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The School of Medicine’s commitment to service expands well beyond Chapel Hill. Building on our strengths in service to the State and Globe the School of Medicine has identified the following strategic priorities:

Service to the State and Globe Strategic Priorities

    • Engage across the state to produce the workforce needed in North Carolina and beyond. The School of Medicine works collaboratively with NC AHEC (NC Area Health Education Centers) across the state to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education and enrollment in health-related educational programs across the state.
    • Focus service to rural North Carolina

  • Translate research into professional, commercial, and societal uses for the citizens of North Carolina
  • Strengthen our global citizenship by thoughtfully expanding our clinical, research, and educational outreach. The School of Medicine has had an extensive record of accomplishment in global health, with a broad international portfolio in clinical medicine, research, and education. This work is coordinated by the Institute of Global Health and Infectious Diseases (IGHID), which was created in 2007 to galvanize global activities in the School of Medicine and across campus and the Office of International Activities (OIA), established in 2008. Much of the School of Medicine’s global portfolio is concentrated in “flagship” sites—including Malawi, Zambia, China, Nicaragua, South Africa, and Vietnam. global health, Forward Together will enhance internal and external awareness of existing clinical, research and educational opportunities around the world, foster increased global education across the School of Medicine, and strengthen strategic partnerships in support of our commitment to global health.

Year 4 – Key Accomplishments*

Engage across the state to produce the workforce needed in North Carolina and Beyond:

    • UNC SOM launched the Health Workforce Taskforce during the spring of 2023.This task force was created to develop strategies to understand the needs of and determine new SOM initiatives to better support UNC Health entities as they respond to their immediate and longer-term workforce challenges. The task force will develop a series of recommendations for UNC Health and SOM leadership to consider.

Members:

    • Dr. Cam Enarson: Vice Dean of Strategic Initiatives (Co-Chair)
    • Hugh Tilson Jr.: Associate Dean and Director of AHEC (Co-Chair)
    • Jaime McQueen: System Director for Coastal Outreach at UNC Health
    • Alyssa Zamierowski: Executive Director, Operations
    • Mary Bus (Winters): Vice President, System Affiliations & Integration at UNC Health
    • Dr. Adam Zolotor: Associate Director for Medical Education, NC AHEC
    • Meg Zomorodi: Associate Provost for Interprofessional Health Initiatives

Translate research into professional, commercial, and societal uses for the citizens of North Carolina:

  • The NC Collaboratory funded a project from Greg Scherrer from the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology (CBP), as part of its Opioid Abatement Recovery Research Program. The project is entitled “Resolving the Neurobiological Mechanisms of Opioid-Induced Reward, Dependence, and Respiratory Depression to Identify Novel Therapeutics Against Opioid Addiction and Overdose Death”.

Strengthen our global citizenship by thoughtfully expanding our clinical, research, and educational outreach:

  • The institute of Global Health & Infectious Diseases (IGHID) and the Gillings School of Global Public Health sponsored the Inaugural Global Health Scholars Symposium in November 2022. Over 30 investigators from UNC and global sites around the world participated in the symposium, including MD/PhD students, doctoral candidates, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty. The day included lightning talks, presentations, and poster sessions.

*Year 4 through June 2023

Tracking Implementation Progress – Year 5, Q2

Priority Status
4A. Engage across the state to produce the workforce needed in North Carolina and beyond On Track
4B. Focus service to rural North Carolina On Track
4C. Translate research into professional, commercial and societal uses for the citizens of North Carolina On Track
4D. Strengthen our global citizenship by thoughtfully expanding our clinical, research, and educational outreach On Track

Highlights

New Addiction Medicine Fellows Office of Global Health Education: Scholarly Concentration Student, Erin Xu coauthors paper with Dr. Ross Boyce Office of Rural Initiatives: Fall In Love With primary care in NC: Telehealth Grants Help Greensboro AHEC Area Practices Increase Access to High-Risk Patients During Pandemic UNC and Duke Team Up To Launch Entrepreneurial Start Up

Imperative Administration

The four imperatives under Service to the State and the World guide us to better serve our state, nation, and globe and builds upon successful programs and an extensive record of accomplishment in global health, health professions workforce development, service to rural North Carolina, and research translation.