Harvard Medicine

Launched in the fall of 2007 by Dean Jeffrey Flier, the HMS Strategic Planning Process is designed to compare “our present state against our highest aspirations, to look ahead five to 15 years and seek to identify areas—existing and new—where HMS has the opportunity both to improve itself and to lead” in teaching and research.

Members of the Quad faculty, teaching affiliates, and the broader Harvard community are participating in five advisory groups engaged in a collaborative effort to conduct an honest self-assessment of the School and make recommendations based on their findings. The entire Harvard Medical community is encouraged to submit ideas and comments on this work-in-progress.

Message from the Dean

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing with one last update for this academic year on the Strategic Planning process we embarked upon last October. I have to say that I am thrilled with the progress that has been made, and I want to thank all of you for your participation, whether direct or indirect. My feeling is that we have come to the end of the first phase — an examination of our strengths, weaknesses and aspirations — and that we are now ready to embark upon the task of prioritization and detailed planning. I hope to write you again by the end of the summer to lay out some thoughts about what comes next.

I can now share with you four additional white papers on Neuroscience, Microbial Sciences, Aging and Imaging, as well as the report of the Organizational Structures subcommittee of the Biomedical Research Advisory Group, the Social Sciences subcommittee of the Global Health and Social Sciences, and a report from the joint committee on Bioengineering that I commissioned together with Dean Venkatesh Narayanamurti (School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, SEAS).

I want to express my thanks to everyone who worked on these documents: Gary Yellen (Neurobiology, HMS) and Mike Greenberg (Neurobiology, Children’s Hospital, and HMS), who led the team that created the Neuroscience white paper; Roberto Kolter, John Mekalanos and Suzanne Walker (Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, HMS), and John Clardy (Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology (BCMP), HMS), who provided a synthesis of many points of view in the Microbial Sciences report; Lew Lipsitz (Gerontology, BIDMC), David Sinclair and Bruce Yankner (Pathology, HMS), who led the effort to analyze opportunities for research into the biology of Aging; Barbara McNeil (HCP, HMS), who led the subcommittee authoring the Social Sciences report; and Steve Harrison (BCMP, HMS), who was generous enough to agree to organize a white paper on Imaging in addition to his efforts co-chairing the Tools and Technology Advisory Group.

I want to offer special thanks to Michael Brenner (Medicine, BWH) and Kricket Seidman (Genetics, HMS, and Medicine, BWH), who took on the very difficult task of leading a team to address the question of how the School’s organizational structure could be modified to become more equitable and better encourage cross-institutional interactions. You will see from the Organizational Structures report that the team recommends that the School initiate a systematic program for enabling, funding and nurturing community-driven collaborative activities. This area is key to our joint success as a community, and I feel quite strongly that a serious effort to lower the barriers that currently divide us could be transformative for the School. As always, I welcome your comments (directly or via the Comments page) on this or any other proposal.

Special thanks also go to Professors Joanna Aizenberg (SEAS) and Pamela Silver (Systems Biology, HMS), who co-chaired the joint HMS/SEAS committee on Bioengineering. The other members of the committee are listed in the attached report. I am very excited about this area, and about the potential for a major collaboration with SEAS. Dean Narayanamurti and I are committed to continuing to explore this area together, and we are very grateful to all the members of the committee, and especially the co-chairs, for their efforts.

I think you will agree that the cumulative impact of the reports we have made public so far is extraordinary. While we will undoubtedly have to make some hard choices as we begin to think about constraints on space and money, every one of the areas highlighted deserves more attention and discussion, in some cases at the University level. As a result of the work of the Advisory Groups we now have a sound basis for moving forward, both to prioritize our own efforts and to initiate conversations with other relevant entities. I am happy to say that President Faust has offered extremely positive feedback about what we have done so far, and has encouraged us to continue to develop concrete plans for moving forward. I am grateful for all the support you have each offered me to date, and hope you are as excited as I am about the prospect of working together in the Fall to start to implement some of these new ideas.

My gratitude and thanks to you all again, with best wishes for a relaxing summer.

--- Jeffrey Flier.

HMS Strategic Planning

JULY 3, 2008

Message from the Dean