A New Year, a new chance to magnify our impact by working together! The Office of Academic Clinical Affairs (OACA) was formed a year ago to do just that. Here are some of our new initiatives from 2019 and some ideas for how we will be working together to focus on the University’s clinical mission in new ways in 2020:
Providing interprofessional training to the workforce of tomorrow
- Finalized the unification of simulation resources as M Simulation.
- Partnered with the Provost’s office in planning the new Health Sciences Education Center.
- In 2020, we will expand our partnerships with the health care community to educate and train highly-skilled, compassionate, and patient-focused providers.
Innovating to improve health and health care
- Assumed leadership of the University-wide Opioid Task Force.
- Launched the Minnesota Mobile Resuscitation Consortium with the goal of having the most advanced life support technology available, staffed, and deployed.
- In 2020, we will leverage our NCI-designated, interdisciplinary Masonic Cancer Center to reduce the incidence and impact of cancer.
Working across disciplines in partnership
- Expanded our Faculty Research Development grants beyond the traditional health science disciplines to support interdisciplinary research that addresses clinical problems.
- Held Brainstormers events as a way to make connections across the University focused on specific challenges. A result was the BOLD Ideas grant program to tackle complex health issues requiring multifaceted, collaborative approaches.
- Partnered to create a brain health center that combines clinical and research programs in one place.
- In 2020, we will expand our efforts beyond the University to collaborate statewide on issues like access to healthcare, opioid abuse disorder, mental health challenges, and the health consequences of obesity.
As you make decisions and prioritize throughout the coming year, please add these considerations to your collective wisdom so that we can force multiply our efforts by working together. If you have questions or see problems, please let me know! Your viewpoint, your experience, your ideas are unique. It takes all of us to make the changes we need.
Thank you,
Jakub Tolar, MD, PhD
Vice President for Clinical Affairs
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