QHS Strategic Planning
Vision, Values, Purpose, and Objectives

Vision

We will be leaders in the science of moving from discovery to improving individual and population health.

Values

  • Social justice through improved health
  • Collective creativity
  • Integrity and excellence
  • Diversity and mutual respect
  • Science that makes a difference

Purpose and Objectives

  1. Produce new knowledge and tools to inform health policy and improve the determinants of health and the structure, processes, and outcomes of health care.
    1. Produce influential publications and grow our national presence
    2. Enhance our extramurally-funded programs
    3. Develop and test patient-, provider-, and systems-based interventions to improve health
    4. Work with our health system to develop and test tools that enhance health care delivery
    5. Produce and test tools that facilitate patients and providers making shared decisions and evidence- based choices
  2. Develop and demonstrate the power of collaboration in research and discovery
    1. Role-model collaboration within our department
    2. Form inter-disciplinary teams with other Departments, Centers, and Programs
    3. Jointly recruit faculty with other entities, both within UMMS and outside (e.g., VA, John Ware Research Group)
    4. Apply for NIH and AHRQ funding for Center and Program Project funding (e.g., U01, P01, P60 mechanisms)
    5. Continue to contribute prominently to CCTS
  3. Increase researcher capacity at UMMS for using discovery to improve health
    1. Strengthen current Divisions and add new expertise (e.g., in health economics, health policy, statistical genetics)
      1. Recruit faculty towards a “steady state” of 32 – 35 faculty by 2014 (budget allowing)
      2. Develop structured career development plans for QHS faculty at all levels and program of structured mentoring for junior faculty
    2. Mentor trainees at all levels through
      1. Training opportunities in our research projects for medical students, graduate students, housestaff, and post-doctoral and clinical fellows
      2. Rotations for undergraduates (e.g., from Worcester Polytechnical Institute), medical students, and housestaff
    3. Increase QHS presence in education across UMMS
      1. Explore stronger links between the MSCI and CPHR PhD program
      2. Develop new courses and pathways for the CPHR program
      3. Enhance the broader educational mission of the institution by offering courses, workshops, and teaching modules in research methods
    4. Apply for extramural funding through training grants including
      1. Institutional grants (e.g.,T32)
      2.  Individual grants (e.g., K23, F32)
      3. Minority supplements to funded grant
  4. Provide professional expertise to researchers in the design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of medical research
    1. Develop the Quantitative Methods Core and lead it to financial self-sufficiency by 2014
    2. Support knowledgeable access to national databases and databases residing in QHS for our and others’ research
  5. Explore new models to disseminate, implement, and sustain new knowledge
    1. Improve health information systems used by health system management to improve inpatient and ambulatory care
    2. Build health-promoting collaborations (e.g., with Commonwealth Medicine, Public Health departments, Community Health Initiatives
    3. Facilitate the public’s ability to understand health-related evidence and make evidence-based choices