 Dear Colleagues and Friends:
Thank you for your interest in the Medical University’s strategic plan. I am pleased to present the fourth update of the current plan. Much has happened within and outside of the University since the plan was originally developed in 2003. While the conceptual underpinnings of the plan remain intact, we see our strategic directions evolving to accommodate both the internal and external forces of change. In particular, our planning has been influenced by the following trends, among others: - A continuing strong demand for clinical services with persistent health disparities
- Legislative investment in the research universities for economic development in the state
- A flattening of biomedical research funding from the federal government
- Successful recruitment of senior scientists with continued pressure on research space
- Expansion of collaborative initiatives between the South Carolina research universities and affiliated hospitals
- A rapidly expanding base of philanthropic support
- Demand for improved health care delivery and patient safety
These and other factors have caused us to focus our strategic priorities in the following domains: - Integrate activities of education, research, and practice within the University
- Prepare a health care workforce with emphasis on interprofessional education and teamwork
- Open and operate the first phase of our replacement hospital, continue planning for the next phase, and in the process develop a national leadership role in patient safety and clinical effectiveness, including interprofessional education in the area of clinical simulation
- Continue to grow research centers of excellence, recruiting outstanding faculty, and adding new facilities with interprofessional emphases in drug discovery and development, bioengineering, clinical and translational research, and health care disparities
- Successfully complete the recently launched $300M capital campaign
Our university is in the very final stages of reaffirming our accreditation for the next ten years. The feedback from our reviewers has been very positive and we anticipate full accreditation before the end of this year. A significant byproduct of this process was their enthusiastic validation, and our subsequent refinement, of a major initiative focusing on interprofessional education, entitled Creating Collaborative Care. This initiative responds to the fact that today’s health care system is highly complex and involves the interaction of many health care professionals in providing optimal patient care and advancing biomedical research. Specifically, our Quality Enhancement Plan focuses on a sustained commitment to establishing interprofessional competencies in all three of our academic missions. The values of teamwork will be integrated throughout our curriculum and will extend to our research and clinical services as well. We envision our graduates as tomorrow’s leaders in the coordinated team delivery of health care and biomedical research. With these priorities in mind, we believe that the Medical University can build upon its already strong platform and better serve the people of South Carolina. We approach these directives with the confidence that our faculty and staff have helped to define these efforts and will be the engine that drives us to success. Our path is clear and our resolve is firm – together, we will serve our state and its people as never before.
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