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By Brooke Bunch
(Editor’s Note:
you can view a video of the Dean Brose's State of the College
Address
here.)
Dean Jack
Brose, D.O., urged an auditorium of OU-COM students, staff,
faculty and medical professionals to imitate the hedgehog if the
college was going to achieve its highest potentials. Using the
parable of the hedgehog and the fox to illustrate, Brose told how
by attacking, instead of curling up into a ball, the hedgehog
excelled in the ability to fend off a fox. With that lesson in
mind, Brose applied it to OU-COM’s advancement at the 2004 State
of the College Address in Irvine Hall.
“The
hedgehog understood that if you focus on things that you can do
better than anyone else, you can compete with the best,” Brose
said.
In what he
dubbed “the next leap,” Brose said OU-COM needs to combine
resources, passion and specialties to become “the best in the
world” in certain areas.
“We’re ready
to make the next leap, from very good to great,” he said. “We
are a well-kept secret, and we have to stop being that.”
Brose
announced OU-COM is going to meet the challenge of Ohio
University
President Roderick McDavis, Ph.D., to elevate the college’s
standing among medical school research institutions.
McDavis, who was present in Irvine, said OU-COM has a “huge
advantage” in setting off on the course prescribed by Brose.
“Our location is special,” he said. “We are part of an area that
begs for attention in terms of health care. We don’t need to go
to Cleveland; we don’t need to go to Columbus; we just need to
stay right here. We just have to reach out and embrace the
challenges that are right here.”
Brose hopes
to meet the research challenge by developing new incentives for
faculty who are successful in securing externally funded
research, to increase National Institutes of Health and National
Science Foundation grant applications by 50 percent this year
and to add research grant personnel to research offices.
Among OU-COM’s recent research highlights, Brose noted a rare
fossil discovery; the Haptic Back Project; the invention of
Somavert, the first effective medical treatment for acromegaly;
and the establishment of Appalachian Rural Health Institute
Diabetes/Endocrine Center, which Brose said can, and will, be a
major strength of OU-COM.
Referring to Diabetes/Endocrine Center, Brose asserted, “This
is an area we can be the best in the world.”
Brose hopes to increase faculty size by recruiting surgeons, a
geriatrician, pathologist, family physician, muscle physiologist
and an endocrinologist.
The dean said he also intends to increase number of minority
faculty, adding that diversity is a major component of the
university’s future. Boasting the highest percentage — 23 — of
minority students of any college on campus, OU-COM can and will
aim higher in issues of diversity, said Brose.
“We’re very proud of that,” he said. “But I think we can do
better.”
To achieve the diversity goal, Brose said the college has
allocated funds for a new position devoted entirely to
developing diversity-related issues in the curriculum and to aid
in minority recruitment. In addition, the college will aim to
expand its international programs.
As far as curriculum is concerned, Brose said OU-COM’s
two
curricula are among the most successful and innovative in the
country.
“Our
Clinical Presentation Continuum block teams and Patient
Centered Continuum developers have made tremendous improvements
in our curricula,” he said. “Our student’s Part I Comprehensive
Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination pass rates were the
highest in at least the past seven years.”
In addition,
OU-COM’s financial status is very stable for now.
“Because of
the fiscal responsibility exercised by everyone in the college,
we improved our financial condition at a time the state was
decreasing our budget,” Brose said. “So we can be very, very
proud of that.”
However,
Brose warned of looming state budget cuts, adding that the
college must prepare for potential reductions in the state’s
subsidy in the upcoming years.
McDavis said
he was pleased with Brose’s plan, noting the crucial role
OU-COM plays within the university.
“After
watching the presentation, it’s clear to me the dean has the
right spirit and is ready to rise to the next level,” McDavis
said. “I’m convinced that in order to advance, we cannot get
there without the College of Osteopathic Medicine leading the
way.”
McDavis said
the standard must be set high.
“Dreams can
become reality, but you have to first set the goal,” he said.
“You may not get there tomorrow, you may not even get there next
year, but you have to set the standard high.”
Also at the
address, Brose presented 11 OU-COMers with two of the school’s
top awards. Receiving Dean’s Awards for 2004 were Joanne
Bray, clinical competency assessment coordinator; Wayne
Carlson, D.O., chairman of the Department of Geriatric
Medicine/Gerontology; David Eland, D.O., associate
professor of family medicine; Sharla Groves,
instructional coordinator; Joy Matthews-Lopez, Ph.D.,
Centers for Osteopathic Research director of research; and
Frank Schwartz, M.D., director of the
Appalachian Rural
Health Institute’s Diabetes/Endocrine Center.
Receiving the
Standard of Excellence Award were Peter Bell, D.O.,
assistant CORE dean; Steve Carter, curriculum
coordinator; Gillian Ice, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant
professor of social medicine; Richard Klabunde, Ph.D.,
associate professor of biomedical sciences; and Elizabeth
Minor, director of the Health Careers Opportunity Program.
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