Dear Colleagues:

I hope you all had a wonderful time over the holidays and that the new year has started off well for you.

Last year, under the leadership of Senior Associate Dean for Research Craig Crosson, I charged a faculty committee with preparing a strategic plan for the growth and development of public health sciences within the College of Medicine as a part of our Research Strategic Plan.  This past fall, that committee submitted its initial set of recommendations to me, which included the establishment of a new Department of Public Health Sciences.  The Board of Trustees approved our request to create a new department, and a search committee chaired by Dr. Kathleen Brady has been formed to recruit a Chair for that department.

The strategic plan committee has now submitted its final report and recommendations to me regarding the new Department of Public Health Sciences.  The mission of the new department as set forth in their report is “to ensure optimal quality of life and health of individuals by reducing disease risks, improving health outcomes, and eliminating health disparities.”  A copy of the full report can be found at http://www.musc.edu/com/research/PublicHealthSciences.pdf.  I would appreciate hearing from members in the College of Medicine regarding the committee’s recommendations.  Those wishing to comment on the report may send their thoughts via email to research-plan@musc.edu.

Last month, Associate Dean of Corporate, Foundation & Organization Relations Helen Snow and I met with numerous medical device companies to discuss MUSC’s areas of expertise and to explore opportunities to partner in research, as well as medical education and clinical outreach to targeted population groups.  I invited the leadership of GE Healthcare, Siemens Medical Solutions, Philips Healthcare, Fuji, and Hologic to each send a team to MUSC to meet with our faculty this spring, potentially to develop research partnerships in areas of mutual interest.  To optimize their time here, we agreed to solicit and submit presentation concepts to them in advance of their visits so that they could select which presentations would be of interest to them.  Faculty interested in being considered for available slots to present to these companies can submit concept forms for consideration.  The form and instructions for its completion can be found at http://www.musc.edu/com/research/conceptform.dot.  All forms must be submitted by midnight on January 31, 2012 to snowh@musc.edu to be considered for this opportunity.

The University is now accepting nominations for the MUSC Foundation Teaching Excellence Awards.  The purpose of these awards is to recognize members of the MUSC faculty who have made outstanding contributions to the university through teaching.  Awards may be given in the following categories- Clinical/Professional (Educator-Mentor), Scholarship/Academic (Educator-Mentor), Educator-Lecturer, and Developing Teacher.  Any regular, full-time faculty member who holds an academic rank of instructor or higher in a college or department of MUSC, who has not been the recipient of this award within the previous three years is eligible for nomination.  The deadline for nominations is Friday, January 27, 2012, at 5:00 p.m.  Nominees will be invited to submit supporting materials, and a committee of faculty and students representing MUSC’s six colleges, Library Sciences and Informatics, and the Student Government Association will review the nominations and select the recipients for this year’s awards.  For more information about these awards and to submit your nominations, please visit the website at http://www.carc.musc.edu/nomination/.

As always, I look forward to hearing from you via email or when I attend your departmental meetings.

With warm regards,

Etta