We thank all of you for your many contributions that advance our core missions in education, research, community engagement, and clinical care. This is a good time to pause, as we begin a new academic year in July, to celebrate our achievements and identify opportunities to continue our progress.
We said congratulations and farewell in June to the Class of 2022 as they embark on their residency training. Our second, third, and fourth-year medical students continue to be engaged in their classes and rotations. We also celebrate and congratulate our research trainees on their graduation and wish them well in the next step of their careers. We look forward to welcoming the next class of students in mid-August.
Our residents, fellows, graduate students and post-docs continue to develop their clinical and research expertise with a commitment to improving patient health and well-being.
Our faculty and staff are continuing to support our UCLA Health Mission Pillars. The 2021 Reflection captures examples of your achievements in the areas of JEDI, Education, Research, Community Engagement, and Clinical Innovation.
You have remained aligned with our Cultural North Star values in 2021-22, throughout the challenges presented by both the global pandemic and ongoing national strife. Your commitment and resiliency are laudatory. This commitment affords continued growth and new opportunities in education, research, patient care and community engagement.
Progress
We have outlined our vision for the school in support of our strategic plan. As we reflect on what we have accomplished, it is equally important to identify how we can do more.
Last year we celebrated the 70th anniversary of the UCLA charter class of medical students. As we build upon the work that has come before, our highest priority now is to sustain and enhance the requisite infrastructure that reaches across disciplines, departments, and UCLA’s other schools, breaking down barriers and fully integrating our mission with those of UCLA Health and the broader UCLA campus.
We continue to emphasize the team science approach for all investigative activities in service of our mission in order to diminish the barriers that limit our collaborative academic environments. The DGSOM Themes continue to foster collaboration in seven broad research domains. The themes are bringing an awareness of the richness of our academic home. We can enhance team science by establishing tangible rewards for working in teams, but the even more meaningful reward is within our reach. Our work together is yielding the efficiencies and power that result from effective collaboration, which includes translation from initial concept to health benefit. Both literally and figuratively, we are breaking down the walls that divide our research laboratories, allowing us to reach our community. We can do more.
To promote professional satisfaction and effective collaboration, we will continue investing resources in career development support, mentoring programs, and the recruitment and retention of outstanding, diverse faculty that excel in clinical care, research, and education. Engaged faculty and staff attract exceptional trainees as well as research funding, which then leads to research and educational success that ultimately benefits patient care. Continuing to enhance the environment to allow for faculty and staff to achieve their goals is essential.
We are also continuing our commitment to the development of a diverse workforce and the inclusion of community input in research and education. Health disparities research, as well as the social determinants of health, are prioritized. Fostering an Inclusive Science initiative to advance racial and gender equity, and diversity inclusion throughout our research enterprise is crucial. We are committed to addressing structural racism by following the anti-racism roadmap.
Promise
I am honored to serve as your Interim Dean. We will provide frequent updates regarding our work together. We celebrate your many achievements, and we value your ideas for our continued progress.
I applaud your commitment and look forward to building the future with you,
Steven M. Dubinett, MD
Interim Dean, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, UCLA
