Dean’s Column

With great excitement, I welcome you to the Winter 2024 issue of The Bulletin. As the newly appointed Anthony F. and Gertrude M. DePalma Dean of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, it is an honor and privilege to have this opportunity to connect with students and alumni and to share my vision to add to the medical college’s historical record of transformation and legacy. I am equally honored and take seriously the charge of training and preparing the next generation of world-class physicians to shape the future of healthcare to ensure that all populations will have equal opportunity to live long, healthy, and productive lives. In the face of increasingly competitive and complex healthcare options, burgeoning data, and greater acknowledgment of the impact of interdependencies between ecological, social, economic, and cultural factors in complex health challenges, the obligation of Jefferson’s mission to improve lives and redefine what’s possible is unequivocal.

My ultimate vision is to establish SKMC and Jefferson Health as a leading academic healthcare institution in Philadelphia and beyond. The strategy to accomplish this will build upon the existing collaborative and transdisciplinary values and traditions to cultivate a culture of excellence in clinical care, education, and research. Several key strategic steps are necessary to bring this vision to life.

Achieving Excellence in Clinical Care

To compete as a top-tier healthcare system, clinical excellence is crucial. But it is also about creating an environment that promotes excellence in research and education. Strong partnership between clinical leadership and the academic program is essential. Enhancing the linkage between the health system and academic leadership and working toward shared institutional goals is a priority.

Advancing Research Excellence

In today’s 21st-century healthcare landscape, offering exceptional clinical care is no longer enough. A leading health system in a major urban center like Philadelphia must also be at the forefront of groundbreaking scientific research and scholarship. Achieving this ambitious vision will require a concerted effort, expansion of research facilities, commitment of purpose, and an increase of the medical college’s NIH/federal funding as well as expansion of philanthropic donations. Strengthening research capacity, establishing a pipeline of skilled investigators and faculty, and forging strong relationships between Jefferson Health departments and surrounding communities to drive population-based research initiatives will also be important steps. One of our first steps in this process is to establish an SKMC Research Executive Council. This council, which will be co-led by clinical and basic science researchers, will consist of seasoned investigators and scientists from across our college and University. This council will help shape and implement SKMC strategic goals for research growth, oversee future locally funded competitive dean’s jump-start pilot grants and bridge funding mechanisms, help raise funds for research growth through philanthropy, and last but not least, lead SKMC strategy to secure National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences funding from the NIH.

Excellence in Education

The success of Jefferson and the nation’s healthcare relies on today’s learners becoming future faculty and providers. SKMC is already renowned for its exceptional medical education and interprofessional approaches to learning that offer a vibrant and expandable platform for education. An important strategy that will further strengthen the college’s educational mission is to foster a culture that appreciates mentoring and recognizes and celebrates teaching excellence. Retention and development of outstanding medical education leaders will be a priority, including supporting faculty members’ participation in national leadership development programs focused on quality improvement or medical education.

Inclusion, Belonging, and Community Engagement

As professionals in the field of healthcare, we hold the power to shape the well-being of our society. At SKMC, this is explicit in our values to embrace diversity, be bold and courageous, and to approach our work with integrity and accountability. As dean, I am committed to the recruitment of a diverse student body, faculty, and staff at SKMC and to promoting inclusion and belonging. I will prioritize and work closely with Jefferson enterprise leaders on community engagement to address urgent health challenges and to strengthen the connections between the medical college and the diverse communities that our health system serves.

As a society, we are faced with a wide array of challenges impacting our local, national, and global communities. Divided national politics, historic conflicts, inflation’s impact on household finances, and the continued effects of COVID-19 are just a few of the concerns with implications for our nation’s health. To create a healthier future requires respectful dialogue and a dynamic effort to collaboratively develop and drive solutions. At SKMC, we are positioned to lead the way. Leveraging the exponential increase of Jefferson’s footprint and our ever-expanding, solution-oriented, and service-minded faculty and staff, we have a great obligation and potential to not only cultivate an inclusive environment for the conduct of leading-edge research and compassionate and exceptional clinical care, but also to train the next generation of physicians with social conscience and a commitment to improving lives and redefining what’s possible across the globe.

Said Ibrahim, MD, MBA, MPH
Anthony F. and Gertrude M. DePalma Dean
Sidney Kimmel Medical College
President, Jefferson University Physicians