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Medical schools have evolved to occupy a unique niche in society. Our foremost goal is to train the next generation of physicians. However, during the last half-century, medical schools have also become burgeoning centers for basic and clinical research, an integral part of the communities they serve, and providers of highly specialized clinical care. This is a special year for the medical school as we celebrate our sesquicentennial — 150 years of excellence. We are excited to build on this foundation as we look to the future and generate new leaders and innovators. Our strategic vision can be summed up in three words: Alignment, Innovation, and Impact.  Feinberg highlights Video 3:30 (wmv)
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| | | |  | | | Alignment involves the nurturing and expansion of synergistic interactions with other schools at Northwestern, as well as pragmatic alliances with our clinical affiliates. This effort intensifies as Children’s Memorial Medical Center prepares to move onto our campus in 2012 and as we strengthen our partnership with Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. |  | | Our search for innovation has led us to initiate a process to redesign the medical school and graduate school curricula. It also has led us to our vision of The Great Academic Medical Center, which grew out of a Joint Planning Committee of senior leaders from the medical school, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation. It had become evident to us all that more opportunities were available through better alignment and joint planning. Innovation is also the causative impulse behind “One Northwestern,” a novel budgeting and planning process that reflects the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of biomedical education and research. Increasingly, scientific discovery occurs at the interface of the physical and life sciences, and we are keen to foster scientific collaborations that can explore novel approaches to biological questions. This effort also contains several transformational themes including a new process for joint faculty hiring across schools, the creation of new university-wide departments, redefinition of the focus of existing basic science departments, and reorganization of the life sciences graduate programs. |  | | In all these endeavors, we will guide our activities by assessing impact, whether in clinical care, research, teaching, or community outreach. We want to measure what we have accomplished, not how much time or money we have spent. Every faculty member should ask “how can I best have a major impact on society? For some, this will be modeling professionalism, a skill that will enable a young physician to effectively impact the lives of thousands of patients. Others may develop new devices or research discoveries that are readily transferable to other institutions. Reflective and objective assessments of impact will help our faculty achieve their career goals and, in sum, will allow the medical school to help address important problems. We have high aspirations, enormous momentum, and a bold vision for the future. We know where we want to go, and we are getting there fast. We have always been known for excellence and leadership. There is no doubt in my mind that we will intensify that tradition during the next 150 years and beyond. Best regards, 
J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD
Vice President for Medical Affairs
and Lewis Landsberg Dean,
Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University |
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