Wiley Souba, vice president for health affairs and dean of Dartmouth Medical School, announced 20x20 a set of development strategies that include new buildings and an altered curriculum that aims to make DMS one of the top 20 medical schools by 2020 in his inaugural State of the Medical School address at Kellogg Auditorium on Wednesday.
"Right now we're number 32," Souba said. "It's our intent to be top 20 but we can't be top 20 without winning together as a team and we can't be a top 20 without having a top hospital. We have to be in the top 20 for the College to be in the top 10."
Souba said the 20x20 project was established after "joint strategic planning" among DMS employees and with consultation from the College's other graduate schools.
"[College President Jim Yong Kim] challenges us to be bold in anticipation of our 250th year in 2019," Souba said.
Souba said the "final touches" are being applied to a $16.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health that DMS expects to receive, but has yet to designate for a particular use.
A new integrated, four-year curriculum for students is also "in the works," Souba said. He expressed excitement for the masters program in health care delivery science that will be offered through the Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science starting in July.
DMS will partner with nationally-recognized medical organizations such as the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome in White River Junction in the future, Souba said.
Souba informed those in attendance of new construction projects, including a 50,000-square foot building for the C. Everett Koop Institute where researchers will conduct clinical trials. He discussed plans for an educational complex in the Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center, which is slated to be completed in May 2011.
"We still have to name it," he said. "There will be a space outside for concerts and meeting outdoors."
Souba discussed a DMS leadership climate survey conducted a few months ago in which faculty members reported that they felt underutilized and did not think open communication was the norm or that constructive conflict was embraced. Various graduating medical students wrote in that survey that they were occasionally or frequently made to feel "belittled" or "humiliated" at DMS, Souba said.
"We don't want to see any more of that," Souba said. "We want to create a center for creating leaders and fostering leadership. We need to create a high performing culture and a workplace of choice."
Souba highlighted the international outreach efforts of various departments and programs at DMS. Overseas initiatives such as the Dartmouth Rwanda Team, the Dartmouth Kosovo Team, the Dartmouth Tanzania Team, as well as Dartmouth doctors' efforts in Haiti, are laudable, he said.
"For Dartmouth to be great we need to have a global footprint," Souba said. "It's all about reaching out and connecting to people."
The High Value Health Care Collaborative a consortium of health care providers formed in December by the Mayo Clinic, Intermountain Healthecare, Denver Health and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center to improve health care while lowering costs for patients is already publishing its first paper, Souba said. HVCC announced that eight additional health systems will join the collaborative on June 1, according to DHMC's website.
The Center for Shared Decision Making, an insititution that seeks to educate patients about their own treatment options, also "deserved an award" for its innovation, Souba said.
"Our commitment is connecting hearts and minds to transform lives," Souba said. "We have to be committed to creating leaders, reaching out and connecting to diverse people and to putting our students and faculty first. Winning as a team is when it's the most fun." During the speech, Souba also addressed the ways in which DMS dealt with the recession and the College-wide, $100-million budget cuts.
"We've lost key faculty," he said. "We've seen our surplus become a deficit and a reduction in our grants."
