From Aron’s Desk

Aron with the Student National Medical Association at their Paint and Sip event. The mocktail was delicious, and the painting was fun. Turns out that Aron likes to work with his hands.

Friends,

I will spend my first months at Rosalind Franklin getting to know the place before I start talking too much about ideas and opportunities. That said, there are a few things that we do have to work on before I have walked all the spaces, visited the units, and met many of our community partners:

• As you know, our executive vice president for research (EVPR), Joe DiMario, PhD, is retiring in February after a great career. I am sad that I will not have a chance to work with him longer. We are a busy research campus with great scientists, and I look forward to working with staff, faculty, and students to grow our discovery enterprise. To that end, I plan for us to do a national search for our next EVPR, and over the course of the next few weeks, I will be consulting with members of our community, including Dr. DiMario and our scientists, regarding the construction of the search and the appointment of an interim. We won’t be able to complete a national search before Joe heads out, so I will have to appoint an interim to work with and learn from Joe before he retires.
• The most important moral document of an organization is its budget, and our finance team is working on the high-level shape of the budget now and will move to a much more detailed construction of the actual budget with you all beginning in January. For now, we are trying to understand the scale of our needs and revenues as we achieve a break-even budget. Budgeting is not everyone’s cup of tea, but we need to create a sustainable budget if we want to grow and do things that are fun and extend our impact.

Each day, I find new ways the people of Rosalind Franklin make a difference to the people around us. Last Saturday, my wife, Alice Dreger, PhD, and I attended the Turkey Trot 5K for the Interprofessional Community Clinic. Well, we both attended, but Alice actually ran, while talking to students, because she is in shape and awesome. She will point out I should have at least sauntered the 5K, but in my defense, I visited the Mini Medical School | Parent Hero Academy during the race. My thanks to Melissa Chen, MD for finding a very lost Aron and taking me up to meet some of the students presenting to the 4th-7th grade students and their parents/heroes that morning.

I particularly like the Parent-Hero Academy, because more than anything else in their education, a kid needs an adult who takes them and their brain seriously. That person does not have to be the child’s parent, hence the “hero” part of the program. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, teachers – even neighbors and family friends can be that hero. On Saturday, I met one of the teachers who accompanied the kids in the mini-medical school with his students on a Saturday. That teacher, the parents, and the heroes are our partners in creating health and wellness for kids in the mini-medical school and all of our communities.

Education, health, financial status, and safety are all tied up with each other — one does not last long without the others. It is this social ecosystem that provides our opportunities for education and health starting with wholesome air, water, and food right through institutions like ours. It was great to see our students, staff, and faculty working to support that ecosystem for our neighbors last weekend and through this week. We are not a large university in the realm of the academy, but our people do mighty and mighty important work.

My thanks to all the people – and there were a lot of people – who came to my reception on Monday afternoon. It was such a welcoming experience, and I loved the energy and engagement of the people in the room. I want to thank Jim Carlson, PhD, PA-C, CHSE-A, for his warm introduction and Rhonda Tyriver for setting up and running the event. I really was touched by the enthusiasm and love people have for this university, its students, staff, and faculty. This means all the more to me as I witness the great work you do.

Improving the health of all people with you,

Aron

Aron Sousa, MD
President