1
Well, welcome, everybody,
to the state of

the school. I'm going
to keep us on time.

Welcome to the fall
faculty and staff

meeting, and this is
my first one. I've been

here now just over
five months, so really

glad to be here as your
dean for the school.

Before we begin, I want to
acknowledge a few comments

on behalf of our university
and our school that the

school occupies ancestral
Ho-Chunk land, and beyond

this acknowledgement, we
collectively pledge to learn

more and take action in
our commitment to advancing

the health of native people
in our state and across

the country. Thank you all
for joining us, those of you

in person and those on live
stream. It is my delight

to be here to be able to
talk to you today. If you're

attending virtually, this
is my only part, please put

your questions for us for
the town hall in the chat

box and we will hopefully
get to them all. Today's

meeting, of course, we'll
have the State of the School

presentation and also, thank
you Traci, and following that

we're going to have a Q&A and then we're going to

announce the Belzer award at
the end and following that

I understand there's some
refreshments. I didn't

see them as I walked in
so hopefully they're there

they didn't promise--they did
promise those. So a couple

things before we go forward
with the state of the

school I know Bob Golden,
Dean Golden, is there, I think.

I did not ask him what he
did for this. So again,

some of this may be as what
Bob did, but I think also

some of this may be just
the new dean being sure that

I'm connecting with all of
you. So, as you see this,

my goal is to, of course,
talk about all the missions

in the school and the
incredible work that is

done by all of you in
the school. That includes

our staff, our students,
our faculty, our leaders.

So again, if he started to
talk about all of those, I

think you'd be here all night,
maybe tomorrow, and you'd

really not be happy. So as
you hear things, understand

it's meant to be directional,
and I cannot acknowledge

simply all the amazing work
all our domain-specific

leaders do, but recognize
that in my heart and in my

mind, I thank you each and
every day for what you do.

All right.

So a couple of things.
You know, when I took this

role, many people said,
why did you take this

role? You know, of course,
this is an amazing place.

These are the reasons
where this is our vision.

Healthy people, healthy
communities based on the

Wisconsin idea. What a
powerful statement, especially

as we look at what's
happening in the world today.

And if we look at
our values, which are

important, those
are the North Star

that keeps us when
times are changing.

Those are integrity
and accountability,

compassion,

social impact and belonging,

of course, a commitment
to excellence.

And then when I look at
principles for us, we're,

of course, high performing
and collaborative,

very much a Badger,
Wisconsin value.

We work towards shared goals.

And I would say we're
leaders and beacons of

health care. We need to
be leaders and beacons for

health care because times
are uncertain. And at

that time, it comes back
to what are our values

and where do we stand
for? And this is, I hope

we'll talk a little bit
about that at the end.

So the first few
months, as I mentioned,

I've been here
and there's been

a lot of parties
and events, right?

A lot.

I definitely get the
Wisconsin welcome in all the

places. And you will see,
you're going to see on the

left, you see all the staff
event. I've had a chance

to walk around. Today I
walked with Shiva's team.

In the middle, you
see faculty event.

The one in the middle
with Bucky Badger

was the launch of our
newest department,

Department of Otolaryngology,
thanks to the work

of Dean Golden and thanks
to Rebecca Minter and

launching our newest
department with Sandra Lin

at the helm on July 1st.
So what an amazing place.

And, of course, our
trainees in various events,

those are what keeps us
and helps us come to these

places. We want to train
the next generation.

And you can see some of
those events. So I gave our,

at the white coat ceremony,
I talked to the medical

students. And, of course, being
the new dean, I did take a

little bit more moment on
time. Alongside me was John

Williams. and I talked
to the new students about

things that I value and
this concept of Ikigai comes

from a Japanese word. It's
the why you are what you are

and some of this is around
discovering what you

love, also committing to
doing the work that you're

good at, committing to
excellence and then

something the world truly
needs, right? And this is

I think helpful as we
think about our mission for

the School of Medicine
and Public Health why

did we all choose to come
and work in this place.

Now the reasons may be
slightly different for many of

us but again connecting
with those foundational

truths become really important
as we look at times of

change and I think we would
all agree that there's a

lot of change happening in
the world as we speak.

I also hope you know that
I want to connect with all

of you if I can walk and
find you in the corridors

or in the hallways I'm
absolutely delighted to find

out about, but that would
take a long time for me

to meet each and every
one of you so I absolutely

committed to that alongside
if you weren't aware we've

started a couple of ways
of connecting with you. We

have the On Purpose blog
that's a monthly blog you can

see the website it tells
around things that are

happening on campus. It's
meant to be brief things that

are on my mind, things that
may initiatives that we may

be doing it's a way of
connecting. And for those of

you don't look at emails
don't like reading there's

that Nita Minute. It really
is a minute, it's quick,

it's short and it's meant
to sort of just talk about

here a quick minute about
let me connect with you

recognizing that all of
you are super busy so as we

talk around this, you're
going to see big factoids a

little bit of historical but
then really we're going to

look back at how the school
did over the past year

If you look, we're a
large community. We're

2,200-plus faculty that
includes all our tracks.

Clinician teachers,
the CHS track,

the tenure track, 2,200-plus.

That grew 9.5% last year.

And 3,900-plus staff.

That grew 13.5%. Huge growth.

So, I know we feel like we're
uncertain, but there has

been a lot of activity. And
you can see at the bottom,

what I like to see is the
distribution by rank, that

we are really committing to
different people at different

ranks and different tracks.
and you see that we are

have faculty in different
tracks which is important

because we want the busy
clinicians who educate who are

often our best educators
our tenure scientists who do

the research and of course
what I call the connectors

the CHS track who do
research and also do clinical

and often are the connectors
and then if you look at the

rank we do see of course
there's a lot of growth at

the assistant. I would love
to see more associate more

SMPH start. That takes
time as you're growing very

quickly, but this is where
Art Walaszek and his team are

looking to make sure that
promotions are happening on a

timely basis for people
who choose to come and work

with us. Now over the last
year we've had a lot of new

leaders join us. I'm going
to go quickly through them.

Dr. Veintimilla has taken
over the UW Health CTI and

there's a search going on.
Dr. Speidel is our interim

Chair of Department of Medical
Physics and Dr. Capitini

is our Interim Director of
the Carbone Cancer Center.

I thank them for those
roles that they're doing.

Alongside, Alli Ingman
has joined us recently

as our new Director
for Wisconsin Medicine,

a highly accomplished leader

coming from University of Iowa.

And then Dr. Rudy Johnson,
we just wrapped up

the Wisconsin State Lab
Program. They asked us

to run that. And Dr.
Johnson brings many numbers

of years of experience
in federal level and

wants to partner with us
around how we can think

about the Wisconsin Idea
and healthcare delivery.

The two searches that
are currently, we're

running through a Carbone
Cancer Center director.

Thank you to Zach Morris
and Deneen Wellik in

running that search. And
then we'll be opening

the Medical Physics
search right after that.

And I do want you
to stay engaged and

let me know as those
searches are going.

I cannot tell you
all the awards.

Suffice it to say,
this is a subset.

Of course, most recently
we've seen Dr. Schwarze

become the newest member
of the National Academy

of Medicine. That is one
of the highest honors we

can give and a huge pride
point for the school.

You can see other big
awards, ASCI, Dan Jackson

getting that, and then
what I love to see is our

assistant professors
getting those awards, and

you can see Kinjal Majumder,
Adam Bailey, Andrea

Putnam got some amazing
awards. Again, subset.

And one we should be proud
of. These are our people.

As we look at our
students, some

amazing award. Kalifa Wright,

Superhero Medicine Award.

What an amazing award, right?

And then if you look, Heather
Heiberger got the award

from Physician Assistant
Student from the National,

from American Academy
of PAs on Health Caucus

Scholarships. Again, the
diversity and the richness that

is in this school. You can
see this in the awards.

And then, of course, our
staff. those are the people

who make it happen day
after day. They are there

for us. And I always love
it when I see the repertoire

of awards that Hope and
her team do both in the

university and beyond that
this is this is our strength

and we need to acknowledge
the hard work they do.

So, as I sort of took this
role it's often helpful to

go get a perspective and as
I look at the perspective

of course we're more than
118 years young, right?

So we are going to be
here for a long time,

and we will change with
time. And as we look,

we're going to be
celebrating the 100 years of

the four-year curriculum.
We started with

the two-year curriculum
in the medical school.

Alongside some of the
amazing things, 20

years ago, we became
the first School of

Medicine and Public
Health in the country.

We're going to
celebrate 20 years.

And of course, I want
to thank Bob Golden for

his amazing legacy and
leadership of the school.

We wouldn't be here
without his hard work

for the last 18 years.
I think it makes him the

longest serving dean
in the entire country.

And I recently had the
opportunity also to meet Phil

Farrell, who is in our
pediatrics department and

appreciate his vision in
thinking about our research

infrastructure and the towers.
He brought me a picture

with the towers for research,
for WIMR Towers, 2006.

He had that picture. He
brought it up. So really

just acknowledging that we
are the product of our past,

and we think about the
future, and those things

are important to put
together. This is one of my

favorite slides. I showed
it at the new faculty

orientation. When I came here,
I knew you were Warfarin.

That's the Warf. Somehow
we all know this. And

being a surgeon, I knew
about the UW solution.

But I'm amazed each
and every day how many

things that happen
here for the first time

that people don't have
at their fingertip.

I suggest we learn the
firsts we do. We tell it

to our students. This is
important. This is what

inspires the next
Tomotherapy, the next

Howard Temin, the next
Nobel Prize laureate. In

fact, this week I learned
OnCore, which is the

way we do clinical
trials, was defined here.

Every week I learned
something amazing about us.

But it's hidden and I'm
going to come back to

that. It shouldn't be
so hidden. I asked you

put it on your fingertips.
So, here's some of

the pieces around the
first few months. These

are reflections. Understand,
these may change.

I have been listening
and learning from all

of you. I ask questions.
I understand that many

people have found that
in sort of somewhat.

When my question, it
doesn't mean I don't

like the work you do. I
absolutely respect the

work you do, but I
want to learn from you.

Wisconsin Idea is an
amazing idea. It is our core

for our past, our present,
and future. The university

exists beyond walls to serve
the needs of the public,

whether it's in educating,
research, or clinical

innovation. That is our
goal. It's an amazing idea

and one we should hold on
to. I love being a badger.

You've seen me in my
Badger gear today, right?

I'm going to put this. We
have amazing potential to

be a national beacon for
health care transformation.

When there's a lot of
change, that is the

time to step up. We have
all the ingredients.

We have amazing brand
recognition, both

from our alumni and
from the state. We

shared data recently
from polling data.

There is amazing
recognition of the

university brand
around the state.

I'm going to say you're
Midwestern modest, and this is

what I want you to change.
I want you to highlight

the achievements of this
university, this amazing school,

to your friends, to your
colleagues, and make sure

our students understand what
a rich legacy we sit on.

I would say our
size and location,

I'm always impressed
by a beautiful

campus on the shores
of Lake Mendota.

We surround the best
engineering schools,

pharmacy, we're on
the West Campus.

We should be one. Some
days we feel like one,

but sometimes we feel like
we feel very separate.

So it's a strength, but
sometimes it can feel

a disadvantage, the
size. And one, we should

really make it a strength
as we think about this.

So looking back, the
state of the school

is often very much
a look back at

numbers. So this is,
here we go, okay?

As we look, as I mentioned
the data, I'm going to

acknowledge the work of
many people in the cluster.

Understand we're not going
to put names and faces

to all, but recognize
that this is the works of

sometimes hundreds of
people as we highlight this.

I'm going to focus
first on our research

portfolio because it's
been in the news, right?

We've all heard about
all the research pieces.

I can't tell you
how many sleepless

events we've had,
urgent meetings.

Despite it all, we did
pretty good, folks.

In fact, we ended
the year ahead

by our extramural
total funding.

That was very last minute,
but you can see that. And

here's the other point I
want you to pay attention.

Majority of our funds
come from federal funding.

So when the federal
government changes

things, it changes.
We then have to think

about it. I am proud
to see that we're doing

a little bit more on
non-federal funding.

So I think, one, I'd like
us to sort of focus, and I

know Dr. Audhya and his team
would like us to focus more.

Now, this is Blue Ridge
funding. This is based on

last year's data. This
is FY24 data. This year's

data will come in January.
It's a lagging indicator.

This is our ranking.

So we are growing, but
understand. So this tells you

how much we're growing in
terms of total, the CAGR.

But if you look at it,
so are our peers. So if

we were to say our goal
is to be top 15, top

20 in the country, we'd
have to do more, right?

And that means how
do we do what we're

doing but then
accelerate it, right?

That means we work together,

right? We can't do it
by ourselves. So do

we go from RO1s to
bigger grants, right?

So that is things that
we are starting to

discuss. I think this
is one of the ways we

are diversifying into
different mechanisms.

I just highlighted one, the
Nathan Shock Center, which

is a bigger grant that
allows you to scale faster.

But we also have multiple
different, I'm not

going to put the whole
word salad of different

grant mechanisms. For
that, you go to Jon.

But also, I would
encourage us to think about

additional source of
fundings that go beyond NIH

to looking at DOD. So
Dave Schroeder was just

hired in OVCR's office,
and we're looking at

how do we start to
diversify, and partnerships.

Alongside, as I talk
about things, you're going

to see the goals for next
fiscal year. I do think

it's important to set
goals with our leaders.

So this is their goal for
the next year to promote

diversification of the
portfolio. Makes sense,

right? We've seen that
the federal funding may

be fragile, and we need
to start to diversify.

All right, this is
our public health.

I thank Amy Kind and Jon
Temte because they are doing

different portfolios, but
they're working together.

As we look at Wisconsin
Partnership, a unique

program. I just met the
people from MCW today. This

is a unique program and
one we should be proud over

the last year, over $20
million of funding. What

a unique asset for the
school that we have this.

56 grants funding. If
you look at their overall

economic impact, it's
huge. This is points

that leaders need to
know, that we are changing

the state, the city, by
what we do in research.

And last year, they also
had the Orion Initiative.

This is a big funding through
philanthropic, and this

is meant to take and go
into the rural community,

so funding new scholarships
alongside recognizing our

AHECs, how they are working
to create 90 community

health internship programs
placed across Wisconsin,

Wisconsin Idea at Work.
I'm not going to go through

all of these, but you can
see the rich complement.

For next year, I think given

this is our 20
years anniversary,

we have asked them to
see how do we create

a bigger impact in
improving health care.

What is the impact
of exposomes?

How do we do rural care
delivery when it struggles

so much with a fragmented
network? That means

partnership. So they're
starting to address

this, and I look forward
to the ideas that will

come from all of you because
if the ideas come from

me, that's the wrong idea
as a leader. My ideas

come from all of you to
see how do we maximize

the impact we have to
the people in Wisconsin.

Switching over to our education

cluster, led by Dean Liz Petty.

Lots of activity, of
course. If you look, a

lot of interest in our
medical school program.

Over 8,000 applicants.

The class size has been stable,

so huge interest
in our program.

Of course, our students
last year, everyone

matched into a residency,
which is important

to make sure we're
launching them to the next

stage of their life,
into residency training.

It's also good when 95%
of the students do a GQ

survey. It's a survey at
the end of graduation.

95% of the students
felt they got their

value, right? That's
good. We can be proud

of that. And, of course,
you see their rankings,

Tier 2, in both
primary and research.

And switching to our other
allied health program, I

want to give a big shout
-out to Amanda DeVoss and her

team because they just passed
reaccreditation. Amanda is

a brand-new leader. We're
really excited about that.

Alongside, you can
see first graduating

class of MPAs at the
Platteville campus,

and then 33 of our
students pursue dual

degrees, predominantly
in the MPH,

but we have nine
dual-degree programs.

Their goals, of course,
is to optimize the

learning environment.
They just did a mock

LCME, so they're preparing
for the April visit,

which is the big event
for this cluster.

Switching to graduate
studies, led by Laura

Knoll and her team,
They just launched this

new interdisciplinary
biological cohort.

75 students began their
doctoral studies this fall.

This is really exciting to see.

The average number
of papers that our

medical students who
are MD-PhDs finished,

three to four,
that's a big deal.

That's something we
should be proud of.

And then I bet you didn't
know that we are fourth in

the globe, not in the country,
in producing some of the

best scientists in basic
science. It's fourth in the

globe and the only public
entity, fourth in the world.

So again, what I
said, Midwestern

modesty, we need to
know these facts.

And of course, we have
this biotechnology program

that's going, 142 students,
really acknowledge that.

I already mentioned the
faculty led by Art Walaszek,

who took this role
over the past year. We

should have put you as a
new leader, Art, I guess.

Sorry about that.

He is, of course, there
from the beginning. As you

think about recruitment, we
have to start thinking about

it before they arrive
here, making sure the offer

letters, the onboarding is
there. And then, of course, we

start to think about how
to offer resources so they

can be promoted on time.
And then do we recognize and

retain talent, right? So the
spectrum of the entire life

cycle of a faculty is under
that domain. And you can

see the work they're doing.
New Faculty Orientation,

lots of pathways to
promotion given our different

tracks, that thinking
about all of those and

educational scholarship retreat
and then leadership, you

know, learners and education
essentials. So lots

of helping our faculty
thrive in this amazing place.

Those are our best. And
then for Art, his goals,

you can see, of course,
we've heard about Act 15,

instructional workload.
Art's been very much engaged

with the provost and the
rest of it to help make

sure that as we understand
what the guidelines are,

we're working with you
to facilitate that piece.

This is some of the events.
I think those are better.

Pictures are worth a
thousand words. So this is

the faculty investiture
event led by Art Walaszek.

This was with donors and
our faculty, both at the

professor rank and
associate professor, getting

endowed professors often
by grateful fundraising.

And the new faculty
orientation,

which is a combined event
with the university.

And there's Alan and I,
Alan Kaplan, our CEO of the

health system, and I along
with our participants.

So these are critical
that we ensure that people

understand why they are here
and we help them succeed.

All right, this is our
clinical mission led by Dr.

Newcomer, who's our senior
Associate Dean for Clinical

Affairs and also holds the
COO for the health system.

This is by the numbers.
I promise I am not going

to quiz you on those
numbers afterwards, but I

think it just shows how
much our clinical faculty

have already gotten have
increased a lot. What is

great to see is that a
lot of patients need our

services, over 100,000
increased outpatient visits.

I love this.

Something called pajama
time, when our clinicians

have to go on Epic and chart
things, often at night.

That's why then they
leave health care. They're

like, we're done.
That's called burnout.

When you start to see
decrease in charting time,

you know you're doing
something good. 22

minutes, it doesn't sound
like a lot. It is a lot.

That is really great. And
then what we should be

proud of is that the
mortality, this is a number,

it's a ratio of one,
my basic scientist got

it, it's an observed to
expect it. One is median,

that's like a C, anything
below one is good.

You can see mortality,

0.75, that's great.

Length of stay, how
often, those are

all good numbers.
These are national

benchmarks on something
called Vizient.

Again, trying to say that
this is all the things we

do, and these are our faculty
doing this, so we need

to talk about it. Again,
on recognition, we do use

something called U.S. News
in the clinical ratings

also, just like we do in
the school side. And you can

see we're number one in
Wisconsin in clinical care.

And then there's rankings.
We're not going to go through

this, but they're nationally
ranked in eight specialties

and 18 procedures and
conditions, almost all of

the procedures and conditions.
I bet you didn't know

that. So now you can go home
and say, I know this. And

then in pediatrics, we're
also starting to, that program

is growing also, and you
can see the metrics there.

Switching over to clinical
trials, this is what I

call where the science we
do gets to the delivery to

patients is often in
clinical trials. This is

amalgamation of our various
clinical trials, both led by

our informatics leader,
Jomol Mathew, along with the

Cancer Center and the CTI
and ICTR. Multiple entities

working across. This is
the entirety of the data.

We had 1,300 trials that
are in our system today.

880 of them are in
cancer, another close

to 500 in non-cancer,
and you can see the

participants. 25,000
people benefited from

those clinical trials,
25,000 patients.

Those are amazing numbers,
and you can see the spread

of the clinical trials.
Those who are doing

partnering with industry, those
that we are leading, those

are called institutional
trials. Those are our

faculty leading those.
Those are often a matter of

pride for schools and
universities and health system.

Okay, these are some
of the ones, the

coolest ones, like
these are some examples.

Dixon Kaufman led a
phase three trial where

we don't need rejection
drugs. You can just

not take immunosuppression.
What a cool idea.

Jennifer Kwon is doing
a trial on clinobin

novartis for spinal
muscular atrophy treatment,

and these are their
goals, bringing AI into

so we can do more trials
and do them faster.

And then this is our
Office of Social Impact and

Belonging, lead by Shiva
Bidar, and you can see the

amount of work this team
is doing. I just got to

meet them, and they're doing
both training sessions,

coming to the
clinical departments,

communities of practice,

and then also reviewing
our policies to make sure

they're compliant with the
evolving federal climate.

The newest leader I talked
about was philanthropy,

Alli Ingman. Our campaign
total, this is the Wisconsin

Medicine Campaign that
launched for the first time.

It's a combined campaign
with the health system,

launched by Alan Kaplan and
Bob Golden in January 2019.

Their total is $571 million.

Before the campaign, when
we didn't work together,

we would raise about $40
million. Since having a

defined campaign with Wisconsin
Medicine, it's doubled.

So having a brand that's
very unified has helped.

For next year, Alli's looking
at, are we utilizing the

best national practices and
using all of our resources,

but also anticipates 10%
growth. She's already said

that as the campaign ends
in December, she's put a

charge at 608, which is our
area code, to say that she's

going to end the year at
608. I'm not trying to jinx

it, but she's very confident.
Okay, I know I'm going to

come to this. I can't go
away without talking about

Workday. Workday launched in
July 1st. I thank you all.

There is a light at the
end of the tunnel, but it

will take time. Thank
you for being patient. I

know many of you are
frustrated with the delays.

There are some benefits.
Yes, I know we've lost some

of our systems. We will
get there, but be patient.

And alongside, there are
pain points. But eventually,

this is meant for a better
tool for efficiencies.

We are not the first
university, but every

university that goes
through this takes a while.

The first year is rough.
Then the benefits show

because this is we can't
go manual. A lot of our

systems are very manual.
So I thank you at this

point. And, of course,
this work has been led

by Hope Broadus, our Chief
Human Resources Officer,

and Heidi Conrad, our
Chief Financial Officer.

And with that, I'm
going to turn it over to

Heidi to come give you a
little financial update.

Great, thank you.

And we all know that it wasn't

Hope and I who did the work.

It- just so we are clear
about that

Well, it is hard to be
smashed in between

such an exceptional presenter.

Remember, I'm the CFO, so
this is not standing here

and doing public speaking.
Is not my best strength.

But I'm going to look
backward a little bit and

then turn it back to the
dean who's going to refocus

us going forward. So let's
go way back for a minute

and just look at the big
picture because I think it's

always important to start
here. So these are numbers

based on our publicly
available financial reports.

So if you just look at
the big universities of

Wisconsin, so all systems
in across the state,

the fiscal 24
revenues for the full

universities was about
$6.7, almost $7 billion.

The University of
Wisconsin, you can see, made

up almost half of that
at about $3.1 billion.

Then it's not perfect
math, but you can see how

SMPH fits into that at
just about a billion. It's

not perfect apples-to-apples
math, but proportionately

you can see how we fit
into the universities.

As you know, we overlap
with our faculty and all

of our staff that support
the tripartite mission

in education, research,
and clinical care with

our partners at UW
Health. And so you can see

our UW Health partners,
fiscal 24, UW Health revenue

was about $4.9, really
let's say $5 billion.

The important takeaway
from this slide

is that we're all
inextricably linked.

And that's really when
we look at the left side

of this graph or PowerPoint,
you probably heard,

most of you, of the
academic virtuous cycle.

You know, we start with a
strong clinical mission,

and we need the
clinical mission to help

underwrite the innovation
in education and research.

Those two missions
don't support themselves

on their own. So we need
that clinical mission

to grow, to support
our academic endeavors.

When we succeed
in those academic

missions, we get
national recognition.

We start to grow both
regionally, locally, nationally.

we can attract different
faculty and that also helps

interest patients in our
clinical systems right and so

around and around that virtuous
cycle starts to go that

flywheel begins to turn
an important part and an

exciting part of being part
of an academic health system

so to be a medical school
that's linked to our health

system is a strong strength
for us when we evaluate

our financial performance
against a national look

which is on the right hand
side of the screen and we

we can see that our trajectory
looks a lot like the

national trend you see
on that right side where

increasingly medical schools
are across the country are

more and more reliant on
clinical revenues to support

those academic missions
a strong health system in

our case in both partnership
and financial position is

important to our system
and to our program you can

see way up at the top the
green bar excuse me the gray

and the red are those
important and for us very

nationally they benchmark
ours benchmarks very close

to those natural national
benchmarks around our tuition

and our state funding
important sources for us

certainly tuition would not
want to we would not want

to be heavily reliant on
tuition so we stay affordable

for our students. So well
positioned when we look

at our own financial
expenditures. So now let's look

just at SMPH and just what's
reported on the University

of Wisconsin financial
ledgers. So in fiscal 25,

that all missions, so if
you look at all missions

that run are expensed through
UW-Madison we were just

over a billion dollars. On
the right hand side you can

see the trends in those
expenditures how those have

grown no surprise to see
our federal and UW Health

funding growing again very
much in line with what we

saw in that national benchmark
and an important link

to the Dean's previous
remarks about how we look to

diversify this portfolio
so that we continue to grow

but we also protect
ourselves in a different way

from the changing environments
right so we have a

diversified portfolio that's
what I want you to remember

from this and we have an
opportunity to diversify

even more so an exciting
opportunity as we look ahead

let's just talk a little bit
more by the numbers briefly

in each of our missions
so as we all know our

medical student population has
stayed fairly stable because

of our clinical site
constraint and but we can see

that strong growth in our
graduate programs that the

Dean referenced earlier
and then rounded out by our

other health profession
programs over time in our

clinical activity so this
is using a benchmark called

RVUS relative value units
for those of you who haven't

spent much time in the
health industry world that is

a national standard that
tries to make services equal

in a way to say how can we
make it equal for a young

healthy patient visit equal
to a complicated 95 year

old patient with lots of
comorbidities so it's a

system that tries to balance
those out and make things

equal so that you can watch
performance over time and

you can see that our clinical
activity year over year

each of those lines starts
a different year you can

see how we've been growing
on our clinical activity

that recent line the blue
is showing our fiscal 26 is

off to a strong start so
we're up about 11 percent in

the first quarter of this
period and that's both

based on the growth in
faculty and advanced practice

providers that the dean
referenced earlier, and it's

a combination of greater
productivity by each of the

faculty and providers that
are caring for patients.

And last but not least, a
re-version. You saw this in

the Dean's earlier comments.
The growth in our research

portfolio has been really
incredible considering the

dynamic environment that
we're living in these days.

so it's important we
stop and celebrate

it's really been some
terrific work and

then I have to be the CFO
and I have to just get a

little bit real about the
current state not in an

alarmist way but in a really
factual way because this

is super exciting and we're
super glad to be in this

place and we all understand
that growth and academics

and research isn't fully
funded by those extramural

funding sources, that we
have to rely on the whole

to lift the votes. And so
when we step back and we

look at those discretionary
funds we have to help

support all missions, we're
just a little bit out of

balance. And so we're going
to take a look at that.

So when you strip away all
those federal grants or the

funds that come in specifically
for clinical mission

support, those types of things
that need to be dedicated

to the programs and
services for which they were

dedicated, we look at what
the dean essentially has

or the school has to spend
and invest in those things

that aren't funded by those
sources. you can see our

full expenses there are so
the red dots are how much

we have to spend those
discretionary funds that we have

available to us the light
green bar goes to what I'll

call fund our base operations
so that's where our

department budgets in basic
science and clinical science

at centers and institutes
are in there those things

that run through the Dean's
office are in their IT, HR

fiscal all the things that's
the light green bar you

can see that's the map--vast
majority, excuse me of where

we put our our discretionary
funds available to us

a little bit goes into what
I'm going to call reoccurring

commitments that have
been made to support

ongoing efforts so outside of
sort of our normal operating

budgets and then a little
bit goes into some startup

costs and some other things
that we are important

commitments that we make.
Some are one time, but many

continue for multiple
years and so on. So you can

see our red dot in fiscal
25 was lower than the bar.

So just like in your own
household, that meant we had

to go into our savings to
balance the books for the

year. Now, this is not a
sky is falling situation

but you can see that over
time we want that red dot to

be just above the bar and
so that we can put a little

bit into our savings account
so we can do the things

like build a building or
refurbish space or make

a strategic investment in
AI or something like that

that might be really
important to us to continue to

innovate those spaces but
wasn't but we have to have

that savings those funds
available to us to make those

investments so this is a
very small situation and

we will correct it so I want
you to be assured of that

um we aren't here to suggest
across the school budget

cut the five percent cut
we just did was to support

the university our job now
is to solve this through

looking at our own operations
for looking for new

ways to innovate, to diversify
our portfolio, to grow,

to make ourselves more
administratively efficient.

And so I'm going
to turn it back to

the Dean now who's
going to take you

through that forward
focus. Thank you.

Thank you, Heidi.

So looking forward, right,
this was all backward and

we're now in fiscal year
26. Just to remind you, that

started July 1st. It ends
June 30th of next year.

We go by that cycle, as
does the health system.

I would say that overall,
yes, it's been a year

of a lot of change.
Sometimes the change that

comes two or three times
in a week, what that

means is that we need to
have a very clear idea

of where we're going, and
we must work together.

If we don't, we're
going to sort of find

yourself in different
parts of the mission being,

going in different directions.

I also will go back to my
points in the beginning.

That is, I do believe
that we are not unique in

what we're facing.
Everyone else is, we are

better poised than many
of our other systems in

that we're a comprehensive
cancer center. We are

the school for the
universities of Wisconsin.

There is a lot of
demand for our services.

Our research is
going well. There's a

lot of interest in
the medical education.

We then have to see how
do we continue to do what

we're doing but do it
more nimbly. The other

part is research always
has a cross-subsidization.

It's always important to
remember that the more

research you do, the more
cross-subsidy because research

is never fully funded by
what you're paid, so there's

always a cross-subsidy.
Heidi showed that. It

comes usually from the
clinical dollars. And you would

say, why do you do research
then? Well, all of the

cures you see would not
happen if we did not do it.

99% of the drugs that are
in the market come from

medical schools and health
system. So if we didn't do

it, no one else would be
doing it. This is the pact

that was done after World
War II. It is important that

we continue to do that.
Otherwise, we lose the

technological edge which helps
cure cancer, cure diseases.

Okay, so this is
really back to what the

foundational values,
that the path ahead is

in connection with
using the power of where

we sit today. We sit
in a large university.

We are the best campus. We

should be using that advantage.

We have nursing, pharmacy
right next to us.

We have a health system
where you can literally

go across the corridor
and live with that.

And starting in March
of this year, we

started looking at how
can we be together. and

that requires working
with our chancellor.

I also wear a hat as our
vice chancellor of health

affairs and our CEO and
we're working towards

what does it mean to be
collectively together.

This is that virtual
cycle that we are

collectively going to
pursue excellence in all the

missions and elevate
that in prominence. It's

bringing other leaders,
our provost, our

VCFA, our vice chancellor
of financial affairs

into looking at how are we
doing this collectively.

Are there synergies? Are we
capturing those synergies?

Those come in
clinical, those come

in research, those
come in education.

In fact, we just had
our first retreat

ever with the
university, the school,

and the health
system. First retreat.

I did have to tell
Alan Kaplan I had

28 departments. He
thought he had 18.

It is important that we
get to know each other.

This is why you're seeing
clinical mission highlighted.

Just like we celebrate
our students, we

celebrate clinical excellence.
So we learn each other's

vocabulary and highlight
what makes us unique.

That's what differentiates us.

So there's going to be
a lot of work in this.

I am not Pollyannish. I
am optimistic. But I also

know that when there's
change, we must be very clear

on the path we're going
ahead. And this is the

inflection point we're
at today, which means we

really need to know what
are the changes. and start

to address, but also lead
those changes so we are

ahead compared to our peers
who may be struggling.

Mission-aligned
campus budget is

starting in the
next fiscal year.

I know that I've heard
consternation, but it rewards

productivity. We have a lot
of research productivity,

so there's a positive signal.

Evolving federal
landscape, well, I can't

help you with that,
except we need to look

at non-federal
sources of funding and

partnerships, and we're
starting to do that.

The campus budget cuts
were hard, coming as

a new Dean and talking
about the cuts, and

we're going to talk a
little bit about this

as a way to bring the
synergies together.

Trust in science and medicine
is at an all-time low

unless you talk about health
care. Then it skyrockets.

They want our care, so
we should be telling

those stories. That's why
I started with the stories.

And then precisions on
health care, but also

opportunities in precision
medicine. It's easy to

do precision medicine.
It used to be really

hard. Of course, we have
workloads, but I think

it's an opportunity to
acknowledge the work all

of you are doing for our
legislators to understand

that our faculty are
there doing the work.

So when we look about it, these

are some of the
approaches, right?

Partnerships is the
best way, I know,

to create synergies
and strength.

We're going to have, last
year we launched eSpark.

Go see it if you
haven't. It's a beautiful

facility, the largest
facility in the United States.

It has Proton, which
you'll be launching.

We're supporting
that, along with Leo

Cancer Care, which
is doing proton,

which is very highly
fancy radiation.

But typically, we
do it lying down.

This is sitting up,
which for a patient

perspective is huge.
That was developed

right here by Rock
Mackey, right here.

And it's going to be
one of the first in the

country to do it. We're
also doing spaces for

theranostics, which I'm
going to talk a little bit.

Morgridge Hall just opened,
and our biostatistics

and medical informatics
department has moved

there. We should be
absolutely capturing. If

you ask people in AI,
where is the most advantage

they see in health
care? Not in removing

jobs, but as an agent
to do our jobs better.

You just heard about the
new facility, the Cyclotron.

It went to the Board of
Regents. We are investing

in that. Part of it is that
we have an NIH funding,

but we've also created
partnerships with WARF

and the university to
invest in it. The reason

why, some people will
say, why are you investing

it? You have to look
at the future while

you manage the present.
We are the globe's

leader in producing these
radioactive compounds.

If we don't do it, no one else

will do it. So
industry wants that.

And it also creates research
entrepreneurial IP that

I know is happening right
now, and we expect to see

more of that. So that will
take a few years, but it

allows treatment for cancers,
Alzheimer's, neurological

disease that makes it our
patients need that from us.

Since my arrival,
we've done, this is

thanks to our team,
we have done five

partnerships with
major industries.

I think Robin is still getting

all the points announcements.

These are amazing.
I've met some of the

CEOs. They want to
partner with us. They

see the scale of the
graduate students.

I'm mentioning, of course,

the TAE Life Sciences,
the first to bring boron

therapy (boron neutron capture therapy). I just met the
CEO. He was visiting town.

GE Healthcare is a long time.

the biotech hub we became
one of the NIH centers

in the country I think
this is things we perhaps

miss when we are reading
this these are points

of pride for the school
and one we should be

now I do want to mention
the budget cuts when we did

that we did not cut any jobs
the Chairs led this often

times through attrition or
not filling positions so

no RIFs happened, no reduction
in forces, but I also

wanted this to get to know
from you what are the ideas

So as you know,
there was a QR code,

74 suggestions, really good

suggestions from
different 24 units.

I've talked to my
leadership to highlight them

into different categories,
and we're doing a

feasibility matrix, which
ones are low-hanging fruits

with high return. We want
to capture those first.

Things that will move us
forward but are harder to

do, we have to think. Those
are major strategic projects.

And some things that
require a lot of work but

not a lot of return, maybe
we think, pause that for a

while. But the results came
from all sectors, whether

it's UW Health, education,
research, et cetera. So

thank you for those
comments. We read them. We

appreciate them. And our
leaders are looking. I've asked

our Senior Associate Dean
to start to look at those.

Okay, shared goals
for next year.

I do think partnering
with our health system to

tighten that partnership
is absolutely critical. We

are doing what's called
fundsful. We'll talk a little

bit about that, because
as you saw in Heidi's

slide, the subsidy often
comes from health system and

federal funds, unless you are
brilliant in philanthropy,

and I don't know anyone.
And I've been at Johns

Hopkins, where we did do
a lot of philanthropy.

I do think starting to
think about our West Campus

vision for health science
is something we must do.

When I wandered the
streets, it's hard to know

that we are a health
campus, but we are, and we

need to highlight that.
So we're starting those

conversations with the
Chancellor, with Rob Kramer,

and with Alan Kaplan
to see what can we do.

We will be launching a
master strategic plan

for our next five
-year strategy shortly,

and then I do think we
need to start to assess our

state workforce need. Health
care is going to be, there's

a huge deficit, there's a
gap, especially in rural

health care, and how does
precision health come to the

state and beyond. So those
are sort of our big goals.

As part of that,
we are launching

what's called Project Agility.

This is really allowing
us to do our work in

collaboration with those
three partners, university,

the health system, and
us partnering together.

In the middle, you see this

integration and collaboration.

This is really the strategic
and financial pillar

that allows us to be
sustainable for the future.

It's been known as funds
flow. That is going on. The

Chairs have just heard the
backward look. We're now

just rolling up our seat,
saying how should the money

transfer happen so that we
are all sustainable, right?

So that we are sustaining
our departments and units.

Alongside, there's the
strategic front, and

those are happening. The
health system is also

changing its pieces on
recognizing the partnership

at the school. So this
is an important piece.

I'm going to focus
on the right side,

which is the systems
transformation,

eliminate redundancy. So
there's a lot of work that

we're doing as we look at
our centers, our clinical

trials. We have opportunities
to do things behind the

scenes that make us nimbler,
but increase our work.

Pete Conner has been
brought in as part of

that to help John Adi
and his team on looking

at our centers and cores
as a first piece. But

there will be other parts
of it that I imagine

OpenID and others
will be participating.

I am most proud of what
we will do on the left

side. To me, people
are our greatest asset.

and if you don't pay
rent, how can we develop

our talented faculty,
staff, and tradies?

Art is looking, as is hope.
We are talking about what

are the ways we can do so
that our staff, our faculty

have a career ladder and
they stay with us. It is

absolutely we must do this,
whether it's recognition,

whether it's promotion
pathways, et cetera. This is

important work, and you'll
hear more about those things.

I think we can't do
this if I were just to

get up here and do
this. This happens when

we row our boats in
the same direction.

That's a picture of
the women's team at UW rowing.

It's a beautiful view.

And I would say that if we
work together, not only must

we do the Wisconsin ID in
Wisconsin, I'm going to

force you to be beacons of
health care for the nation.

The nation is looking for
people, and Badger Values

is what everybody's looking
for. So I would encourage

us to think about those,
and don't let the current

crisis hold us back from
doing what we must do.

With that, I'm going to turn

it over to our Q&A sessions.

Here's my little
announcement. If

you're in person,
raise your hand.

Microphones, right, Jenny?

If you're online, are they
putting the questions?

Someone's managing the
chat. All right, people are

managing the chat. My only
ask is if you ask a question,

tell me your name and
what unit you're asking.

And then we're going to
close with the Belzer Award.

I'm figuring all the tough

questions are for you, Heidi.

question

from the chat from
Sue Carlson from

Biostatistics and
Medical Informatics

talking about the development
and fundraising the

exciting new leadership
with Alli what's some ideas

or plans coming together
to help the basic sciences

smaller departments develop
effective development

infrastructure and
campaigns yeah I would say

that for the first campaign
we did really well.

But I would argue that
maybe we weren't strategic

around creating a pool that
can be used for maximal

benefit. Currently, we
have 1,400 or 14,000 funds.

So I appreciate the desire
to go into different

departments. It is important.
I have benefited. But we

also must create funds that
are unstructured that can

be used for maximal return
because our basic science

departments do not benefit
from grateful patient

fundraising yet they need
that the most this is

where Alan and I are starting
to talk around can we do

this more strategically
around things where we see

deficits forever whether
it's basic science our

student tuition loans as grad
plus loans are disappearing

can we create those
sources of funds that can

help our people in our
system so I don't have the

answer today but absolutely
the right question to ask

I know you're not this shy I've
talked to many of you all right

go Jerome but go ahead
introduce yourself Jerome

Garrett family medicine
community health actually don't

have a question but I'm
allow y'all to take some time

to think about the next
question but I just want to take

this time to put a plug
for our partners in giving

campaign yes one I want to
just thank all the coordinators

that are you know actively
engaged with all the

departments in this campaign
so I encourage you all in

this room as well online
to again reach out to your

coordinator say how can I get
involved how can I submit my

pet costume contest picture
this weekend and just to

give you a brief update right
now as of today since we

started the campaign on
October 6th we've raised $72

,000 as a school we're at 2
.2% participation rate Our

goal is 250,000 by December 2nd,
as well as the participation

rate of 55.9%. So please,
please, please consider

giving and contributing
towards such a great cause.

More information will be
coming out in the coming weeks,

so please watch out in the
know for those updates.

Thank you. Thank you,
Jerome. Absolutely

important, and I'm going
to say that are we looking

at which department
contributes the most?

Are we looking
at participation?

No competition? All right.

No competition. But I already
did. It's very easy. And

I think giving back to our
community, especially in

these times of need, is
important, even if it's small,

that to give. So
thank you, Jerome, for

leading that for
the school. I really

thank you from the
bottom of my heart.

Question?

Lynn? All right.

Will you introduce
yourself, Dr. Schnapp? Sure.

Lynn Schnapp, Chair of the
Department of Medicine.

My question relates to
your comment about that we

need to tell our stories
better and share that.

I do think one of the
unmet needs, gaps in our

education is how to tell
our stories effectively.

So do you have any
thoughts of how to better

educate our medical
students, our residents,

our faculty on how
to tell our stories?

You've got the
person who's holding

the mic, Robin
Perrin, as absolutely.

But here's what I'm going
to say. When I first

came here, I was struck
by how one of the

hardest people in my
DLT is actually Robin,

because she's also
doing crisis management.

So I've asked her to say,
how can we tell our story?

One of the pieces is that we
must work together to tell

our story and not tell 2,300
stories, because then it's

very confusing. So one of
the first pieces we must

commit to is telling a
story, which is University of

Wisconsin-Madison and SMPH
story as the story and putting

it as big into that umbrella
is critical because the

more acronyms we use the
more confused our public and

our patients and our donors
become and we do have a

lot of acronyms which makes
it hard if you look at the

branding of companies they
are very particular about how

they brand so this is something
that will come I think

both for the health system
and with us that more

brands is not better fewer
brands is actually better and

working on communication
material is one that as soon

as Robin gets over how many
crisis do you handle weekly

I know her team is probably
one of the hardest working

and it's absolutely critical
that we start to create

messaging that's consistent
but it comes from all of

you from the Chairs from
the educators that we have a

shared narrative I spent many
of my life at Johns Hopkins

and I can tell you as an
intern I was told the story

by often another
resident so that that's the

cascade that becomes that we
start to create a repertoire

everyone should know Fred
Mohs story he was a med

student here right when he
described Mohs surgery that is

the way we treat skin cancer
today all over the globe

so again we don't need to
know all the nuances but

having an elevator pitch of the
few factoids you can tell

is critical. We'll get
there. If I may add one point

too. Our content strategy,
our story strategy has two

prongs. One is recognition
and celebration, and that's

when we're talking to an
academic medicine audience.

The other is impact, and
that's when we're talking to

the 97% plus of the
population that is not part of

academic medicine. We really
need to differentiate and

for the impact stories it's
about the good people at

UW so branding up and
making sure that what how we

are framing these stories
from the standpoint of those

who are not in academic
medicine that's very very

important so two different
different approaches well

thank you on that perfect
note I'm gonna move us along

because we do want to enjoy
the reception outside and

get to mingle and celebrate
and with that it's actually

my pleasure to announce
the 2025 Belzer Award

recipient. The Falkert Belzer
Award is the highest honor

we give in the School of
Medicine and Public Health.

Created more than a quarter
century ago, the award

recognizes our most outstanding
leaders who've had a

major impact on our school
and nationally and even

globally in the field of
academic medicine. This award

was named in honor of Dr.
Belzer, the transformative

Chair of the Department of
Surgery and the co-inventor

of the Belzer Solution,
which has revolutionized

the field of organ
transplantation, the UW Solution.

It is my honor to present the

2025 Falkard
Belzer Award to Dr.

Dean Robert Golden,

Emeritus Dean of the
School of Medicine and

Public Health and
Professor of Psychiatry.

Dr. Golden has been our
dean since 2006 until

he stepped away earlier
this year when he assumed

the role following Phil
Farrell's departure.

During his tenure as dean,
the school established the

Wisconsin Academy for Rural
Medicine, called WARM,

the training in urban medicine

and public health,
called TRIUMPH,

as well as significantly
expanded the

Master's of Physician
Assistant Studies

and Master of Public
Health programs.

His tenure also saw a
dramatic increase, as you just

saw, in philanthropic dollars,
new research building,

record-breaking research
funding, and unique programs

advancing underrepresented
groups in medicine.

As we celebrate 20
years as an integrated

school of medicine
in public health,

we must acknowledge our
very own Dr. Golden's

integral role in making this
transformation a success.

Being the first
institution in the country

to infuse the idea of
social, environmental,

economic, and public
policy as we think

about all our missions
in teaching, research,

clinical care, and
community service

was something
ahead of his time.

And he did that very
well. And we would

not be here without
his leadership.

I would say personally,
I had the opportunity

to meet with Dean
Golden several times

as I was deciding to
come here, and I was

struck by his humility,
his ethos of service.

And now I know that he
always walked with a smile,

but the load he was carrying,
because having lived

this for the past five
months, I see a much

happier man who walks a
little bit lighter every day.

You can see that the load
he carried each and every

day during some amazing
hard times like COVID.

Please join me in
congratulating our amazing prior

dean, Dean Golden. here to
accept the Belzer Award.

It's them. They love
you. What can I say?

And it's so well-deserved.
Of course, here's

the award in recognition.
Here's the plaque.

I don't know if someone's
taking a picture,

but here we go, and we
can do that afterwards.

But here we go. We're
going to take it in

the atrium. All right,
I'll hold on to this then,

and Bob, I'll get you
to make a few comments.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you so much

for this wonderful
honor. I think those

of you who know me
know that I much

prefer giving awards
to receiving awards.

But it really is a
pleasure to accept this on

behalf of all the amazing
people who work so hard

together to make this the
first but also forever the

very best School of
Medicine and Public Health.

When I reflect back on
what we have done, what

you have done together
for the last 19 years

or so, So there are
a few accomplishments

that are really special
and meaningful to me.

Nita has already
done a wonderful job

of describing many
of them, but I

want to highlight
just a few briefly.

We really define what it
means to be a school of

medicine and public
health. The name change

happened before I came here,
thanks to the visionary

leadership of Phil Farrell.
But when I interviewed,

I said to Chancellor
Wiley, what does it mean?

He says, I don't know.
You can figure it out.

and we figured it out
together and it's now

spreading throughout
the country in varying

degrees but we will
always be the first and

I think we I know we
will always be the best

also we evolved out
of the all too common

structure of the relationship
between hospitals

are now health systems
in schools, that

were built to create
friction and problems.

And now, starting with the
integration of UW Medical

Foundation into UW Health
and beyond, we are really

an academic health system,
a physician-led health

system that supports not
only the all-important

function of taking care of
patients and populations,

but also really supports
education and research to

a greater degree than
you'll find at other places.

We built a bunch of
nice new buildings,

research towers and
faculty office building,

and because of you, we
outgrew them already.

The day we moved in,
they were already

too small because of
your productivity.

I'm really delighted that
the slide was shown of

our NIH funding. It didn't
go all the way back to

2006, though. In 2006, we
were number 38, I believe,

in the country, and now
we're hovering between

22 and 23. I know with the
current leadership, we're

going to be in the top
10 in a blink of an eye.

I'm also really, really
touched at the way we came

together to create a
diverse, inclusive community,

and it really is a community.

Dr. Ahuja has
mentioned some of the

programs, but it's
really been the people.

And some of the programs
that, you know, weren't

mentioned because of
the interest of time

include the Centennial
Scholars and the Centennial

Clinicians. It includes
BEAM. So we are not only

bringing in the very
best, but we are also

mentoring them and developing
them as a community.

the other thing I have to
add are a couple of personal

notes one of the things
I'm most proud of is that

Shannon and I are parents
of three MD program alumni

and I am so appreciative
of the innovative leaders

and the passionate dedicated
teachers in our medical

school program In the spirit
of giving back, we have

given back. There are now
three new Dr. Goldens that

have joined in the last
couple of years, including

Blair Golden in the Department
of Medicine and Sean

and Adoarda Golden in the
Departments of Radiology.

Our youngest son,
as the teachers here

know, Max and his
fiancée, Natasha,

just graduated in May.

They are now doing
their residencies in St.

Louis, but we refer to
that as the revolving

door that's going
to send them right

back home to Wisconsin
when they are done.

I also have to say on a
personal note that I gained,

not that I was looking
for it, I gained the

perspective of a patient
during the last year. And I am

so grateful to the doctors
and the clinical staff

who did an unbelievable
job of taking care of me.

I'm also very, very
appreciative of the partners and

colleagues who were so
supportive and gave me grace

during the very difficult
period of a year when I was

getting treated and
recovering from the treatment.

And all of the above and
so much more was because of

you, because of what you
did, including all the folks

that were not able to show up
for the coconut cake that's

going to be served in
just a little while. And

especially I want to acknowledge
the really warm place in my

heart to the two leadership
teams that have been so

phenomenal. And that includes
the Chair group and also

the dean's leadership
team. And within the dean's

leadership team, I want to
acknowledge Patty Martin and

Andrea Fabian, who did their
best to keep me on schedule,

a real Herculean task. What
I especially admire about

the Chairs as a group and
the dean's leadership team

is that they have worked
together as true teams, putting

aside partisan perspectives
and really coming together

99% of the time, which is
about the right ratio, to

think about what's best for
the institution and for the

patients and populations
and learners that we serve.

Now, a key to our school's
success is, of course,

the partnership with UW Health.

And I want to
especially shout out the

two wonderful key
partners I enjoyed

working with so much
in that partnership,

Jeff Grossman and Alan Kaplan.

They are both amazing
physician executive leaders.

They are great friends,
and they also share my very

weird sense of humor. At
least they do a good job

of pretending to share
it. laughing at my jokes.

Now of course there's
really one person who has

clearly been the most important
in supporting critiquing

and encouraging me and
that as many of you know is

my former college physics
lab partner Dr. Shannon

Kenney the Wharf professor
of Medicine and Oncology.

So when I received
this incredible

opportunity to come
here in this role.

For me the only way I
could think of doing that

was going all-in which meant
really putting aside my

own personal clinical
and an academic work. I'm

not sure that was the
best decision but you know

what it meant was a side
effect that I underappreciated

of of not being right
there in the front lines,

not really knowing what
it's like to take care

of really sick patients
in an evolving, complex

world of bureaucracy and
pressures, not knowing what

it's like to deal with
the vagaries of the NIH.

And so really, in ways that

might not have been apparent,

Shannon has been the most
incredible advocate for

the doctors and the scientists
and everybody because

she's really been there
on the front line. And

I want to thank her for
being, among other things,

my most trusted and
honest advisor and critic.

So I just have to briefly
close by acknowledging

that we are now experiencing an

unprecedented period
of chaos in our federal

government and
unprecedented divisiveness.

in our country so I'm
going to leave you with

just a few thoughts
about that first we have

faced really scary
deadly challenges before

with covid and we emerged
from that nightmare

with our dreams and our
values intact and with strong

momentum into the future
that has carried us to the

point where we are now and
will be a lesson to keep in

mind. I am absolutely
confident that we're going to

do the same right now. Now,
why am I so confident? Well,

in part, a very large part,
because of Dean Ahuja.

I am absolutely convinced
that with her experience,

her talent, but most
importantly because of the kind

of person that she is that
as we face these scary

turbulent seas she's going
to be the rudder that's going

to steer course to an even
brighter future but to do

that she needs your support
very few people in the

room know what it's like and
what it's going to be like

and we've got the right
leader you've got to be the

crew that really I'm overdoing
this metaphor terribly

you've got to be all rowing
in the right direction

so that with her leadership
we can come out of

this as we came out of
the COVID nightmare so

thank you for this
wonderful honor

and event today
thank you especially

for the past 19
years on Wisconsin. I

can't follow after those words.

We owe so much to this
wonderful man. Congratulations

again to Bob Golden.
Please join me outside so

we can talk to him,
celebrate this amazing event.

Thank you all for
joining me today for our

fall state of the school.
I thank you for the

privilege of running
this place. I would say

I couldn't do it without
all of your help.

and really it's been
just an amazing welcome

despite all of the stuff
that goes it is what

makes this place amazing
it's all of you I

hope you know that
that each and every day

this is what makes us
great and on Wisconsin