New Leaders
- Lisa Landrum, MD, PhD, interim chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Melissa Kacena, PhD, director, Indiana Center for Musculoskeletal Health (effective Nov. 1)
- Clint Cary, MD, MPH, chair, Department of Urology (effective Oct. 1)
- Bradley Allen, PhD, interim executive associate dean for education affairs
- Michele Saysana, MD, executive associate dean for clinical affairs and senior vice president of academic medicine
Strategic Plan Update
IU School of Medicine announced its Strategic Plan in spring 2023. The plan was developed with the input of hundreds of faculty, staff and students in the school and beyond. The three pillars of the plan are student success, accelerating discovery and translation, and improving the health of the medical school and the state of Indiana.
STUDENT SUCCESS
Climbing the Stairway to Accreditation
The School of Medicine’s preparation for reaccreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) is well underway.
- The LCME survey team will visit IU School of Medicine campuses in March 2025.
- The school is currently in a process of self-assessments and data collection, looking inward to determine the school’s performance based on LCME accreditation standards.
- Another vital component of LCME accreditation is medical students’ opinions of their medical school education. A committee made up of students from each class year and from several regional campuses will create and administer a student satisfaction survey to all their fellow students in October.
Satisfaction with medical education
IU School of Medicine recently completed a survey of graduates. Their overall satisfaction with the quality of their medical education has risen dramatically over the last seven years and is now above the national average and continues to trend upward.
IU School of Medicine students also indicated high satisfaction with basic science content and clerkship experiences. As one example of dramatic improvement, in 2018 the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology had a clerkship satisfaction rate of 67% which was 13 points below the national average. Today, the department has a satisfaction rate of 84% — three points above the national benchmark.
Another question on the Graduate Questionnaire asked about special clinical training. IU School of Medicine students benefit from clinical experiences at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center. IU is well above the national average in the number of students who have a clinical experience at the VA (75% of IU students compared to less than half of medical students nationally). IU medical students overwhelming rate those experiences positively.
Creating spaces for innovative projects
IU School of Medicine launched the Professional Learning Communities program statewide in January 2024 by creating 12 learning communities in Indianapolis, each with two PLC faculty, and continuing with the creation of learning communities at all regional campuses. The purpose of Professional Learning Communities is to help students connect, gain support, and grow personally and professionally.
One of the biggest investments in creating innovative space for IU School of Medicine students, faculty and staff is the new Medical Education and Research building. This state-of-the-art building will have 11 floors, and the $205 million in construction costs has been funded by IU Health, IU School of Medicine and the generosity of donors. The Medical Education and Research Building is strategically located with proximity to Goodman Hall, the new IU Health hospital, and the Capitol View building. This layout will provide unique opportunities for synergy and enhanced collaboration.
People will not occupy the new building until the summer of 2025. However, the building will be far enough along for LCME site visitors to see it when they visit in March as part of the accreditation process. The new building will house state-of-the-art educational spaces, unique programs and a research tower.
RESEARCH GROWTH
The Research Tower in the Medical Education and Research Building will create 48,000 square feet of new research laboratories, offices and laboratory support spaces on floors 8, 9 and 10. This space will facilitate recruitment of 18-20 new principal investigators in areas such as neurodegeneration and cancer. In addition, spaces in the basement of the Neurosciences Research and the Medical Education buildings will be renovated to create more room for the Laboratory Animal Resource Center.
Research discoveries and grant awards
Since the beginning of the year through Aug. 31, 2024, 93 IU School of Medicine faculty have received new federal grants. Five of those faculty have multiple grants: Megan Song McHenry, MD; Sharon M. Moe, MD; Ruslan Rafikov, PhD; Vijay R. Ramakrishnan, MD; and Nathan Wade Schmidt, PhD.
In 2023, IU School of Medicine faculty had 701 publications in high impact scientific journals, and the school is on pace to reach that number in 2024, said Tatiana Foroud, PhD, executive associate dean for research affairs. Foroud highlighted significant studies examining health disparities in breast cancer and heart transplants, as well as a basic science study dealing with pulmonary hypertension.
Visit from Bill Gates
Last month, IU School of Medicine received a visit from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his colleagues from Gates Venture. It was IU’s team-based research in Alzheimer’s and related dementias that brought Gates to the School of Medicine.
“This visit was a true testament to the unique scope and scale of the team-based work underway at the IU School of Medicine,” Hess said. “That’s what we do here. We build teams and get things done.”
IMPROVING HEALTH AND WELLNESS
IU faculty are collaborating to provide creative solutions which enhance the health and well-being of the school community and the people of Indiana and beyond.
Motorsports Medicine
Each May, hundreds of thousands of people gather at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On race day, the Emergency Medical Center becomes one of the busiest medical centers in the state with emergency medicine physicians, an orthopedic surgeon, a neurosurgeon and a trauma surgeon on standby and more than 200 medical professionals providing care for drivers and fans. In 2020, IU School of Medicine launched the world’s first Motorsports Medicine Fellowship, providing a unique training experience for fellows and enhancing the care offered at the Speedway.
New GI partnership in Kenya
Promoting unique team-based clinical training also occurs far from home. IU School of Medicine, through the AMPATH partnership, sent a team to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in March to hold a surgery camp. This camp began the process of training the Kenyan team in advanced and therapeutic endoscopy procedures. During the weeklong camp, the team performed 27 endoscopic retrograde pancreatography procedures on patients from throughout western Kenya. Over 30 health care professionals from Moi University and its teaching hospital trained in the procedures.
Building a statewide footprint for academic medicine
Kevin Gebke, MD, interim executive associate dean for clinical affairs, explained aspects of the new unified medical group which consolidates all IU Health physicians throughout the state into one medical group. This process has been ongoing over the past three years. The formal transition to the IU Health Medical Group is scheduled to be completed in January 2025. Benefits of the unified group include consistent policies and standards of care across the state, expanded educational programs, and increased patient access to clinical trials, Gebke said. IU Health physicians who are not currently dually employed with IU School of Medicine will become affiliate faculty of the school.
Medical Laboratory Scientist program expansion
IU School of Medicine is expanding its Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science program to IU School of Medicine—Evansville. This initiative is a response to the intensifying national shortage of medical laboratory scientists, which poses a significant threat to the delivery of quality patient care across the U.S. Medical laboratory scientists are essential health care professionals who perform highly complex laboratory tests to inform diagnosis and treatment plans. This expansion is funded through a collaboration between the IU School of Medicine Department of Pathology and Deaconess Health System and aims to increase the capacity of regional health care partners in the tri-state region.
VITAL Work Life
IU School of Medicine established the VITAL WorkLife initiative in partnership with IU Health one year ago. It is designed to improve the health and well-being of IU physicians and advanced practice providers and their families. Mary Dankoski, PhD, executive associate dean for faculty affairs and professional development, presented data showing the program has far exceeded its goals for implementation. During the past 10 months, over 1,500 cases have been opened. The top reason for contacting VITAL WorkLife was for its concierge program.
New wellness resource for everyone
Earlier this month, IU School of Medicine launched a new wellness website for everyone in the school community at medicine.iu.edu/wellness. It serves as a centralized hub of resources for faculty, staff and all learners.
The wellness website also includes results of a well-being survey conducted by the Healthcare Professional Well-Being Academic Consortium. Results may be filtered to highlight different demographic groups and professional areas.
Diversity Engagement Survey
Everyone in the IU School of Medicine community is invited to participate in the Diversity Engagement Survey (DES) launched on Sept. 3. Inclusion is foundational for employees and learners to fully participate in all that the school has to offer, said Chemen Neal, MD, executive associate dean for equity and inclusion and the school’s chief diversity officer.
This is an evidence-based survey that was developed and validated by research at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in collaboration with the AAMC. It will assess three broad engagement domains: appreciation, camaraderie, and vision and purpose. The survey is highly confidential and should take less than 10 minutes to complete.
FACULTY AWARDS
Excellence in Faculty Mentoring
- Gabriel Bosslet, MD, Department of Medicine (clinical faculty)
- Gustavo Arrizabalaga, PhD, Pharmacology and Toxicology (basic science)
Outstanding Community Engagement
- Jack Turman, PhD, Pediatrics
Inspirational Educator Awards
- John Kincaid, MD, Neurology (teaching over 10 years)
- Brett Enneking, PsyD, Pediatrics (teaching less than 10 years)
Scholar Educator Award
- Rob Ferre, MD, Emergency Medicine
Volunteer and Adjunct Faculty Teaching Awards
Bloomington
Allison Kaderabek, MD
Evansville
Donald Brake, MD; Christopher Cannon, MD; Megan Farrell, MD; Brennan Fitzpatrick, MD; Anthony Funke, MD; Craig Haseman, MD; Harold Hebard, MD; Lawrence Judy, MD; Mark Luff, MD; Adrian Singson, MD; Bhargava Trivedi, MD; Todd Wannemuehler, MD; Willard Whitehead, MD; Jay Woodland, MD
Fort Wayne
Evan Asper, DO; Christopher Baltes, MD; James Dozier, MD; Mary Ann Meo, PhD; Mark O'Shaughnessy, MD; Vinita Prasad, MD
Muncie
Luke Ernstberger, MD; Sashank Kolli, MD; Salahuddin Siddiqui, MD
Northwest
Matthew O'Connor, MD
South Bend
Abigail Battjes, DO; Justin Chow, MD; Neal Patel, MD
Terre Haute
John Barone, MD
West Lafayette
Nathan Brandley, MD; John Francis, MD; Khoa Lai, MD; Debra Madura, MD, FACOG; Lisa McTavish, MD; Bryan Norkus, MD, FAAFP; Ayodeji Ogunleye, MD, MPH; Patrick O'Neil, MD
Inclusive Research Laboratory Award
The Inclusive Research Laboratory Award is a new award celebrating a faculty member who has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to fostering an inclusive, supportive and enriching laboratory environment. Lilian Plotkin, PhD (Anatomy, Cell Biology & Physiology) provides mentorship, advocacy and equitable practices which have created a vibrant, diverse and intellectually stimulating laboratory space exemplifying the value of inclusive excellence, Foroud said.
Outstanding Faculty Commitment to Inclusive Excellence
- Matthew Holley, PhD, Family Medicine
STAFF AWARDS
Outstanding Staff Commitment to Inclusive Excellence
- Brandy Wood, IU School of Medicine Graduate Division
Deb Cowley Staff Leadership Award
- Ann Cottingham, Department of Medicine
Lynn Wakefield Unsung Hero Award
- Leila Ekbia, Continuing Education in Healthcare Professions
- Erin Gladstone, Pediatrics
Outstanding Community Engagement
- Cynthia Holladay, Pediatrics
Milestones anniversaries
IU School of Medicine celebrates the milestone anniversaries of staff who have served at the school for more than 15 years. Serving 35 years or more are Gail Waltz (35 years), Kerri Kraus (40 years) and Marilyn Baker (45 years).
Emerging Leaders
The Emerging Leaders program, sponsored by IU School of Medicine Human Resources, has had about 75 participants and was established to promote professional growth and leadership skills to the emerging leaders within the school. After completing the two-year program, each cohort is charged with completing the selection process and curriculum planning for the succeeding group.
Emerging Leaders 2024 cohort:
- Regan Bright, Radiation Oncology
- Lauren Brims, Clinical Trials Office
- Lane Cheslyn, Pediatrics
- Nicki Haas, Medicine Diversity Affairs
- Tiffany Jensen, Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Courtney Linville, Research Affairs
- Kenndra Thompson, Human Resources
- Michelle Totten, Medical and Molecular Genetics
- Caitlin Tyminski, Medical and Molecular Genetics
- Nia Voorhees, Pulmonary clinical research
Farewell to Dr. Paul Wallach
Many of the school’s initiatives in medical education have been led by Paul Wallach, MD, executive associate dean for educational affairs and institutional improvement. Wallach will be leaving the IU School of Medicine to take on the new role of vice chancellor of education for health sciences and executive vice dean of academic affairs for the School of Medicine with the University of Pittsburgh. His last day at IU will be October 31.
Joining the school in 2017, Wallach played a pivotal role in LCME reaccreditation and instituted intensive programming changes across IU School of Medicine’s regional campuses. The school community is invited to a farewell reception for Wallach on Oct. 17 from 4-6 p.m. in the lobby of Fairbanks Hall.
Did you miss the meeting?
Anyone with an IU login may view a recording of the full Fall 2024 All School Meeting.
