An update from Strategic Plan Goal 3 interim director Ami DeWaters, MD
Ami DeWaters, MD, interim director of the Health Systems Science Office, updated Penn State College of Medicine faculty, staff and students and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center staff on progress made toward achieving Strategic Plan Goal 3’s objectives.
Dear colleagues,
With spring just around the corner and the end of the academic year on the horizon, it seems like the right time to provide our College of Medicine community with an update on Goal 3 of our Strategic Plan. Goal 3: Health Systems Science aims to develop future health care professionals and scientists who draw on the best practices of the humanities and biomedical and health systems sciences to enhance health and community impact.
We started our work by recognizing two truths. First, we will only have success in accomplishing this goal if we build a team that collaborates across Penn State Health, Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State University. Second, we need to fully understand all the amazing efforts related to this goal that are already underway.
To those ends, we formed a diverse advisory board with members from across the health system and the College of Medicine to ensure that we’re working together to achieve these goals. By collaborating, we can maximize the impact to our health care delivery system and community. Advisory board members include:
- Barb Blatt, MEd, Manager of Health Systems Science Office, Penn State College of Medicine
- Josh Campos, MHS, Director of Strategic Planning, Penn State Health
- Cynthia Chuang, MD, Interim Director of Strategic Plan Goal 1, Penn State College of Medicine
- Erica Friedman, MD, Vice-Dean of Educational Affairs, Penn State College of Medicine
- Maria Hamilton, MBA, Vice President Operational Excellence, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
- Jennifer Kraschnewski, MD, Director of Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute
- Doug Leslie, PhD, Chair of Department of Public Health Sciences, Penn State College of Medicine
- Chuck Lang, PhD, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, Penn State College of Medicine
- Julie Nickell, PhD, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
- Jody Reyes, MSBA, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
- Matt Silvis, MD, Physician Lead of the Department of Value-Based and Population Health, Penn State Health
- Nicole Swope, MSN, Director of Patient Safety, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
- Michele Szkolnicki, MEd, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
- Rachel Yost, MBA, Vice President of the Department of Value-Based and Population Health, Penn State Health
We have also started a listening tour where we’ve been interviewing members of departments across campus to identify already-established projects related to this goal that could be strengthened and supported.
Finally, we have initiated two pilot projects, both of which are focused on improving the communication that occurs in the hospital setting for the purposes of improving work efficiency and thereby leading to more optimal patient care.
We are grateful to everyone who has supported Goal 3 efforts in the last few months. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any suggestions of what else we can do to further Goal 3.
Sincerely,
Interim Director
Health Systems Science Office
Goal 3 – Penn State College of Medicine Strategic Plan
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