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SOM Strategic Planning
AAMC Update from the Dean
Recognizing Service Excellence
2006 Research Overview
Research and Tobacco Initiative Come Together
Tartar Research Fellowships
Dr. Karr New Head of Pediatric Ophthalmology
The See-Through Hospital
CHH Open House
Dr. Strausbaugh Receives IDSA Award
2006 ARC Scholars
Dr. Guise Receives Grant to Examine Obstetric Safety
New SOM Faculty
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November SOM News
Message from the Dean: SOM Strategic Planning
The School of Medicine is on the fast track in regard to strategic
planning, and I am confident that the SOM strategic plan will reflect
our collective vision for the school's future. To be effective, our
strategic plan needs to include
input from all clinical and basic science faculty. The SOM strategic
plan will guide our course over the next few years and, given the
commitment to implement our strategies, we will realize our goals.
The key elements for the SOM strategic planning process stem from our
strategic planning retreat on October 25. Four areas of planning
emphasis were identified, and these dictated our four planning
committees. Each committee now has a
chairperson and a liaison from the Office of the Dean. Many faculty
members have volunteered to serve on committees, and they will be
included to the extent possible.
The Faculty Engagement Committee will be chaired by Patricia Hurn,
Ph.D., with Dr. Sharon Anderson serving as liaison. Sima Desai, M.D.,
will chair the Diversity & Service Excellence Committee, with Ella
booth as liaison. The SOM & UMG
Interface Committee will be chaired by James Cohen, M.D., with Dr.
Jerris Hedges as liaison. Dave Dawson, Ph.D., will chair the Learners
at all Levels Committee and Dr. Don Girard will serve as liaison.
At this point you may be thinking that these are unusual names for
planning committees. In past years, committees tended to coincide with
a specific area of the mission (e.g., research or education). If we are
to break down silos and
undertake translational, interdisciplinary planning – to access the
rich areas that exist only at the interface of disciplines – we need be
inclusive in our planning. All facets of the mission should be
interested in these areas. Faculty
retention is a key element of our future as is the value of teaching.
Alignment of SOM and OHSUMG objectives are also critical.
The Faculty Engagement Committee is in part a response to the faculty
survey and a desire to improve faculty retention and job satisfaction.
In response to the survey statement, "Overall, I am satisfied to be
employed at OHSU," the mean
response was 3.66, on a five-point scale with five being "strongly
agree." One strategic goal is to improve faculty satisfaction and to
encourage professional growth and development by diminishing barriers.
Diversity & Service Excellence are established goals that will
benefit by the development of new strategies and renewed diligence. The
SOM & UMG Interface interweaves learning, research and care
delivery. Perhaps the most encompassing
committee is Learners at all Levels, spanning pipeline through
continuing education. We are all life-long learners and we are all
teachers. Our environment should nurture and reward educational
excellence and provide rich opportunities for
both instruction and learning.
Strategic planning is a vital and ongoing process guided by mission.
Its success depends on participation by all of us within the SOM, and I
look forward to working with you on securing our future success and
will keep you updated
regarding SOM planning. I welcome your suggestions and input as we
continue our efforts to ensure excellence in the School of Medicine.
Best wishes,
AAMC Update from the Dean
The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) annual meeting
was held in Seattle, October 27 – November 1, and a number of OHSU
participants attended to share problems and solutions common to
academic health centers across the
country. As the interim Dean, I was able to meet with a number of other
similar leaders across the country. I want to share some of the themes
that emerged as consistent issues:
• Diversity is important and the search for women and minorities should
be a part of our actions as we seek to add faculty and staff to OHSU.
It's clear this needs to be an active process rather than a passive
one. I mean by that,
that the process cannot only be understood as desirable but must be
actively pursued.
• New types of medical practitioners are emerging apart from the
traditional US medical school graduates. Schools of Osteopathy have
doubled their output of graduates, and Caribbean-based schools are
producing large numbers of US citizens
who are basically IMGs(international medical graduates). In fact, these
students are participating in community-based clerkships across the
country on a fee-based process. The administrative costs for these
programs are much lower than
those overseen by the ACGME, so quality of training is a question
everyone is asking. There are currently no good comparison statistics
available comparing the two groups of students.
Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great, was the
keynote speaker. After the SOM strategic planning process it was very
inspiring to hear him bring to life the concepts we discussed at that
retreat. Some key elements he emphasized
for the social sectors:
• Build something great –that makes a difference in the world.
• Turbulence and disruption do not cause problems, they expose strengths or weaknesses.
• Define great performance in terms of learner success, new treatments
and research innovation, not in terms of revenue or cost structures
• Do not become distracted by either opportunity or threat.
• Stop doing things that are not consistent with values and mission.
One important fact to remember is "the flywheel concept." On average,
it took seven years of disciplined effort before performance
accelerated beyond average.
It was a good meeting and all the new colleagues I met were interested
in OHSU, our successes (and failures), and how old friends were faring.
Recognizing Service Excellence
 As most of you know, since last summer the SOM has required clinical
faculty, chairs and administrators to participate in Service Excellence
training. In part, this push was catalyzed by a patient satisfaction
survey which revealed that
some patients and their families have unsatisfactory experiences --
including long waits for appointments, scheduling problems and lack of
coordinated care -- while seeking care in OHSU clinics.
While many patients report satisfaction with OHSU services, we are
still committed to improving the service system and to ensuring that
service quality is comparable to the excellence of the clinical care
patients receive at OHSU.
Right now, individual departments and clinics are developing plans to
improve service, including ways to measure success. An important
element of these plans is to identify ways to recognize service
excellence, especially by sharing and
celebrating anecdotes and compliments from our patients.
In the interest of starting that process, below is a testimonial from
one of the first patients who moved from the Sellwood Clinic to the
Center for Health & Healing:
My parents are in their 80s and both are long-time patients of the
Sellwood Clinic and have received cardiac health care for years. I was
really concerned that the change in location would be too much for
them, but it turns out that a
little farther down the road is made up for the really nice people at
the new center. From parking attendants who gave my father a special
card telling him where he'd parked to the helpers and workers at every
point along the way. It was
one of the best health care experiences we've ever had. Thanks.
Karen Normandin
Director of Public Affairs
Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems
OHSU Research Overview for Fiscal year end 2006
Total research funding to OHSU: OHSU's research funding from all
sources in 2006 exceeded $294 million, a more than 7 percent increase
over the previous year. Of that total, nearly $278 million, or 94
percent, came to Oregon from
out-of-state sources.
Broken down by activity:
Research: $238,204,825
Clinical Trials: $28,731,271
Instruction: $4,520,711
Other: $22,635,947
Broken down by source:
National Institutes of Health: $200,693,289
Other federal: $45,632,056
Nonfederal government: $4,821,079
Industry: $26,498,129
Private: $16,448,202
Historical look at research funding to OHSU:
1990: $43 million
1995: $86 million
2000: $168 million
2006: $294 million
Projects under way: In 2006 OHSU researchers worked on 3,566 projects. Of those 606 were clinical trials.
National standing in research funding: In 2005 OHSU's School of
Medicine ranked No. 24 in the country, two slots ahead of Harvard
Medical School. OHSU garnered $175.4 million in grant funding from the
National Institutes of Health in that
year, which made up 63 percent of NIH's funding to institutions across
Oregon. The SOM's portion of that total was $168.5 million.
Translational research: OHSU also creates new companies, which in turn
attract out-of-state funding of their own. Last year five OHSU spinoff
companies received more than $3 million in National Institutes of
Health funding. Since 2000,
OHSU has helped start 28 spinoff companies, most of which are based in
Oregon.
• OHSU's license-related income exceeds $12 million (cumulative total over all years).
• At OHSU breakthroughs and innovations are announced on average, every three days.
• Number of new inventions: 116 (829 total)
• Number of new patents issued: 10 (176 total)
Clinical Trials: Oregon Health & Science University, in partnership
with Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research, was one of the
first institutions in the country to receive a Clinical and
Translational Science Award from the
National Institutes of Health.
The highly competitive $55 million award was given to 12 institutions
across the nation, including Duke, Yale, Columbia, the Mayo Clinic and
the University of California.
(Compiled by University News & Publications, Nov. 28, 2006)
Research and Tobacco Initiative Come Together
OHSU President Joe Robertson recently announced in his e-newsletter, Directline, that OHSU is launching a program to be tobacco-free. This program coincides well with on-going smoking cessation research.
Researchers in the OHSU Smoking Cessation Center, led by principal
investigator David Gonzales, Ph.D., SOM clinical investigator in
pulmonary and critical care medicine, are studying whether the newly
FDA-approved drug varenicline
(Chantix), recently shown to be more effective than the smoking
cessation drug bupropion (Zyban) in helping generally healthy smokers
quit, also can help smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD).
COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. It
leads to progressive loss of lung function and is primarily a smoker's
disease. The positive effects of stopping smoking, according to
Gonzales, result in immediate and
long-term benefits that are particularly pronounced for women. This is
one of the reasons the current study of men and women with mild to
moderate COPD is so important.
For several years, OHSU has prohibited smoking in most areas but has
maintained designated smoking areas. But now OHSU will become
completely tobacco-free in 8-12 months.
Dr. Peter Kohler, in his new role as President Emeritus, is heading the
initiative. A committee, drawing on expertise such as that provided by
OHSU's Smoking Cessation Center, is helping organize the initiative.
The initiative will include
smoking cessation resources and support for OHSU employees who want to
quit along with provisions for managing nicotine cravings for employees
who choose not to quit. The program will also include resources to
assist patients and their
families and training for patient care staff.
(Please note: If there is someone you know with mild to moderate COPD
who would like to be considered for the OHSU study, please call the
Smoking Cessation Center at 503-494-0503 or 503-494-0380.)
Tartar Research Fellowships
Applications are now being accepted for the Tartar Trust Fellowship.
Tartar Trust Fellowships are intended for supporting research endeavors
and research career development in the School of Medicine. An applicant
must be a student or
faculty member in the School of Medicine and be a resident of the State
of Oregon. The $2,000.00 award is for one year. Applications can be
obtained from Sandra Kollenburn or Naomi Fishman and should be
submitted to Mail Code CR 113,
attention Naomi Fishman (HRC 11D28). The deadline for applications is
Wednesday, February 15, 2006, by 12:00 noon. Research Funding and
Development Services has examples of successful applications. Contact
funding@ohsu.edu or call
503-494-2848.
Dan Karr, M.D., New Head of Pediatric Ophthalmology
Daniel Karr, M.D., has joined the faculty at Casey Eye Institute.
Dr. Karr will head the pediatrics service, the Elks Children's Eye
Clinic. He comes to OHSU from Great Falls, Montana, where he has been
in private practice since
2002.
Dr. Karr earned his undergraduate degree from Florida Presbyterian (now
Eckerd) College in St. Petersburg, Florida, and his M.D. from the
University of Miami School of Medicine in Miami, Florida. He completed
residencies in pediatrics and
ophthalmology at the University of Washington and Children's Hospital
and Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. He also completed a
pediatric ophthalmology fellowship at the University of Iowa Hospitals,
Iowa City.
Dr. Karr served as Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Pediatrics
at West Virginia University School of Medicine. He was Assistant
Professor in Ophthalmology and Pediatrics at the University of
Washington Medical School, and was
ophthalmologist-in-chief at Children's Hospital and Medical Center in
Seattle, Washington.
His clinical interests include general pediatric ophthalmology and
adult strabismus. Dr. Karr has research interests in amblyopia,
strabismus, pediatric cataract and international pediatric eye care.
Dr. Karr is board certified in ophthalmology. He is a member of the
American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Academy of Pediatrics,
and the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus,
among other affiliations. He
has completed medical missions to Ecuador, Nepal and Africa.
Our Commitment to Transparency: "The See-Through Hospital"
In August, OHSU launched a transparency initiative that included
release of certain aggregate OHSU data from the University HealthSystem
Consortium (UHC) Clinical Outcomes Report. OHSU was among the first in
the nation to take this
step. Recently, OHSU also kept our pledge to regularly update these
outcome data by posting the new quarterly report for 20 clinical
service lines. The Web site address is
click here
The OHSU initiative has received a fair amount of public and media
interest, and other institutions around the country have also inquired
about responses to our effort. Over time, the initiative is likely to
receive continued interest as
other institutions consider similar moves.
It will also likely spur much-needed debate about the concept of
transparency generally. For instance, OHSU was featured in a national
trade magazine's cover story called "The See-Through Hospital," by
Dagmara Scalise. The article takes a
candid look at the transparency trend and identifies uncertainties and
unresolved issues. Drs. Jeffrey Kirsch and Roy Magnusson were both
quoted in the article.
Here is an excerpt of the opening few paragraphs, with a link to the full article at the end. Scalise writes:
In August, Oregon Health & Science University decided to publicly
bare nearly everything about itself-its clinical outcomes, its prices,
its rankings among competitors-on a newly launched Web site. In the
months since the site went live,
most visitors have been other providers, presumably checking out the
competition, not consumers shopping for the highest quality and best
value for their health care dollars.
Transparency is the latest buzzword to hit health care, but precisely
what it means and who it benefits is, ironically, unclear. Not since
"quality" became the term du jour in the wake of the Institute of
Medicine's 1999 and 2000 reports
on medical errors has a concept gained such traction so swiftly in the
health care consciousness. Employers, payers, consumer advocates,
lawmakers and providers themselves all profess urgency for the field to
become more transparent. The
questions are how to do so and to what extent. By releasing quality
outcomes? Pricing information? Executive compensation? Charity care and
community benefit data? Staffing numbers?
In the long run, transparency may encompass every one of those
issues-and transcend them all. Rich Umbdenstock, president-elect and
chief operating officer of the American Hospital Association, says it's
an attitude, as well as a specific
strategy.
"Transparency is about being open about what you do and how you do it," he says. "It cuts across quality and finances."
At the moment, providers are much more comfortable releasing quality
information than financial data-and some are even eager to do so,
seeing it as the logical next step in the drive to improve patient
care. "When quality and safety issues
are hidden, there's no accountability," says Ray Magnusson, M.D.,
OHSU's chief medical officer.
To read the full article,
click here and click on the cover image.
Celebrating the Opening of the Center for Health & Healing
OHSU employees and their families are invited to two open houses on
Dec. 3 to celebrate the opening of the Center for Health & Healing
in Portland's South Waterfront. Each of OHSU's missions of teaching,
research and patient care is
represented in the building, which is also one of the most innovative
and environmentally-sensitive medical buildings in the nation.
A Sneak Peek for OHSU employees and their families will take place from
10 a.m. to noon. Employees and families are also invited to the
dedication and ribbon cutting at 1 p.m. and the Open House, which will
run until 4 p.m. Refreshments
will be served, and balloon sculptors and face painters will entertain
the young and young-at-heart in the atrium.
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