From the Dean

The profiles in the last issue introducing the four first-year students we’ll follow throughout their study of medicine at Michigan generated great interest. Readers appreciated their ambition as well as their motivation to serve the cause of human health — in their own communities and on a global scale. We are proud of them and their 166 classmates who comprise the Class of 2012. They represent the very future of medicine itself.

In this issue, we continue our theme of collaboration in advancing our tripartite mission of research, education and clinical care. Our cover story delves into the cooperative network of scientists necessary to study the fundamental questions about life — how it works, how it goes wrong. Collaborative patient care is central to our story on venous disorders, with a team of specialists surrounding the patient with all the elements of treatment she’ll require. We see collaboration among U-M schools and disciplines as our faculty members provide training in basic biology for graduate students in the School of Public Health, College of Engineering, and our own doctoral programs in biomedical research. And we witness the power of world-class institutions — the universities of California and Michigan, Stanford and Harvard, as well as the CDC and NIH — working together to create Medpedia, potentially the world’s most comprehensive and freely accessible body of knowledge about medicine.

Collectively we progress in all we do at a pace and toward goals we could never hope to achieve working alone.

Sincerely,

James O. Woolliscroft, M.D. (Residency 1980)
Dean, U-M Medical School