Dec. 15, 2021— After a year of planning, research and gathering feedback from the UF College of Medicine’s faculty, staff and learners, Dean Colleen Koch, M.D., M.S., M.B.A., has introduced her strategic plan that will guide the college over the next five years.

Koch developed seven pillars of the UF College of Medicine’s 2021-2026 Strategic Plan: Engage, Innovate, Excel, by seeking feedback and input from various college stakeholders.

“Every group was an active participant in developing this plan: faculty, learners, trainees, administrators, and advanced practice providers,” she said during a livestreamed town hall held Dec. 10 to introduce the strategic plan. “We issued surveys, we conducted retreats and focus groups, we analyzed survey data and feedback from the participants and we identified initiatives that we would pursue under each pillar. In addition, we defined specific measures of accountability, so our plan is not just a wish list — it is a map with a clear destination.”

At the town hall, videos introduced the college community to the seven pillars of the plan — education, research, people, value, system integration, diversity and inclusion and patient care — along with the projects created under each of the pillars by College of Medicine faculty. Each pillar will be led by an accountability advocate to ensure the progression of the plan’s various projects. The accountability advocates are as follows:

• Education – Joseph Fantone, M.D.
• Research – Azra Bihorac, M.D.
• Patient Care – Marvin Dewar, M.D., J.D.
• People – Mark Segal, M.D., Ph.D.
• Diversity and Inclusion – Donna Parker, M.D.
• Value – Michele Lossius, M.D.
• System Integration – David R. Nelson, M.D.

The accountability advocates spoke live with Koch during the program to answer questions related to each of the pillars.

Azra Bihorac, M.D., M.S., FCCM, FASN, senior associate dean for research affairs, spoke with Koch about the incoming projects that will serve the College of Medicine’s goals to increase its breadth and depth of research initiatives.

“Throughout our strategic plan engagement phase, we have received numerous comments and suggestions, and many of them have echoed my personal vision,” she said. “We are planning a wide array of activities to empower and transform our research workforce through different initiatives, including investment in graduate programs by adding 10 new Ph.D. positions for emerging research in AI and data science. We will also invest in research skills development for trainees and junior faculty. We want to make research easy for novices and efficient for experts.”

The dean’s office will keep the college community updated on progress made on each of the projects both on the web and through additional messaging.