What Qualities Would You Seek in a VC for Health Affairs ?

With Dr. Dan Jones now in Oxford, faculty, staff and students sound off on what they would like in UMMC’s next leader

Elizabeth Hocker, executive director of the Mississippi Children’s Justice Center, said she remembers discussing the development of a child abuse program with Dr. Dan Jones, University of Mississippi chancellor, five years ago.

“At the time, I worked for another state agency,” Hocker said. “He listened to the proposal and supported the idea. Now, the Children’s Justice Center is a part of the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children.”

She said the new vice chancellor for health affairs should make himself or herself available to staff and faculty.

“I never had a sense (Dr. Jones) was inaccessible,” she said.

“I think the next person should be someone who isn’t just going to meet with department heads, but willing to meet with people who work in the trenches to make a difference, especially in the livesof children.”

-PSG

Janet Harris, chief nurse executive, said she believes UMMC needs another visionary leader who can help the institution continue to meet the health and educational needs of the state.

“This vision and leadership should inspire each of us to work collaboratively across the organization – in education, research and clinical practice – to exceed customer  expectations, to become the employer of choice, to maintain high practice standards in all areas and to continue to promote individual/organizational fiscal and professional accountability,” she said. 

– MW

As chair of the Medical Center’s e-Learning Committee, Dr. William B. Lushbaugh would like the new vice chancellor for health affairs to be supportive of institution-wide initiatives to improve the effectiveness of students and faculty through the use of emerging educational technologies.

“A UMMC teaching-learning center staffed with professional medical educators, academic counselors and educational technologists would enrich our academic environment by helping students learn and faculty teach using the latest educational techniques and advances,” said the professor of microbiology.

He said a leader with expertise in medical education would help the institution become one of the best medical centers in the Southeast.

“Now that the hospital has become self-supporting, I would look for someone who would reinvest in the educational environment of our schools and make this an even better place to study and to teach the art, craft and scientific basis of medicine and the medical arts.” 

– BC

As executive director of the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship Program, Janie B. Guice said she would value a vice chancellor for health affairs whose mission is to educate a health-care work force that meets the needs of all Mississippians.

She said she wants the Medical Center’s next leader to be as approachable as Dr. Dan Jones, University of Mississippi chancellor, has been, not only for UMMC employees, but for community members from a variety of socioeconomic situations.

“The vice chancellor has to be genuine and have a sense of service,”she said.

– JM

According to Dr. Annette Wysocki, professor of nursing, the next vice chancellor for health affairs should be attentive to the whole campus and be able to respond to and value equally the needs of each school.

“I definitely think one of the things we need is for someone to develop resources to support some of the research activities that are going on here,” she said.

“That would mean, for example, seed funds to go toward research. And we’d also need a person who could strengthen some of our activities like the UNACARE Clinic.”

– MW 

When Sharon Rand considers the attributes required of a new vice chancellor for health affairs, knowledge of the importance of the Medical Center’s research environment springs to the top of her list.

The supervisor in laboratory animal facilities knows how hard her staff and others must work throughout the year to help maintain the lab’s accreditation, and she appreciates the support received from past leadership.

“Dr. (Dan) Jones was always a part of what we did,” Rand said. “We always got feedback from him and he would recognize the animal technicians for their work.”

Similar recognition from the next vice chancellor for health affairs would go a long way, according to Rand.

“We need someone who realizes how important technicians are to research,” she said. “The new animal laboratory facility is gorgeous, and I know Dr. Jones had a lot to do with that. He even visited the lab several times.

“A vice chancellor should understand that although we have patients here at the university, the animals are patients, too.”

– BC

Research is a big priority for Dr. Jamil Ibrahim, assistant professor and scientist, and he believes it should also be a main concern for the next vice chancellor for health affairs.

“It’s what expands the knowledge of the entire field,” Ibrahim said. “I’d like somebody who understands that and who can attract funding for more research.”

He said a vice chancellor for health affairs also needs a thorough understanding of how each piece of the very complex Medical Center fits together, including its teaching mission, its health-care mission and all the intricacies of being a major provider in a state with great and varied health-care needs. 

– JM

Fourth-year medical student Michael Foster is interested in a leader who would continue Dr. Jones’ legacy of hands-on training.

“I want somebody very focused on education,” he said. “Medicine is very technical and I don’t want education to become observational.”

The next vice chancellor for health affairs should keep the previous administration’s momentum rolling, he said.

“The person must possess a full understanding of how important the Medical Center is to all of Mississippi’s general andspecialized health care.”

– JM

 

2009-07-13 00:00:00 18949