College of Health Sciences
School of Medicine
UCI School of Medicine Vision and Strategic Plan
Report of the SoM Vision 2010 committee
Introduction
This Committee was charged by Executive Vice Chancellor Michael Gottfredson and Dean of the School of Medicine Tom Cesario with defining the Mission of the UCI School of Medicine (SoM) and articulating its Vision for the next five years. The committee identified strengths and opportunities as well as specific challenges and roadblocks for achieving this Vision. The goal of this Plan is to provide a roadmap for elevating the SoM to a position among the top-ranking schools in the country.
The SoM is a key flagship of UCI, generating over 50% of UCI’s grant funding and IP licensing revenue. The SoM plays a pivotal role in linking the UCI main campus with the Orange County community, and its vitality is crucial to the future of the University. In addition, the UCI SoM is partnered with UCIMC, and this Plan is consonant with the productive relationship of these two entities. This document provides Mission and Vision statements for the SoM, followed by assessment of needs, description of current strengths and challenges, and finally, proposed solutions. These elements are distilled in the Executive Summary.
This Vision definition and strategic planning process is taking place at a crucial time in the history of the SoM: The University is embracing a new Chancellor, and the UCIMC is embarking on building a new hospital. These events, together with additional emerging strategic opportunities and challenges, provide a unique opportunity for creating a roadmap for our future.
Tallie Z. Baram, MD, PhD, Chair
Frank L. Meyskens Jr., MD
Bruce J. Tromberg, PhD, Vice-Chair
Jagat Narula, MD
Tom J. Carew, PhD
Roz Sandri-Goldin, PhD
Ralph V. Clayman, MD
Oswald Steward, PhD,
Steven C. Cramer, MD
Leslie Thompson, PhD
Sheldon Greenfield, MD
Douglas C. Wallace, PhD
Mark E. Linskey, MD
Albert F. Yee, PhD
1. Executive Summary
The first charge of the committee was to articulate Mission and Vision statements of the SoM:
MISSION:
The mission of the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine is to promote biomedical sciences and medicine in Orange County, California, and beyond, through excellence in research, patient care, education, and community service.
VISION:
The University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine will achieve preeminence through the creation, application and dissemination of new knowledge in the biomedical sciences and medicine. This will be accomplished through international leadership in biomedical research, development of new therapies, delivery of state-of-the-art medical care, and innovative biomedical education.
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The committee identified five major problem areas that require attention, to enable the School of Medicine to achieve its goals:
1. Academic Clinical Enterprise:
We must promote an environment supportive of the highest standards of patient care, practice, education and clinical research. This environment does not currently exist, as apparent from the attrition of junior faculty, and the fact that only three SoM departments are ranked among the top 50. We must support clinical and bench-to-bedside research, and establish a strong faculty incentive structure for stimulating research by clinicians. We must coordinate hospital- and clinic-based research and the basic biomedical research on the Irvine campus, and attract the established Orange County population to partner with the academic clinical enterprise at UCI.
2. Research Infrastructure:
Our organizational administrative structures must promote a culture of research in clinical departments that is comparable to the outstanding research in the basic sciences. The dearth of Center-, Training- and Program-grants in clinical departments is evidence for the lack of effective support for proposal and protocol preparation, grant / clinical trial management and education of clinicians about the funding and conduct of research. Most critically, incentives for research by clinical faculty are required.
3. Research Priorities and Integrative Basic Science
As a result of the NIH roadmap, major NIH funding is being devoted to large, multi-investigator, trans-disciplinary efforts. Currently, UCI SoM has relatively few large grants of this type. Successful competition for large awards by UCI SoM investigators requires fostering initiatives in basic science that can interact with Medical School and Medical Center clinical programs to build interdepartmental collaborative opportunities. To accomplish this, we must address deficiencies in core research facilities that limit the development and implementation of collaborative initiatives including, for example, animal space, genomic, proteomic and bioinformatics facilities, and modern imaging systems
4. Education
We must optimize the education of medical and health science students within the SoM and the growing College of Health Sciences. Currently, UCI SoM is ranked at the low end of schools for Academic career choices of its clinical graduates. To change this, we must attract the best students and provide them with individualized opportunities to learn clinical and research elements of modern Academic medicine. In addition, SoM, College of Health Science and UCI campus training programs should be coordinated.
5. Communication:
The future success of the UCI SoM depends critically on effective integration and collaboration with both the Orange County and the University communities. This requires clear and sophisticated communication, with emphasis on both channels and content. Both of these elements are currently inadequate, as is evident, for example, from the dearth of media attention to the SoM, and the low level of community recognition of the school. Therefore, effective communication is essential between UCI SoM clinicians at UCIMC and the Irvine campus, between SoM and the rest of the campus, and, perhaps most critically, between UCI SoM and the community of Orange County, including leaders in education, business and philanthropy, as well as the lay public.
Summary Recommendations:
- Create an Office of Clinical Research and Trials that will provide the necessary infrastructure to truly support clinical research activities at UCI SoM.
- Establish a combined Clinical, Research and Teaching Facility on the Irvine campus.
- Create a Research Incentive Program for Junior Clinical Faculty that will provide significant salary support and mentoring to enable their academic success. Ensure recognition of collaborative / clinical research efforts in promotion and tenure decisions
- Devote substantial new resources (including core facilities) for excellent basic and clinical research programs and disciplines that will compete successfully for awards, including multi-investigator large grants. Evaluate the success and impact of these programs regularly.
- Enhance Medical Education at UCI by utilizing the proposed clinical facility on the Irvine campus as an educational venue, creating multiple pathways (tracks and dual degrees) at all educational levels, and establishing thematic training clusters that integrate mentoring, problem-based learning, research, and didactic teaching.
- Establish a high level position for Communications and Marketing.
These actions should be combined with doubling the number of FTEs for the SoM, with enhancing highly-specialized clinical revenue, and with dramatically increasing philanthropy to the SoM. Implemented, these actions will lift UCI SoM from its current second-tier position to a top-ranked institution.
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The Committee’s Strategy:
The committee formed workgroups that evaluated each of these issues, and information was obtained about the current state and the needs in each of the above realms. This was performed using several approaches:
- The committee or its sub-committees interviewed individuals knowledgeable in each area, such as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UCIMC (clinical enterprise), Vice Chancellor for Research (research infrastructure), Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, Senior Associate Dean of Health Sciences at the College of Health Sciences, and the Director of the GCRC.
- Questionnaires were sent to Departments, Divisions and Centers. These included requests for information about the education and research missions of these entities, as well as examples of bench-to-bedside efforts and interactions.
- Workgroup members met with key stakeholders in each area. For example, discussions were held between the Education workgroup and Senior Associate Dean for Education, and between the communication workgroup and communication / advancement personnel within the SoM and UCIMC.
- The committee undertook a comprehensive assessment of current research strengths, measured by funding within departments, divisions and centers. These included analyses of the number and track / seniority of faculty, and examined funding from diverse sources (federal, foundation, industry, philanthropy). These analyses covered the 3-5 most recent years.
- Because the SoM is integrally associated with both the University (‘main campus’) and UCIMC, the committee conducted discussions with the Senior Executive Vice Chancellor and the CEO of UCIMC regarding strategic planning, challenges and priorities. These were followed by input from the Dean of the SoM.
