directly responsible for a specific course, it will provide a home for faculty members working in […]

I’m so tired of the pandemic and its impact on all of us! I’ll bet you feel the same way. And yet several events this week demonstrated that despite our collective pandemic fatigue, annoyance, and – yes – anger, the pandemic unfortunately isn’t done with us yet, due in large measure to the emergence and […]

Our burgeoning public health program, under the leadership of Dr. Don Warne, has achieved yet another milestone – a dual degree offering with UND’s School of Law. Although there are other universities that offer similar dual degree programs, our new program is the only one of its kind in the Dakotas, and the only one […]

This has been the first full week of study for the medical student class of 2025. Susan and I hosted a Welcome Reception for the class on Wednesday, but yet again this year it was virtual. Yesterday, the School hosted Family Day for the families of the students and I presented an overview of the […]

Yesterday marks the start of the new academic (and fiscal) year for the School and UND. It is the official marker of the transition from one year to the next, and there are multiple transitions that are occurring. Some folks are leaving, and many are arriving. Among those to whom we are saying fond goodbyes […]

I’m proud of the efforts and outcomes of the School’s various initiatives to promote diversity in our student ranks. We have identified rural background and American Indian heritage as our two focus areas for medical student diversity, and the results of our efforts have been impressive. Rural medical student enrollment over the past five years […]

In past columns I’ve commented on the challenges presented by the pandemic, of course, and also the hard work that is ongoing to prepare for several upcoming accreditation visits of various educational programs at the UND SMHS. An additional heavy lift has been the extraordinary efforts by faculty, staff, and students related to the major […]

Next week promises to be an especially busy week for me personally, as I will be participating (albeit virtually) in the June meeting of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the accreditation body for U.S. medical schools. As I’ve mentioned before, the LCME is comprised of 19 members, 15 of whom are what the […]

An interesting and informative article was just published by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). It deals with the challenges and successes of four minority students and the impact of various programs aimed at increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in medical schools across the country. One of our rising fourth-year students, Celeste Colegrove, […]

In view of the favorable trajectory of the pandemic in North Dakota over the past few months, UND has come out with new guidelines that will become effective on June 1, 2021. In multiple discussions with President Armacost and the leadership of UND, it became clear to us that special consideration should be given to […]

The pandemic obviously has had a profound impact on the healthcare enterprise and patients in general. One of the more interesting effects has been in the realm of virtual care delivery – the use of telemedicine and devices to assist in care. Telehealth – the use of audiovisual technology to deliver healthcare to remote sites […]

We are proud of our post-MD residency training programs that the School sponsors around the state. We have programs in family and internal medicine, surgery, psychiatry, orthopedic surgery, neurology, geriatric medicine (fellowship), transitional, and hematology-oncology (a fellowship due to start next year). Although we have expanded (and are expanding) the number and types of residency […]

Tomorrow will be commencement day for the medical student Class of 2021. Our other graduating health sciences and graduate students will be part of the general UND commencement ceremony the following weekend. Both events will be different from usual due to the pandemic. For medical students, it will be a hybrid event with only the […]

Now that Governor Burgum has signed the funding bill for higher education, we are busy finalizing our operating budget for the coming academic year. Our final budget will be in line with any provisions stipulated by the State Board of Higher Education and needs to be approved by President Armacost on behalf of UND. It […]