HMS Dean George Q. Daley. Image: HMS/Bethany Versoy
Strong interdepartmental and interinstitutional collaboration will help Harvard Medical School continue to lead the world in biomedical research and education, according to HMS Dean George Q. Daley, who cited the new world-class imaging center for cryo-electron microscopy at HMS as an example of what can be achieved when Harvard communities work in partnership.
“No individual lab or department could have afforded this,” Daley said at a HMS-wide meeting, “but community leaders and our structural biology community came together so HMS and our partners can take advantage of cutting-edge imaging to view molecules at the atomic level.”
Daley’s remarks on Jan. 17 offered the first detailed look at the new dean’s vision for the future at HMS, as he outlined the approach he would like to take to overcome some of the challenges the school faces.
“I am excited about what we have before us, which is tremendous opportunity.” — George Q. Daley
Collaboration and cooperation are at the heart of Daley’s vision, which includes the inauguration of impromptu think tanks on topics like global health and stem cell science, so that scientists and educators can share expertise across departments and institutions; improved links between scientists at Harvard hospitals and on the HMS Quad to accelerate complementary research; and forums with students, staff and faculty to ensure that School leadership is responsive to the goals and needs of the entire community.
Focus on diversity
Daley also said that HMS must “tackle issues of diversity in a deeper, more substantive way.” To begin with, HMS will be participating in a University-wide inclusion and belonging task force, he said. He has also asked Joan Reede, dean for diversity and community partnership, to lead an HMS-focused diversity task force with support from Edward Hundert, dean for medical education and Fidencio Saldaña, dean for students.
“It’s critical for us to celebrate diversity,” Daley said, “and to chart a course for improvement so that we can nurture the best minds and remedy the pipeline problem we have in medicine for women and underrepresented minorities, and to interface better with our patients and communities, reducing health disparities.”
While HMS is already the world’s leading biomedical research and education institution, Daley said that he wants to lead the community in doing even better.
“I am excited about what we have before us, which is tremendous opportunity,” Daley said.
The power of collaboration
To take advantage of that opportunity and fulfill the School’s mission in a time of constrained financial support for science, Daley said that he will encourage stronger and more effective interdepartmental and interinstitutional collaborations, work to secure the financial resources necessary to fulfill the School’s mission and make HMS a better environment for all members of the community. He will look to be guided by the core HMS community values of collaboration, service, diversity, mutual respect and accountability.
To fund new projects that build on the community’s many remarkable achievements in basic, translational and clinical research, in innovative care delivery around the world and in transformational educational efforts, Daley said he is planning to pursue creative fundraising efforts and new partnerships with venture capital, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Daley also thanked Harvard President Drew Faust and Provost Alan Garber for allocating resources that can help make new programs possible.
“I’m looking forward to investing in targeted ways, to take your ideas on how to strengthen our scientific enterprise and turn them into reality, ” Daley said to the hundreds of assembled faculty, students and staff in attendance at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center and via livestream. He said investments would likely be targeted in areas where HMS is already competitive, such as neuroscience, imaging or bioinformatics.
While there have been a number of recent studies that have looked at the scientific enterprise at HMS, at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and at the University, Daley said that he would like to commission a new survey that will evaluate the depth and breadth of work being done across the School’s affiliated hospitals.
Examining the strengths and opportunities provided by those institutions would help put the School’s focused growth in context, Daley said, adding that he also plans to maintain an open dialogue with members of the HMS community to make sure that the ideas about what may be most needed come from the grassroots level and trickle up.
Watch the excerpt above or watch sections of the address below:
Opening Welcome
Dean Daley's History
Goals for HMS
Challenges Ahead
Toward that end, Daley introduced Willy Lensch, his chief of staff, who will play a key role in keeping the lines of communication open.
“Institutions, including ours, are collections of people united by common purpose, Lensch said. “When people are supported, amazing things can happen.”
In order to spur greater communication, Daley said he would even like to see the School initiate gatherings that would encourage informal social interactions on the Quad, possibly in Gordon Hall. They would be inspired, he said, by the Green Dragon Tavern meetings held by early Massachusetts colonists where ideas leading to the American Revolution were fomented and where the suggestion to found a new medical school first arose.
Translational opportunities
“The Quad is teeming with remarkable people,” Daley said. “Social gatherings directly translate into intellectual, scientific and entrepreneurial opportunities.”
Following his remarks, Daley took questions from the audience, which again focused on questions of improving communications and engagement. Daley reiterated his commitment to listening to the concerns of the community, opening new channels of communication and strengthening existing relationships.
“This is a partnership,” Daley said. “Our administration is going to be here to serve the community.”
Daley, the Caroline Shields Walker Professor of Medicine at HMS, is an internationally recognized leader in stem cell science and cancer biology. He is also a longtime member of the HMS faculty whose work spans the fields of basic science and clinical medicine. He became the 22nd dean of Harvard Medical School on Jan. 1.
