More than 30 faculty and staff from the Thurston Arthritis Research Center (TARC) and the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology met recently to review the 5 year strategic goals of the organizations.
For several months prior to the meeting, six dedicated work teams developed specific goals for their respective areas of focus and presented them for brainstorming and further discussion during the planning retreat, which was held at the UNC Friday Center.
The working groups and respective group leaders were:
- Basic & Translational Research: Drs. Onyi Iweala and Doug Phanstiel
- Clinical Research: Drs. Kelli Allen
- Clinical Trials: Dr. Saira Sheikh
- Education: Dr. Rumey Ishizawar and Sofija Volertas
- Clinical Care: Drs. Nicole Orzechowski and Millie Kwan
- Marketing & Communications: Bradd Pavur, APR; and Dr. Nick Beresic
Just a few examples of the many key organizational goals identified by the work teams included:
- Foster an even stronger sense of community among TARC Basic and Translational, and Clinical scientists.
- Recruit additional investigators working in the areas of innate immunity and genetic epidemiology and/or precision medicine and phenotyping to help us reach our collective goals.
- Continue to build and support additional Diversity, Equity and Inconclusion programs throughout our organization.
- Attract the leading fellowship candidates for our Rheumatology as well as our Allergy/Immunology training programs.
“Planning our strategic goals takes time but it’s essential for our Research Center and Division, in order for us to have a clear and collaborative vision of where we want to be headed over the next five years, as well as how we will get there,” said Richard M. Loeser, M.D., TARC Director and the Joseph P. Archie, Jr. Eminent Professor of Medicine.
“Now that we’ve concluded our planning retreat, the next step in our three-phase planning process is to refine the objectives, goals and action items based on the discussions during the retreat, and obtain input from TARC and Division members who were not able to attend the retreat.”
Dr. Beth Jonas, Division Chief for Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology and Reeves Foundation Distinguished Professor of Medicine, added, “The strategic planning meeting was the perfect opportunity to gather again after a long period of remote work and virtual meetings. It gave us an opportunity to take stock of all we have achieved in the areas of clinical care, education and research, and to ‘think big’ about goals for the upcoming five years.”
Stay tuned for more updates from TARC and the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology on how these objectives progress, as well as other exciting updates from our group.