State of the School Address by Dean Reilly

Dean's Speech

Dean John J. Reilly (MD) highlighted some of the achievements of CU University in the past five years, and outlined the main moves forward in the annual school speech on January 13. Caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reilly pointed out that due to the pandemic, especially in the healthcare sector, 2020 is a year of profound changes, but he is extremely proud of the way the medical school and its clinical partners are responding to this challenge.

He said: "We take care of a large number of COVID patients, and some of them are the sickest COVID patients." 

In addition to providing care for patients, Reilly also praised teachers for participating in the testing of new therapies against COVID and vaccine trials, especially the Moderna trial. He also said that CU's clinical partners have done a great job in launching vaccines. 

Some of the ways schools have managed to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on faculty and staff include providing access to Cares.com resources and connections to back-up child care services, extending the tenure of faculty members, and strengthening behavioral support services by:

. 

"As a group and a school, the challenge we face is to maintain some agility and speed without having to fall into crisis."

Reilly said that because of the pandemic, one of the main lessons the school learned from is that although not all work or education can be effectively done at home, more work can be done remotely than previously thought.

The pandemic tested the ability of schools to adapt teachers to provide care to patients. For example, the number of telemedicine visits increased from zero in early 2020 to more than 40,000 visits per month in April, "much faster than people think." Although Reilly admitted that some clinical trials were inevitably postponed, teachers were able to initiate clinical trials related to COVID within 10 days. 

He said: "As a group and a school, the challenge we face is to maintain certain agility and speed without having to fall into a crisis."

Before looking back at the other highlights of 2020, Reilly reviewed some of the major achievements of the middle school during his five and a half years as the dean. He started with what he called the most important asset of the school: talent. 

In the past five years, the school has appointed four senior associate deans and six department heads. Overall, the number of faculty members in the medical school has increased from 3,000 in 2016 to 4,000 in 2020. In addition, the college is approaching 1,200 students through various residence and fellowship programs, and enrolls approximately 55 graduate students each year. 

"Obviously, we need to continue our efforts to recruit and develop careers for those who are underrepresented in the medical field."

The number of applications for the MD program has increased exponentially, and by 2020, the total number of applicants will reach 14,100. Compared with the number of applications in 2019, it has increased by 35%, surpassing the national increase of 20%. In the past five years, it has increased by 100% compared with the national increase of 25% to 30%. 

The main goal of the school is to increase the diversity of the campus. To this end, schools can increase scholarship funding to promote diversity. Currently, 25% to 30% of enrolled students agree with one or more groups that are underrepresented in medicine. In terms of faculty, the number of Hispanic and black faculty members has increased significantly, although Reilly pointed out that more work is needed to increase faculty and leadership representation. 

He said: "We obviously need to continue to work hard to recruit and develop careers for those who are underrepresented in the medical field." 

In terms of promoting women, the school has narrowed the gap between professors and associate professors in the past five years, and 9 of the school’s 23 department heads are women. 

In the past five years, infrastructure has been another focus. In addition to receiving new awards from the Diabetes Research Center, the school has also received multiple infrastructure grants, including renewal of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Support Grant, Clinical and Translational Science Award, the Colorado Regional Health Education Center, and the Nutrition and Obesity Research Center. . 

When some academic medical centers are phasing out junior researchers, the school will continue to support junior researchers through K awards and training grant awards. 

Reilly said these efforts around recruitment, infrastructure support, and training of young investigators have been successful in the competitive peer-reviewed world of off-campus murals. In the past five years, the federal government’s funding for this school has increased by 50%, and the school has added 25 more chairs. These successes have contributed to the increase in the overall donation of the medical school, from US$324 million in fiscal year 2016 to US$579 million in fiscal year 2021.

Finally, Reilly provided the latest information about the Aurora Health Commons Federal Qualified Health Center (FQHC), a joint venture between CU School of Medicine and the American Medical Association.

Establish a 27-acre medical park in Aurora. In addition to serving approximately 48,000 Medicaid beneficiaries in the region who currently do not have access to primary care providers, the House of Commons will also provide an interdisciplinary training program for general internal medicine and family medicine residents, and will serve as the Anschutz Medical School The student's rotation location. The school has committed to a five-year, $25 million investment in the project.

Despite the COVID-19 wrench being put into daily operations, Reilly reports that the school is still able to meet 

These include: 

Many of the school’s 2020 goals laid the foundation for this year’s goals. 

One of the first tasks is to continue to establish new data science and informatics programs. Reilly stated that he is committed to establishing a new department dedicated to the program on or before July 1, 2022, which he said is essential to attract top talent in the field. 

Another goal is to open the new Anschutz Health Science Building. The school is expected to start moving into the building in August, and will be fully or almost fully occupied in late October or early November. The building will house the school’s behavioral health plan,

Department of Psychiatry 

,versus 

,

, And new data science and informatics programs.

The school will continue to work with the Salud Family Health Center to establish the Aurora Community Health Sharing Center, which Reilly said will take several years. 

The new TREK course for medical students will make its debut in the upcoming 2025 course this summer, marking a full commitment to the longitudinal integrated course model. 

"We hope this will serve as a catalyst to help us bridge the gap in healthcare in the community and across the country."

The school also plans to move the supervision and management of the doctoral program back to the medical school. Through this change, the school is committed to gradually increasing the number of graduate students from 55 students per year to 75 in the next few years. 

Reilly also focused on his priorities: creating a health equity center, which will eventually be located in the Aurora Community Health Sharing District. 

Reilly said: "Now is the time to better organize and regulate our efforts around health equality." "We hope this will serve as a catalyst to help us bridge the gap in healthcare in our communities and across the country."

However, the primary goal of the school by 2021 is to get everyone vaccinated as quickly and effectively as possible. This will depend on the role of supply and schools in addressing some people’s vaccine hesitation.

Reilly once again thanked all the faculty and staff of the medical school for "excelling in an extraordinary year."

"I think it is a very impressive achievement to face the challenge of COVID and still achieve all the goals we set for ourselves a year ago. Therefore, I want to thank you for all your efforts." He said.

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