School of Medicine

The Pulse

Dean’s Corner

I want to thank those of you who took time to read, reflect and share insightful comments and suggestions on the draft strategic plan that we shared in an email in early November.

Emergent Method is currently incorporating these responses into the strategic plan and adding the metrics we will use to guide and hold us accountable to implementation. We anticipate sharing the final plan with you in January.

I am excited that this roadmap represents all our voices and perspectives. More than 1,200 individuals participated in the planning process through one-on-one interviews, listening sessions, and focus groups. School leaders, Health Sciences Center leaders, faculty, staff, residents, students, alumni, and external stakeholders worked for eight months to chart our course for the next four years. 

Two overarching themes became clear during this strategic planning process. First was our shared vision to become a transformative regional leader in patient care, education, and research. Faculty repeatedly named innovation as one of our leading core values. Secondly, we all acknowledge the need for wider recognition for our excellence in education, research and clinical care. 

I hope you will take the time to contemplate the final strategic plan – and our common vision, goals, and strategies to get us there - when we are able to share it early next year. In the meantime, I wanted to relay to you the priorities that have come out of the process:  

Clinical Priorities:

  • Become the doctors of choice for the people of Louisiana
  • Build upon our commitment to meeting the needs of the underserved
  • Provide an excellent clinical environment that leads to positive experiences and results for our patients
  • Establish clear accountability and expectations to drive highly productive faculty
  • Be on the cutting edge of medicine in all we do
  • Continually position the school and clinical partners as an academic medical center

Educational priorities:

  • Promote a high-performing, equitable, and supportive academic medicine learning environment to enhance learner success
  • Produce doctors that help address the state’s pressing physician needs
  • Foster lifelong learning and professional development for all faculty and staff
  • Retain and recruit high-quality faculty and staff
  • Collaborate with partners to fully integrate education into the clinical learning environment

Research Priorities:

  • Establish clear interdisciplinary areas of focus to guide our research activities
  • Elevate research as a priority
  • Build and maintain both a high-performing research faculty and research staff workforce
  • Support the development of robust, high-performing research support functions within the School of Medicine 

As we close in on the final days of 2024, I look forward to our continued work to serve the state and region. Happy holidays,

Richard DiCarlo, MD
Dean
LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine