Dean's Corner: With great hope for the new year

This blog entry is the text of a letter sent by Harvard Medical School Dean George Q. Daley to the HMS community.

This blog entry is the text of a letter sent by Harvard Medical School Dean George Q. Daley to the HMS community.

​Dear Members of the Harvard Medical School Community,

As we begin 2018, I want to take a moment to reflect on 2017, my first year as dean. My greatest satisfaction during my first year was getting to know so many of you and learning more about the extraordinary community of excellence you represent. I want to express my deepest gratitude for the important role you play in the success of Harvard Medical School. Whether you work in a lab, cafeteria, operating room, office, hospital clinic, computer center or security checkpoint, your efforts contribute to realizing the great promise of science and medicine, here in the United States and throughout the world.

I’ve also come to appreciate how many different perspectives and modes of excellence are contained within the HMS community. Tom Brokaw recently captured the essence of this diversity in a compelling op-ed describing American health care as “a universe of scientific genius and selfless compassion populated by what seems to be the most diverse population in the country.”

We are fortunate that HMS is a magnet for talented individuals from around the globe who come together to serve our collective mission of improving human health through research, education and patient care. It takes the collective effort of investigators, practitioners and a dedicated community of administrators and staff to keep Harvard medicine at the forefront of biomedical discovery and innovation.

Yet, as a community, we confront some vexing challenges that call on each of us to strive for constant improvement. To tackle these challenges, we have begun to work together in new ways. We are planning to launch several exciting new initiatives in 2018, and I am looking forward to discussing these efforts and future goals at an upcoming state of the school address, on a date to be announced soon.

As I embark on my second year as dean, I want you to know that I am inspired to be at the helm of this remarkable institution and privileged to lead this exceptionally gifted and wonderfully diverse community of students, staff and faculty.

I want to thank you for all that you do every day to advance our shared mission. May the coming year bring you health, peace, success and happiness.

Sincerely,

George Q. Daley
Dean
Harvard Medical School