MOMENTUM UPDATE
FROM THE DESK OF DR. MICHAEL JOHNS
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE
ROBERT W. WOODRUFF HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER
July 2006
EMORY CAPTURES IMPRESSIVE RANKINGS IN U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT
It’s that time of year again when U.S. News and World Report issues its annual “America’s Best Hospitals” rankings, and I am very proud to say that through the hard work and dedication of everyone across the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory received high national rankings in eight specialties. Heart and Heart Surgery, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, and Psychiatry all were impressively ranked in the top 20, and Kidney Disease in the top 25. ENT, Gynecology, and Urology all made the top 50 rankings. It is especially gratifying when others recognize the great work done by so many of our faculty and staff in these specialties. Congratulations on a great job!
JEFFREY MOLTER APPOINTED ASSOCIATE VP OF HEALTH SCIENCES COMMUNICATIONS
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Jeffrey Molter as the next Associate Vice President of Health Sciences Communications, a position upon which we depend to coordinate a host of critical internal and external communications and relations across the WHSC. Jeff arrives later this month and will begin meeting immediately with various leaders and others throughout our organization.Jeff is a deeply experienced medical communicator and public relations professional who has served as director of the Duke University Medical Center and Health System news office for the past six years. Prior to that, he spent nearly 10 years as director of the Department of Science News at the American Medical Association, where he was responsible for national and international media promotion of JAMA and 10 specialty journals. (This is where I personally first met Jeff, roughly 15 years ago, and was immediately struck by his energy, enthusiasm, and obvious passion for communicating health news and information to the public – qualities that have only improved with age and experience.)
GLANZ APPOINTED TO THE TASK FORCE ON COMMUNITY PREVENTIVE SERVICES
Karen Glanz, Professor of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education in The Rollins School of Public Health, and a Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Research Scholar, is one of five new appointees (out of 200 nominations) to the Task Force on Community Preventive Services. CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding appoints the Task Force, which is responsible for the Guide to Community Preventive Services, a filter for scientific literature on specific health problems. The Guide summarizes what is known about the effectiveness, economic efficiency, and feasibility of interventions to promote community health and prevent disease. Karen, an expert in behavioral and social sciences, and communications sciences, will serve as a liaison for specific evidence reviews (e.g., obesity, nutrition, physical activity, cancer). Along with other Task Force members, she will develop recommendations regarding current evidence as well as gaps in the evidence.
NEW OUTPATIENT TRANSPLANT CLINIC EXPANDS CAPACITY AND SERVICES
I was delighted to participate in the dedication ceremony last month for the new Mason Outpatient Transplant Clinic. The new clinic space is located on the 6th floor of Emory Clinic Building B, and triples the size of the transplant clinic’s former space – offering a taste of what’s in store over the next few years for outpatient space overall at Emory. The new clinic has a wait room capacity of more than 80, with patient computer and internet access, patient education classrooms, and six patient-friendly evaluation suites with multi-media education capability. The new clinic space even includes a coffee station. Now that is customer service! It is evident throughout the outpatient clinic that the number one focus is the patient. With patient visits projected to increase from 17,000 in 2005 to 20,000 this year and 23,000 in 2007, that level of patient focus remains paramount in what we do best – Making People Healthy.The Emory Transplant Center (ETC) is a model of the integrated, patient-centered, discovery-anchored centers of excellence that we are pioneering and perfecting here in the WHSC, and the new space is of immense importance to this direction. The ETC has made great strides in bringing heart, lung, kidney, and all transplant services into the same clinic to work as a team, and this space gives that team a home. This clinic was funded by a $1.8 million grant, which was only the most recent in a long chain of gifts from the Carlos and Marguerite Mason Trust to support transplant care and research and to help make transplant available to all Georgians who need it. The Emory Transplant Center is the only institution in the state offering a full spectrum of transplant services (heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas, and islet), with more than 300 adult and pediatric transplants a year.
EMORY HEALTHCARE MAKES PRESENCE KNOWN AT 2006 PEACHTREE ROAD RACE
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When the annual Peachtree Road Race took place on the morning of July 4th, more than 1,650 Emory Healthcare employees and family members were at the starting line in what is the world’s largest 10K event (55,000 participants). We had runners representing every unit of the WHSC – a strong indication of our deep commitment to staying fit and healthy. As health care providers, there is no better way to help our patients stay healthy than by being fit and healthy ourselves. Participation among employees has doubled since 2002 when Emory had 800 registrants. This is the 12th straight year that we have been a proud participant and sponsor of the Peachtree Road Race and I hope the number of participants continues to grow. When you realize that the first ever Peachtree Road Race had 110 runners (back in 1970), our 1,650 number and the total of 55,000 is amazing! This is a great event for Atlanta, and Emory Healthcare is proud to be a major contributor. |
INAUGURAL SUMMIT ADVANCES APPLICATION OF BIODESIGN TO PATIENT CARE
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Omar Lattouf |
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Robert Guyton |
The Woodruff Health Sciences Center is the organizing sponsor of the first-ever American International Medical Summit on Biotherapeutics and Medical Designs (AIMS on BioDesign), to be held September 18-20 at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta. The summit will offer educational sessions to facilitate invention, patenting, and early-stage development of medical devices and will provide invaluable networking opportunities to support growing collaborations among industry, investors, and academic institutions. This year's focus will be on endovascular intervention in cardiology, cardiac and vascular surgery, interventional radiology, interventional neurovascular therapy, and critical care medicine. This is an excellent opportunity for Emory to emerge as an international leader in this growing arena.
Key session topics include:
• emerging global trends in medical device and bioscience technologies
• emerging start-up companies and promising new technologies
• the road to success: views from industry leaders
• protecting your intellectual assets
• promising proposals vs. funding failures, the investor's perspective
I will personally moderate a President's Round Table that includes Emory University President James Wagner, University of Georgia President Michael Adams, Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough, and Medical College of Georgia President Daniel W. Rahn.
More than 800 physicians, inventors, lawyers, venture capitalists, and company representatives from all over the world are expected to attend the event, which is chaired by cardiothoracic surgeon Omar Lattouf (director of the Emory Center for Device Innovation) and co-chaired by cardiothoracic surgeon Robert Guyton (both pictured above).
I encourage you to consider attending this exciting and important event. Detailed information and registration is available at www.AIMSbiodesign.org.
GOVERNOR PERDUE TO SPEAK AT EMORY CRAWFORD LONG HOSPITAL
All Emory Crawford Long Hospital and Emory University Hospital medical staff be sure to mark your calendars for Monday, July 24, as Governor Sonny Perdue will deliver an address at the Emory Crawford Long Hospital Quarterly Medical Staff meeting at 7 p.m. in the ECLH Glenn Auditorium (Note: EUH medical staff is also invited). The Governor’s speech will address healthcare issues in Georgia. For more information on this event, contact Lasharn Street-Gholston at 404-686-7789, or by e-mail at lasharn.street.gholston@emoryhealthcare.org .
NORTH DEKALB MALL PARK AND RIDE A SUCCESS
Although Emory’s new Park and Ride lot at North Dekalb Mall just opened, initial feedback indicates it is the viable, convenient option it was designed to be for commuters. With 200 spaces at the Mall, and a direct, non-stop shuttle that runs every 20 minutes during peak times, this new transportation option delivers on its promise to cut down on traffic in the Clifton Corridor and provide employees with alternative and affordable commuting options. We all know that Making People Healthy extends beyond providing excellent medical care. Now, by offering alternative transportation options to our employees, we are not only making a sound choice for the environment, we are also setting an example for other companies to follow. Additional Park and Ride lots are planned, so we will keep you posted as more open.
EMORY HEALTHCARE OFFERS SUPPORT TO HELP CREATE HEALTH COURTS
Emory Healthcare has joined six other academic health systems across the nation in signing on to participate in a proposed pilot project currently under bipartisan consideration for funding in the U.S. Senate. A bill introduced by Senators Michael Enzi (R-WY) and Max Baucus (D-MT) would authorize and fund pilot “health courts” devoted exclusively to addressing health care issues, much like existing specialized courts (bankruptcy, tax, drug, admiralty) focus on other areas of law. Pilot health courts would be the first needed step in the process to establish such courts on a permanent basis. Health courts would have full-time judges trained in health care issues who would define and interpret standards of care in malpractice cases, relying on neutral experts paid by the court and setting precedent from one case to another.
Other centers who have signed on for the pilot project include Duke, Yale, Johns Hopkins, New York-Presbyterian, and Jackson Health System/University of Miami. The effort to create health courts is being led by Common Good, a bipartisan legal reform coalition, in partnership with Harvard School of Public Health.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
The pursuit of Quality, Safety, and Service (QSS) are commonplace these days and seem to be high on the agenda of every academic health center in the nation. I recently participated in some QSS discussions as a member of the Blue Ridge Academic Health Group, along with leaders of academic health centers from across the nation. The Woodruff Health Sciences Center has placed quality as a top priority and far-reaching goal. Our stated goals of highest-quality performance obviously include safety and service initiatives as well.
In reviewing some online dictionaries for definitions of “quality,” I found the following definitions to appear most often:
- An essential characteristic
- A degree of excellence
- A status achieved by pursuit of highest scores and rankings
- A distinguishing attribute
- An accomplishment
I appreciate so very much that in the Woodruff Health Sciences Center we have 15,000+ faculty, staff, and administrators who support our quality, safety, and service efforts. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Michael M.E. Johns, MD
CEO, Woodruff Health Sciences Center