Building
the Future

Forces of change are transforming education and health for both individuals and the system--at home here in British Columbia, and around the world. Societal needs, technology, distributed and flexible learning are reshaping how we teach and learn. Researchers in all areas, from cells to policy, are generating new knowledge in response to urgent issues such as aging and chronic illness. New models of partnership and collaboration are forming to ensure our health system is accessible, effective and sustainable.

As British Columbia’s only Faculty of Medicine, we are rising to the challenge of training the next generation of health professionals and researchers in a system that is evolving in real-time. To ensure we meet the demands of today and tomorrow, we must strengthen and integrate our operations and systems to inspire innovation and agility, enabling a person-centred approach to health care that is excellent, equitable, engaged, and effective.

In “Building the Future,” we articulate the commitments, principles, goals and objectives that will propel us forward. The new plan will build upon Faculty successes in training the next generation of health professionals and developing focused areas of research pre-eminence; and it will enable the Faculty, and the University, to deepen and extend our leadership role in shaping British Columbia’s health system and contributing to the knowledge economy of the province.

Our plan is informed by the following imperatives:

• We must build upon our foundational strengths;
• We must sharpen our collective focus for maximum impact;
• We must evolve and sustain our agility given the pace of sector change;
• We must promote and facilitate collaboration across the Faculty and University;
• We must work with our Health Authority partners to create a seamless platform for teaching and research;
• We must remove the system and organization complexities that constrain our mutual success;
• We must secure additional funds for investment in strategic priorities.

This is a time and place of great opportunity, and through collaboration and focused action we can harness synergies in academic and clinical settings across the province in support of our mission: health through knowledge and innovation.

The plan provides a shared purpose and vision that will guide our decisions. Our priorities, based firmly on effective collaboration with our academic and health partners, strive to reflect the impact of transformative trends in health and care, and create an agile and effective organization that uses resources, investment and strategic fundraising efficiently and effectively in the face of fiscal pressures.

There are enormous assets across the University and our provincial ecosystem that our plan seeks to leverage in pursuit of our goals. Through collaboration and focused investment in capability building to support our continued excellence, our plan sharpens our focus on the translation of research into innovative patient care, creating objectives that are fully aligned with the establishment of a provincial Academic Health Sciences Network and the creation of Academic Health Science Centres.

“Building the Future” outlines four transformative goals that will strengthen our capacity to meet today’s challenges, and establish a platform for excellence and innovation for the future:

• Education: teaching, development and mentoring of practitioners and scientists who can work together effectively in an evolving system
• Research: knowledge creation, translation and exchange to gain insight and promote improved outcomes in patient and public health
• Organization: creation of a working environment that inspires innovation, strengthens academic and operational affiliation, and fosters agility
• Partnership: collective system leadership to help shape practices and policies for improved care of the population across the province

The Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia has the unique opportunity to build on our successes to advance interdisciplinary research that generates and applies new knowledge, to spur innovation in socially accountable medical and health professional education, to tailor our programs around societal and system needs, and to facilitate quality improvement through the use of technology, data, and health analytics.

We are committed to working closely with all of our stakeholders, including our Provincial Government, our Health Authority and Academic partners, and our faculty, staff and students whose dedication, knowledge, and contributions account for our collective excellence and success.

Over 400 individuals have participated in working sessions and structured dialogue, with many colleagues from across British Columbia providing substantive input, challenge and support. External stakeholders have demonstrated commitment to the process and to the outcomes, and their contributions have helped us shape the plan to ensure alignment with provincial direction.

Together, we have an unprecedented opportunity to define the future of health and the future of our Faculty.

Since joining UBC’s Faculty of Medicine in 2015 I have been continually excited by the history of excellence in education and research, by the commitment to social accountability best exemplified by a decade of distributed medical education and by the breadth of the partnerships in place for better health. As a Faculty, we are invigorated by the challenges we face collectively in meeting both internal and external demands for transformation, and, ultimately, improved health. Each day across the province our people and partners are making incredible discoveries, forging meaningful relationships, and helping to improve life for our students, our patients, our communities, and our world.

The process of engagement and consultation to explore our aspirations reinforced that our excellence results from the engagement of our staff, faculty, students, and partnerships. It is my belief that “Building the Future,” the Faculty of Medicine’s new Strategic Plan, captures the quality and urgency of the ideas you shared with us, and provides a new point of origin and new destinations for our journey together. We have a strong foundation to build upon and the potential to use our immense intellect, creativity and commitment to overcome obstacles, seize new opportunities, and most importantly create the pathways that deliver the care individuals and our communities deserve.

Dermot Kelleher, MD, FRCP, FRCPI, FMedSci
Dean, Faculty of Medicine
The University of British Columbia