Dear Colleagues,
Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed a festive and happy holiday season.
In this month’s newsletter, I would like to reflect on the many areas of growth that so many in our department worked tirelessly to achieve over the past year, highlight more good things to come as we look forward to the new year, and outline a few areas for continued examination and improvement throughout 2023 and beyond.
New leadership and divisions
Over the past year, we welcomed two new division chiefs, Dr. Roberto Caricchio (Rheumatology) and Dr. Alan Mullen (Gastroenterology), and two new research divisions to our department, Health Systems Science led by Dr. Kathleen Mazor, and Innate Immunity led by Dr. Kate Fitzgerald.
Key strengths
- We have seen tremendous growth, with an increase of over 60 new faculty members, rising from 306 in FY21 to 370 in FY23, thus far.
- Our research enterprises are robust. Funding increased to $49.2 million in FY22 (up from $47.6 million in FY21) and our faculty had over 650 publications and 3,800 citations from 2021-2022.
- In 2022, our Clinical Research Core received over 56 requests from 11 divisions and is currently working on 25 active studies from 7 divisions.
- The 2022 Press Ganey survey results from our clinical employees showed that our department has strength in the areas of engagement, teamwork, diversity, and pride.
More good things to come
In 2023, we will welcome three additional chiefs with this month’s arrival of Dr. Deborah Blazey-Martin (General Internal Medicine), who will also serve as vice chair for Ambulatory Affairs, as well as Dr. Vaikom Mahadevan (Cardiology) and Dr. Sarah Hyder (Endoscopy), who will both join us in the spring.
With over 200 proposals submitted in FY22 (up from 127 in FY21), we anticipate our research enterprises will also see continued growth, and our Clinical Research Core has reported they are already slated to support four new studies in 2023, with more likely to come.
Indeed, we have much to be proud of and celebrate from the last year, and there is still much to be done as we move into 2023.
More work to do
Among our many goals and objectives, we will
- aim to grow ambulatory, primary care, and community-based practices,
- make a concerted effort to increase the reputation and profile of the UMass Internal Medicine Residency and its fellowships,
- continue to work to address flow and inpatient census staffing challenges,
- work to address areas of the 2022 Press Ganey Survey that showed areas where improvement is needed, particularly increasing advocacy/pay for staff
- continue our efforts in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, through faculty and staff training in cultural awareness and unconscious bias.
I, along with our dedicated leadership team, continue to be grateful to the faculty and staff who make our department successful in so many ways and I look forward to our work together in 2023!
Reminders
Please be sure to read this Friday’s DOM Connect, which will feature our January Chair’s Spotlight and other highlights from our department’s teams and faculty, and mark your calendars for our Winter Department of Medicine Town Hall on January 30, 2023, at 5:15 pm.
Please also watch for announcements and take some time to check out the events that UMass Chan has planned in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Day.
Sincerely,
Dave