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Vision
2012: Transforming
health and healing
In 1979, Emory was given an extraordinary opportunity to chart a
course to greatness, thanks to the vision of the person for whom
this health sciences center is named. The last two decades of the
20th century saw Emory emerge as a major research university and
vital center of learning, discovery, and service to humanity. As
just one component of this momentum, the Woodruff Health Sciences
Center (WHSC) has created the best and most comprehensive health
system in our region. Our schools and academic programs are among
the top-ranked in the country. We have set a remarkable pace of
growth—both in quantity and quality—in our research.
And we attract top faculty and students from around the world.
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If
the end of the last century was the era of Emory’s awakening
to what it could be, then there is little doubt in my mind that
we have now begun, in the early part of the 21st century, to establish
the era of Emory’s preeminence. With the right vision, leadership,
and support, this university and the WHSC can be the source of,
and destination for, the most exciting, important, and transformative
thought and innovation in the 21st century. As President Wagner
likes to say, we will be a “destination University,”
a place “where courageous inquiry leads.”
Our University community recently
completed strategic planning that will guide us over the next seven
to 10 years. For our part, the WHSC has set an ambitious goal, Vision
2012: leadership in transforming health and healing.
Why do we need a transformation? Simply
put, in health care, the paradigm has to change. Both science and
society are making such change ever more possible and urgent. In
science, we are seeing an increasing convergence of knowledge at
the most fundamental levels of biological systems. We have mapped
the human genome and every day we are making important discoveries
that are quickly expanding our understanding of what is possible.
On the societal level, globalization means that we have both unprecedented
opportunities for improving health but also unprecedented risks
for the rapid spread of serious disease.
Science is enabling and society is
requiring that we transcend current boundaries of health care knowledge
and practice. From “reparative” medicine, we need to
move to predictive and preventive medicine, and to comprehensive
and global public health. From the “individual silo”
approach to research and care, we must transition to integrated,
collaborative models. It is not enough to simply be the best within
the current model of health care. Instead, we should take the lead
in transforming health care locally, nationally, and internationally.
These goals can’t be reached
by just a few visionary leaders or brilliant scientists or dedicated
health professionals. A true transformation of health and healing
will take the combined efforts of many thousands, even millions,
of people. But I believe it can start here with the approximately
15,000 or so dedicated members of the WHSC team and this great University.
Our science and our world needs our leadership in transforming health
and healing. I invite and I challenge each one of you to be one
of those leaders.
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