‘Incredible things happen when you care about people’: Virtual town hall recaps School of Medicine achievements
With a dozen presenters, the seminar provided an overview of developments during the first six months Arturo Saavedra, M.D., has served as dean.
VCU School of Medicine's historic Egyptian Building.
Arturo Saavedra, M.D., dean of VCU School of Medicine, hosted a virtual town hall on Oct. 19 to highlight developments, accomplishments and goals during his first sixth months as dean.
After addressing the audience and reflecting on the sentiment that “incredible things happen when you care about people,” Saavedra introduced 12 faculty, student and administrative leaders to speak. Each presenter detailed their areas of expertise, including innovation, technological advancements, physician recruitment and student achievement.
“I hope that through a beautiful collage of leaders, we represent not only what you do provide for our work, but how we move forward in the future.” Saavedra said.
Medical and graduate students shared updates on new student lounges, engagement and mistreatment policies and career development opportunities.
The town hall also featured clinicians and researchers who discussed the resources available to School of Medicine faculty and staff, from software updates to pilot grant funding to the successful opening of the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU’s new Children’s Tower.
Highlights from the hour-long town hall included:
- New spaces for students to study and gather, including the Nelson Student Lounge and newly updated rooms in Huntin Student Center and Sanger Hall
- A new, streamlined process for students to report mistreatment
- New outreach events, like trivia nights, to build connections between students and administrators
- Career development support for students through F31 Now Workshop, grant writing courses and professional seminar series
- Implementation of Horizon, new research computing virtual desktop infrastructure
- Development of Annual Team Roadmaps (ATR), a set of strategic goals for each clinical department
- Approximately $60 million in compensation adjustment and incentives, plus subsidization of half of parking fees
- Increased retention rate by 5% and nursing turnover rate down 6%
- Simplification of the physician recruitment process
- Redesigned IT governance structure
- Upcoming implementation of Anaplan, a budgeting and financial reporting platform
- Successful opening of the Children’s Tower at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU
Looking forward to the next six months, Saavedra promised to provide an update to students and faculty on the School of Medicine’s progress to mark his first year as dean.
“I want to highlight that the magic happens because of you. That’s why this town hall has been by you and for you,” Saavedra said. “We are all very proud of what you do, and we want to make sure you feel and carry that pride every day.”
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