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Message from the Senior Associate Dean

Linda A. Headrick, MD, MS, Senior Associate Dean for Education and Faculty Development

Thank you for your interest in the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine.   We are proud of our heritage as the oldest public medical school west of the Mississippi River and excited about the future.  The mission of the School of Medicine is to improve the health of Missourians and the nation by:

• Providing excellent health care education, with special emphasis on the needs of rural providers and communities.
• Generating new knowledge through research.
• Providing the outstanding patient-centered clinical care on which excellence in research and education is based.

With the help of our major clinical teaching partner, University of Missouri Health Care (UMHC), many exciting things are happening in all three areas of our mission:  education, research and clinical care. 

Education

• A growing faculty of outstanding educators:  Recent recruitments have brought University of Missouri School of Medicine faculty numbers to an all-time high.  Many are nationally known for leadership in medical education, holding appointments on specialty boards, residency review committees and other prestigious groups. 
• A new clinical simulation center:  In 2008, the School of Medicine’s Russell D. and Mary B. Shelden Clinical Simulation Center will move into new quarters. This state-of-the-art facility will devote over 10,000 square feet to a broad range of simulation technologies, from standardized patients in the clinic setting to fully simulated operating rooms.
• Assistance to graduating residents seeking practice opportunities in Missouri:  A new School of Medicine program, the Missouri Physician Placement Service, assists graduating residents and other physicians who are looking for positions throughout the state, especially in rural communities.  We are grateful to the Missouri Foundation for Health, which provided funding that helped start this program.

Research

• Translational research:  An NIH Planning Grant is strengthening interdisciplinary research infrastructure in the area of clinical and translational science. 
• Clinical research:  The Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC) includes innovative projects in areas such as internet-based patient education, exercise strategies for persons with arthritis, and dissemination of information to improve musculoskeletal care services for seasonal and migrant farm workers. 
• Research in chronic care:  An innovative research program funded by the Missouri Foundation for Health is examining strategies for improving self-management of diabetes for rural Missourians.

Clinical Care

• Care for patients with acute myocardial infarction:  UMHC is a regional and national leader in quality of acute myocardial infarction care, achieving door to reperfusion times of less than 90 minutes in over 85% of patients.
• Minimally invasive surgery:  UMHC is a national leader in minimally invasive surgery.  A nationally recognized team of expert physicians provide minimally invasive surgery in general surgery, bariatric surgery, urology, pediatric surgery, orthopedics, vascular surgery, surgical oncology, cardiothoracic surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, plastic surgery, and neurosurgery.
• Organ donation:  We have been recognized as a national leader in organ donation work, receiving the Organ Donation Medal of Honor in 2006.
• Patient safety:  UMHC is investing in the improvement of patient safety by using aviation safety experts to teach safety principles to health care workers. Over 1200 employees of UMHC have been trained in crew resource management patient safety training since 2003. 

Please come visit us!

In this brief greeting, I can highlight only a few of the exciting initiatives going on here in Columbia.  Please come visit us to learn more!