 Photo: Martin Vloet |
It’s been an exciting and productive autumn at the University of Michigan
Health System. In September, groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the 8-floor,
222,000-square-foot building that will more than double the Kellogg Eye Center’s
capacity for eye care, research and education, and also house the Brehm Center
for Type 1 Diabetes Research and Analysis. Made possible in large part by Bill
and Dee Brehm’s landmark $44 million gift to the Medical School, these facilities
will help us address two health issues burgeoning as the Baby Boom generation
ages — eye disease and diabetes — allowing us to grow and intensify
our efforts in both disciplines.
In October we broke ground for the new 1.1-million-square-foot C.S. Mott Children’s
Hospital and Women’s Hospital, a magnificent, state-of-the-art facility
designed to fit today’s medicine and tomorrow’s medical and technological
innovations. Continuing the partnership between the C.S. Mott Foundation and the
U-M, the new will bring health care delivery for children and women into the 21st
century. Also in October, the 112,500-square-foot Rachel Upjohn Building opened
on our east medical campus, providing a stunning home for research and care aimed
at helping people with depression, bipolar disorder and other psychiatric illnesses.
In mid-October, we launched an online inpatient orders system, known as UM-Carelink,
in Obstetrics/Gynecology and the Women’s Hospital, as well as the areas
that support them. A massive project and a resounding success, UM-Carelink allows
physicians, nurses and technicians to place computerized orders for laboratory
tests, medication, nursing and nutrition services. Developed to streamline the
orders system and minimize medical errors, the UM-Carelink team is preparing to
go live in the Neonatal ICU and its supporting areas, with the goal of having
the entire Mott Children’s Hospital active before summer 2007.
On a concluding note, and on behalf of the entire Medical School and Health System,
I want to thank Allen Lichter for his more than seven years of outstanding service
as dean of our school. His vision and leadership, his commitment and drive, and
his devotion to Michigan have left an indelible mark on the Medical School, most
notably, perhaps, in the area of scholarship support to address the critical problem
of increasing educational debt faced by today’s medical students. We wish
him and his lovely wife, Evie — who likewise tirelessly dedicated herself
to the activities of the school — much success, happiness and satisfaction
in their new life in Washington, D.C., where Allen now leads the American Society
of Clinical Oncology. James Woolliscroft, executive associate dean of the Medical
School since 1999, is serving ably as interim dean while a national search for
a permanent dean is underway.
Sincerely,
Robert P. Kelch (M.D. 1967, Residency 1970)
U-M Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs
CEO, U-M Health System
