2020–21 ANNUAL REPORT
uthsc.edu
Table of Contents Facing a Pandemic, Looking to the Future................................................... 2 The Numbers............................................................................................................. 4 Standing Strong in a Global Pandemic........................................................... 6 Academics.................................................................................................................. 8 Clinical Care.............................................................................................................. 12 Research.....................................................................................................................16 Community Service...............................................................................................20 Diversity and Inclusion......................................................................................... 22 Student Spotlight..................................................................................................24 UTHSC Advisory Board....................................................................................... 27 OUR LEADERSHIP
COLLEGE DEANS
Chancellor Steve J. Schwab, MD
Dentistry James C. Ragain, DDS, MS, PhD, FICD, FACD
Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operations Officer Kennard Brown, JD, MPA, PhD, FACHE Senior Vice Chancellor for Finance & Administration/Chief Financial Officer Anthony A. Ferrara, CPA, MAS
Graduate Health Sciences Donald Thomason, PhD Health Professions Stephen E. Alway, PhD, FACSM
Interim Vice Chancellor Academic, Faculty and Student Affairs Cynthia Russell, PhD, RN
Medicine Robert Kaplan Executive Dean/ Vice Chancellor Clinical Affairs Scott E. Strome, MD
Vice Chancellor, Research Steven R. Goodman, PhD
Dean – Knoxville Paul Hauptman, MD
Vice Chancellor, Development and Alumni Affairs Love Collins, III, MBA
Dean – Chattanooga Bruce Shack, MD
Chief Information Officer Dan Harder, MPM Associate Vice Chancellor, Human Resources Chandra Alston, EdD, SPHR, SHRM-SCP Assistant Vice Chancellor, Equity and Diversity/Chief Diversity Officer Michael Alston, EdD Assistant Vice Chancellor, Communications and Marketing Sally Badoud, MBA
Dean – Nashville Greg James, MD Nursing Wendy Likes, PhD, DNSc, APRN-BC Pharmacy Marie Chisholm-Burns, PharmD, MPH, FCCP, FASHP, FAST
CREDITS Content Peggy Reisser Design Adam Gaines Photography Natalie Brewer
All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment and admissions without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, or covered veteran status. Eligibility and other terms and conditions of employment benefits at The University of Tennessee are governed by laws and regulations of the State of Tennessee, and this non-discrimination statement is intended to be consistent with those laws and regulations. In accordance with the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, The University of Tennessee affirmatively states that it does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, or disability in its education programs and activities, and this policy extends to employment by the University. Inquiries and charges of violation of Title VI (race, color, national origin), Title IX (sex), Section 504 (disability), ADA (disability), Age Discrimination in Employment Act (age), sexual orientation, or veteran status should be directed to the Office of Equity and Diversity (OED), 920 Madison Avenue, Suite 825, Memphis, Tennessee 38163, telephone 901.448.7382 (V/TTY available). Requests for accommodation of a disability should be directed to the ADA Coordinator at the Office of Equity and Diversity. E070101001(004-210484)
FACING A PANDEMIC,
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
The Year of the Pandemic, 2020, was challenging for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, the state, the nation, and the world. However, UTHSC has stood strong in the face of the pandemic and the upheaval it brought. Chancellor Steve J, Schwab, MD, reported in his State of the University Address that the university has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic “in a lean, but strong fashion,” even as faculty, staff, and students were forced to drastically change the way they learn, work, communicate, and live. We are proud of how the university has adapted and even progressed. UTHSC has maintained its budget; graduated all students, residents, and fellows on schedule; and expanded its mission. As the state’s public, academic health care institution, UTHSC stepped up as a leader in Tennessee’s COVID-19 response, with testing, clinical treatment, support for the 2
development of therapeutics, and vaccine research and delivery. Additionally, the university has been a trusted source of information and guidance to the public. At the same time, UTHSC has kept its eye on the future. Early this year, the university completed one of its largest construction projects with the $70 million renovation of the Historic Quadrangle at the heart of the Memphis campus. UTHSC has also embarked on the construction of the new Delta Dental of Tennessee College of Dentistry Building in Memphis, which will expand the college’s academic and clinical space and raise its profile in the region and beyond. Faculty, staff, students, and alumni have demonstrated solidarity, resilience, and resolve in this time of crisis, and are emerging strong to face whatever the future holds. In this annual report, we are proud to spotlight their work, their struggles, and their accomplishments.
MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is to improve the health and well-being of Tennesseans and the global community by fostering integrated, collaborative, and inclusive education, research, scientific discovery, clinical care, and public service.
(MOST-RECENT ECONOMIC IMPACT STATEMENT)
$4 BILLION Contributed to Tennessee Economy
6
HEALTH CARE COLLEGES
Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy
32,000 Number of Jobs Statewide Supported by UTHSC and its Affiliated Organizations
4
FULL CLINICAL CAMPUSES
27 TO 1
Factor by which UTHSC Exceeds State Appropriations for University Operation
1
MISSION
Transform Health Care
Memphis, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville 3
By The Numbers (Latest figures available)
$309 MILLION
$306 MILLION
$308 MILLION
$100.9 MILLION
SPONSORED PROGRAM EXPENDITURES (ALL-SOURCE NONCLINICAL GRANTS AND PROGRAMS) THE LARGEST IN THE UT SYSTEM
STATE APPROPRIATIONS AND TUITION
4
CLINICAL REVENUE FROM PARTNER PRACTICE PLANS
RESEARCH GRANT AWARDS
3,293
1,048
3,188
95.4%
1,496
95%
EMPLOYEES (STATEWIDE)
ENROLLMENT (2,964 GRADUATE LEVEL, 224 UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL)
RESIDENTS, FELLOWS, POSTDOCS
DEGREES AWARDED
GRADUATION RATE (96% GRADUATE LEVEL, 95% UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL)
FIRST-ATTEMPT BOARD PASS RATE 5
STANDING STRONG
IN A GLOBAL PANDEMIC For more than a year, UTHSC’s faculty, staff, and students have exemplified courage, fortitude, and selfless leadership in caring for the public during the pandemic. Our faculty and students rushed into the battle early on, setting up and staffing one of the first and largest coronavirus testing sites in Memphis. Across all colleges and campuses, they have provided care to those with the virus, worked tirelessly
researching COVID-19 therapeutics and supporting vaccine development, and been persistent in offering accurate and timely information to the public about the virus. In these worst of times, the university has fulfilled its mission “to improve the health and well-being of Tennesseans.” Led by this mission, UTHSC stands ready to meet the challenges ahead.
UTHSC STEPS UP •F ebruary 27, 2020: Convened the first press conference in Memphis to reassure the public that steps were being taken to combat the advancing coronavirus. •F eb. 28, 2020: Launched uthsc.edu/coronavirus, a onestop resource for the public with the latest information about the virus and links to national, state, and local organizations monitoring its spread. The site is available in Spanish at: uthsc.edu/coronavirus-es/. •M arch 20, 2020: Opened one of the city’s first and largest public, drive-through testing sites for COVID-19 at Tiger Lane at the Mid-South Fairgrounds in collaboration with the Shelby County Health Department and the City of Memphis. •M arch 26, 2020: Established a lab on campus to analyze COVID-19 test samples to speed up diagnoses in the community, one of only a few at academic institutions across the country. •A pril 2020–September 2020: Convened several virtual coronavirus community forums to help the public understand and cope with the virus. •M ay 8, 2020: Provided hundreds of cases of handsanitizer manufactured in the UTHSC Plough Center for Sterile Drug Delivery Solutions to the university’s core teaching hospitals and the Shelby County Health Department. •M ay 19, 2020: Leaders from the UTHSC College of Medicine and the College of Nursing are tapped to manage a state-owned alternate-care COVID-19 hospital in Memphis if opened.
•S eptember 2020: UTHSC and Regional One Health partnered on two late-stage clinical trials evaluating Regeneron’s REGN-COV2, an investigational twoantibody cocktail for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19. •O ctober 2020: UTHSC and Regional One Health launch one of a handful of post-COVID-19 clinics in the country for individuals suffering from residual symptoms of the virus. •O ctober 2020: Researchers at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, working with colleagues at the University of New Mexico, identified three drugs, already approved for other uses in humans, as possible therapeutics for COVID-19. •D ecember 14, 2020: UTHSC hosted the director of the CDC for a virtual conversation about the coronavirus and public health response. •D ecember 19, 2020: Following the state’s guidelines and priorities, UTHSC began administering vaccinations on the Memphis campus to residents, students on hospital rotations, campus first responders, and faculty who provide inpatient services. •J anuary 2021: Students and faculty join the community vaccination force in Shelby County at several sites. •F ebruary 2021: UTHSC, University Clinical Health, and the City of Memphis assume direction of the area’s vaccination distribution effort. •A pril 2021: The UTHSC vaccination workforce of students and faculty support and assist at the federal mass vaccination site in Memphis.
The coronavirus work continues across the state with testing, clinical care, research, and vaccination support. 6
4,924 HOURS
UTHSC student volunteers in direct vaccination roles
3,978 HOURS
UTHSC student volunteers in vaccination support roles
7,932
Student volunteer hours for COVID19 Testing (Tiger Lane), March 2020-July 2020
48
Number of students staffing Tiger Lane site daily, including nights and weekends.
~200
Approximate number of tests per day at Tiger Lane at full capacity
68,918 VIEWS
(39,433 visitors) to uthsc.edu/coronavirus
$2.7 MILLION
FY 21 COVID-19-related expenses for UTHSC
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ACADEMICS
The pandemic forced a major shift in academics at all levels at UTHSC. Pre-clinical education quickly moved to distance learning, while clinical training continued to be hands-on with strict COVID protocols of social distancing, masking, and PPE. The Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Simulation on the Memphis campus continued to operate with longer hours to accommodate fewer students per training, small-group sessions met in person, but classroom instruction became digital. This new hybrid model of education has proven successful. Even as the campus moves to in-person for the fall 2021 semester, digital options will continue in many cases. “The fact of the matter is, we’ll never go back,” Chancellor Schwab said. “We will be less dense on campus, and I think the face of preclinical education has changed forever.”
3,188
TOTAL ENROLLMENT (2,964 GRADUATE LEVEL, 224 UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL)
1,048
DEGREES AWARDED
95.4%
GRADUATION RATE (96% GRADUATE LEVEL, 95% UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL)
95%
FIRST-ATTEMPT BOARD PASS RATE
#20
UTHSC COLLEGE OF PHARMACY RANK IN U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT AMONG COLLEGES OF PHARMACY
#26
UTHSC COLLEGE OF NURSING RANK IN U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT AMONG DOCTOR OF NURSING PROGRAMS IN THE COUNTRY 9
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS •H osted a successful virtual site-accreditation visit from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) with only one recommendation out of 74 standards. A full 10-year accreditation is expected. •G raduated all students and residents on time. Virtual commencement ceremonies were held across the colleges. • I mproved first-time board pass rates across the colleges to 95%. •R etrofitted learning spaces with COVID-19 protection equipment. •T he College of Medicine instituted a 3-year accelerated curriculum for primary care students in order to increase the ranks of primary care physicians in the state and address a critical health care need. •T he College of Nursing graduated the first class of its 12-month accelerated BSN curriculum with a 100% first-attempt board pass rate. • 1 00% of students in the College of Pharmacy have scholarships, thanks to support from the Feurt Endowment fund •H eld overall tuition steady and reduced tuition for out-of-state students in some programs to increase enrollment. • The College of Pharmacy began offering a new Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences degree option for all qualifying students after they successfully complete three semesters of the PharmD curriculum.
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•T he College of Nursing opened a Doctor of Nursing Practice Nurse-Midwifery (DNP NMW) option – the only such program at a public university in Tennessee. •U THSC’s College of Graduate Health Sciences with the UT Graduate School of Medicine in Knoxville began offering a Master of Dental Science degree program in Forensic Dentistry. •T he UTHSC College of Medicine Chattanooga received continued accreditation as a sponsor of Chattanooga GME programs from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) with commendation for meeting all institutional and program requirements with no institutional citations for more than a decade. The Chattanooga campus provided GME training for 192 residents and fellows for 2020 with a total of 20 programs. •T he Teaching Excellence Institute enrolled 67 faculty members in one or more of four programs in the new TLC Medallion Program designed to help faculty members master skills in specific areas related to teaching and learning. •T he Office of Student Academic Support Services and Inclusion conducted 3,594 education, coaching, and counseling appointments as it worked to meet student needs. •T he College of Health Professions started a new elective course to medical students in the clinical practice of telemedicine. • 100% of Medical Students Passed Step 1 of their boards.
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CLINICAL CARE
Even as clinical care in 2020 centered around COVID-19, UTHSC continued to expand its clinical reach, adding new partners, new programs, new faculty, and diversifying its clinical footprint across Tennessee to mirror its educational footprint. The university’s pediatric partner teaching hospital, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, again ranked as one of the nation’s Top Children’s Hospitals. The university is increasing its clinical training capabilities with partner hospital agreements that are dynamic and changing to meet the needs of both the hospitals and the university. UTHSC is expanding relationships with West Tennessee Healthcare; Regional One Health, Baptist Memorial Health Care, and the Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Memphis; Ascension Saint Thomas in Nashville; Erlanger Health System in Chattanooga; and UT Medical Center in Knoxville. UTHSC truly spans the state with clinical care and teaching sites.
ESTABLISHED CORE TEACHING HOSPITAL PARTNERS • Memphis VA Medical Center
$306 MILLION CLINICAL REVENUE FROM PARTNER PRACTICE PLANS
1,496
RESIDENTS AND FELLOWS
6
CORE TEACHING HOSPITALS
• Regional One Health • Methodist University Hospital • Ascension Saint Thomas, Nashville • Erlanger Health System, Chattanooga • University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville
UTHSC AFFILIATED PRACTICES (Year Founded) •U T Medical Group (UTMG) (1974-2016), transitioned to University Clinical Health • UT Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists (2011) • UT-West-Methodist Cancer Group (2012-2019) • UT Methodist Physicians (2013-2021) transitioning • UT Regional One Physicians (2014) • University Clinical Health (UTMG successor) (2016) • UT Methodist Pathology (2018) • Erlanger (EMG-UT) (2019) • University Surgical Associates (Chattanooga) (2019) • West Tennessee UT Medicine (Jackson) (2019) •U T Methodist Teaching Physicians (UTMP successor) (2021, in progress) • UTMC-UT Affiliated Practices (2021, in progress) 13
ACHIEVEMENTS IN CLINICAL CARE •T he College of Medicine formed the UTHSC Cancer Program, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary initiative consisting of a group of university faculty clinicians in all cancer-related specialties to provide cancer care across multiple university-affiliated hospital systems and clinical practice groups in the region. •T he College of Dentistry is working to expand its multiple clinical teaching sites across the state that supply necessary care for the underserved. •T he Department of Family Medicine in Jackson gained a new chair, Gregg Mitchell, MD, who will direct care in that area of the state. •J on McCullers, MD, senior associate dean for Clinical Affairs, chief operating officer for the College of Medicine, and pediatrician-in-chief at Le Bonheur, was appointed to the Shelby County Board of Health. •T he University of Tennessee Health Science Center signed a memorandum of understanding with a major teaching hospital in the capital city of Zambia to create an academic, clinical, and research partnership as part of its new Center for Multicultural and Global Health.
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•T erri H. Finkel, MD, PhD, a nationally known pediatric rheumatologist and immunologist, joined UTHSC, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in leadership roles. •R onald Cowan, MD, PhD, was named Harrison Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry. •T he Department of Anesthesiology at the UTHSC Graduate School of Medicine in Knoxville garnered approval for a new Pain Management Fellowship from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The first fellow has been identified and will start in July 2021. •M ore than 200 students were involved in required clerkship and elective rotations on the UTHSC College of Medicine Chattanooga Campus, despite the challenges of the pandemic.
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RESEARCH
Much of UTHSC’s research effort over the last year turned toward COVID-19. The UTHSC Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, one of only a dozen in the country equipped to work with Biosafety Level 3 pathogens, played a major role in sequencing the virus, analyzing test results from the campus and community, and working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to identify possible therapeutics to treat the virus. Across the colleges and campuses, faculty and students researched the virus from all angles, including its effects on the underserved, its impact on families, and its residual effects on survivors. At the same time, basic science and clinical research across disciplines and diseases accelerated.
$100.9 MILLION TOTAL GROSS RESEARCH AWARDS (AN INCREASE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR, AND RESEARCH AWARDS ARE CONTINUING TO GO UP DRAMATICALLY)
>$28 MILLION
TOTAL EXTERNAL DOLLARS GENERATED FROM THE COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH NETWORK (CORNET)-FUNDED WORK (A MILESTONE)
22
NUMBER OF TRIALS, INCLUDING COVID-19 TRIALS, CONTRACTED THROUGH THE CLINICAL TRIALS NETWORK OF TENNESSEE (CTN2) IN FIRST 2.5 YEARS OF OPERATION WORTH NEARLY $7 MILLION
>200
CLINICAL TRIAL OPPORTUNITIES BROUGHT TO UTHSC INVESTIGATORS BY CTN2
#16
THE COLLEGE OF PHARMACY’S RANK IN ANNUAL RESEARCH FUNDING FROM THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
17
RECENT MAJOR GRANT AWARDS $3.3 MILLION From the National Institutes of Health to researchers in the College of Pharmacy to study drug-resistance mechanisms of a fungal pathogen responsible for fatal lung infections. Jarrod R. Fortwendel, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science, and P. David Rogers, PharmD, PhD, professor and director of Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science in the College of Pharmacy, are the principal investigators.
$3 MILLION From the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to Adebowale Adebiyi, PhD, professor of Physiology in the College of Medicine, to investigate newborn kidney functions and their alterations in acute and long-term disease. He also received $1.8 million from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to study how ion channels in nerve endings that impinge on blood vessels regulate blood flow and their roles in vascular and kidney dysfunctions caused by oxidative stress.
$2.4 MILLION
From the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to Alex Dopico, MD, PhD, professor and Van Vleet Chair of Excellence in the Department of Pharmacology, Addiction Science, and Toxicology, and Anna Bukiya, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Addiction Science, and Toxicology, to explore how cholesterol interacts with the mechanisms that modulate blood vessel function in the brain.
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$2.1 MILLION From the National Cancer Institute to Liza Makowski, PhD, a professor in the Department of MedicineHematology-Oncology, and Joseph F. Pierre, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of PediatricsObesity at UTHSC, for a five-year study to examine the immune system and triple negative breast cancer.
$1.52 MILLION From the National Institutes of Health to Salvatore Mancarella, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Physiology, to support his investigations into the molecular-level causes of cardiac muscle deterioration.
$1 MILLION From the U.S. Department of Education to faculty members in the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology at UTHSC and the Education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, that will allow graduate students to receive advanced, evidencebased training to improve language and early literacy outcomes for young children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
Charisse Madlock-Brown, PhD, MLS, a faculty member in Health Informatics and Information Management at UTHSC, is the co-lead for one of the clinical domain teams of the National COVID Cohort Collaborative that is working to turn data from medical records from coronavirus patients into treatments and predictive analytical tools to help address the evolving pandemic.
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center entered into an agreement with the Regeneron Genetics Center, a subsidiary of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., for the company to sequence DNA that has been voluntarily provided and stored as part of a biorepository initiative UTHSC is building in collaboration with its partner teaching hospitals.
Eleven projects involving researchers from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center were among 25 awarded One UT Collaboration and Innovation Grants.
The College of Nursing and West Tennessee Healthcare are collaborating on a study to better understand access to health care since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic for older, rural patients living with heart failure. 19
COMMUNITY SERVICE
One could view the university’s COVID-19 response as the ultimate act of community service. However, along with its pandemic response, UTHSC has supported the community in many ways over the last year. While large-scale community events were not possible, smaller efforts and virtual events allowed the university to meet its mission to serve.
24,375
$4,373
Number of service hours UTHSC volunteered during calendar year 2020
Amount raised by students and faculty of the Department of Occupational Therapy for the Rachel Kay Stevens Therapy Center through its fourth-annual Art Show and Auction held virtually in October. The center is the only student-run, pro bono, pediatric occupational therapy clinic in the Mid-South.
$19,534 Amount raised during the UTHSC 2020 Campus Food Drive. All proceeds benefited the Campus Cupboard that provides nutritious food and food preparation education to members of the UTHSC community, who may find it difficult to access balanced meals for themselves and their families. The College of Medicine Office of Community Health Engagement launched the Frayser Community Garden, located at The Links at Davy Crockett Golf Course in the Frayser community in Shelby County. The university, government, and community effort aims to provide residents with access to locally grown and nutritional foods to support healthy physical, mental, and nutritional lifestyles.
$7,750 Donations raised by the campus community for the UTHSC Relative Caregiver Program for its annual Winter Holiday Giveaway for the children and teens who are part of the program. The Relative Caregiver program supports youth who are being raised by relatives because their parents are unable to do so. UTHSC joined more than a dozen other community partners to sponsor The Unity Walk Against Gun Violence to bring awareness to the alarming rate of crime, especially gun crimes, in the Memphis community.
$3,739 Raised by The Women’s Resource Group at UTHSC for Dress for Success Memphis through its Virtual Power Walk in July. The UTHSC College of Pharmacy chapter of the Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) made face coverings to help underserved communities in Tennessee during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Office of Student Affairs and Community Engagement also partnered with the Department of Occupational Therapy Project PrOTect Mask Makers to meet a challenge of providing 1,000 masks to local health care providers and volunteers.
122 Number of students enrolled in the certificate in the Social Determinants of Health program, part of UTHSC’s Quality Enhancement Plan Community Engaged Care.
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DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Continuing the Conversation •T he work by students and across the colleges and the university did not stop with the protest. UTHSC students launched “Uncomfortable Conversations” a summer-long anti-racism discussion series. •T he UT College of Medicine Gold Humanism Honor Society Chapter led by the Assistant Dean for Well-Being and Medical Student Education Mukta Panda, MD, was nationally recognized for its hard work and initiatives including the “Uncomfortable Conversations” project.
Several hundred students, physicians, health care and hospital workers, and community supporters gathered at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center at noon on June 5 for a display of solidarity themed “White Coats for Black Lives.” The demonstration was organized by UTHSC medical students and residents and the Bluff City Medical Society and included participants from across the colleges at UTHSC. It began with the crowd kneeling silently for 8 minutes and 46 seconds to commemorate the time George Floyd was pinned down by police and unable to breathe before he died on Memorial Day in Minneapolis. “Today, you have begun the fight toward the biggest health pandemic of our lifetime, which is racism,” said Keith Norman, vice president of Government Affairs for Baptist Memorial Health Care. “Racism is a public health crisis. Give yourself a hand for being a part of the solution.” LaTonya Washington, MD, MBA, CPE, FAAP, FACP, FHM, president of the Bluff City Medical Society said, she was encouraged to see the diversity of the crowd. “This is the beginning,” she added. “Our work has just begun. So, this is a call to action. If you see injustices, please stand up, say something, and call it out. There is no way we can overcome this alone.” People are looking for change, said Elizabeth Clayton, a second-year medical student. “We have to break down institutional racism that exists through prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behaviors in our justice system, health care system, educational system, and all forms of media,” she said. “This does not stop at this protest. We must continue to examine our own hearts and minds. We must continue to hold each other accountable and continue to have uncomfortable conversations, if we’re to create new systems that benefit everyone.”
•A team of faculty members from the College of Health Professions was awarded a One UT Collaboration and Innovation Grant for Project TRIUMPH, or Tennessee Recruitment to Increase Underrepresented Minorities into Professions of Health. The project aims to create a mentoring program that will serve as a pipeline to increase admissions of students from underrepresented minorities from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, into the Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech-Language Pathology programs at UTHSC. •T he Office of Equity and Diversity held its inaugural Social Justice Awards recognizing UTHSC students, residents, and fellows, whose actions demonstrate the importance of social justice activism and equity and diversity, while positively impacting UTHSC and the community. •C oHP faculty member Stephanie Lancaster is serving as vice chair of the Coalition of Occupational Therapy Advocates for Diversity (COTAD), a national non-profit organization focused on addressing issues of systemic racism and health care inequity within the field of occupational therapy. •T he Health Justice Collective (HJC), a new group formed of faculty, staff, and students seeking to amplify the message of health equity, social justice, and unbiased health care. •T he Office of Equity and Diversity announced its newest grant awardees of the 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Mini-Grant Program. Overall, $20,000 was awarded. •T he Diversity Certificate Program at UTHSC graduated 24 faculty and staff members in its latest cohort. The program, which began in 2017, is led by the Office of Equity and Diversity. •V arious colleges announced the appointment of diversity and inclusion officers or boards.
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WE ARE PROUD OF OUR STUDENTS The students at UTHSC are the best reflection of our mission. They are not only learners, they are doers. In 2020, they showed they can pivot quickly from classrooms to Zoom, and continue to grow, learn, and serve in a time of uncertainty. They have shown bravery and grace under extreme pressure.
Sonali Demla
Amber Gordon, RN
Sonali Demla is a student in the College of Dentistry, Student Government Association Executive Council president, and UTHSC Advisory Board student member.
Amber Gordon, RN, is a registered nurse and a student in the UTHSC Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program in the College of Nursing. At the start of the pandemic, she spent 21 straight days of 12-hour shifts serving as a nurse in one of the hospitals that was hardest-hit by COVID-19 – Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, New York.
“ As third-year dentistry students, we have been given the green light to begin seeing our own patients. Getting to experience that has been amazing. There have been lots of changes in the clinic and changes in dentistry (during the pandemic), and if something like this were to happen again in the future, we are trained on ways that we could potentially tackle the issue.”
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“ I just knew that I wanted to help in any way that I could. I don’t think anybody really grasped the kind of experience they were going to get. This is what keeps you motivated and going. If you can change one life, that makes a big difference.”
David Watson
Austin O’Connor
David Watson is a first-year student in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program in the College of Health Professions.
Austin O’Connor is a member of the Class of 2021 in the College of Medicine and was among the students who helped organize and staff the COVID-19 testing site at Tiger Lane early in the pandemic.
“ As far as who I am today, I’m still pursuing not just academic goals, but character goals. In my terms, it’s pursuing maturity and faith. Physical therapy brings my interests and my goals together into that.”
“ On March 17 (2020), all medical students were pulled from our clinical rotations across the country to help decrease the spread of COVID. Many of us were looking for other ways to get involved and help our community during this time. When I was called about helping to organize UTHSC’s COVID testing site, I was eager to get involved. I viewed this opportunity as a great way to put my training to good use during this time and a great opportunity to give back to the Memphis community.”
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WE ARE PROUD OF OUR STUDENTS
Chidi Zachaeus
Darren “DJ” Barrow
Chidi Zachaeus is a fourth-year PhD student in the College of Graduate Health Sciences.
Darren “DJ” Barrow is a fourth-year student in the College of Pharmacy, and executive chairman and former president of the college’s Student National Pharmaceutical Association. He served as a volunteer in the COVID-19 vaccination distribution effort.
“I love solving problems. Scientific research provides me an opportunity to understand the intricacies of the human body and how cells communicate with each other. My favorite part of it comes from moments when I am challenged, or I challenge myself to become a better critical thinker.”
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“Getting this experience and being able to volunteer helps me be a resource for others. I talk to the patients about it, I can talk to my family about it, and I can talk to others who may not understand what the vaccine is, what it does, and how it works.”
UTHSC ADVISORY BOARD Philip Wenk, DDS, president and CEO of Delta Dental of Tennessee, was elected by a unanimous roll call vote for a second two-year term as chair in late 2020. Dr. Wenk, who is a UTHSC College of Dentistry alumnus, said he considers it “an extreme honor” to serve on the board and was thankful to be considered for a second term as chair. Created under the UT FOCUS Act passed by the General Assembly in 2018, the board includes public members, one faculty member, and one student member. The members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the General Assembly. The UTHSC Advisory Board held its first meeting in early 2019.
Gubernatorial Appointments
Philip Wenk, DDS, chair
The Honorable Mark Norris
Natalie Tate, PharmD, MBA
Faculty Senate Elected
Student Representative
Terrance Cooper, PhD
Sonali Demla (UTHSC College of Dentistry)
Michael Ugwueke, PhD
Secretary
Anthony A. Ferrara, CPA, MAS
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BUILDING THE FUTURE A nearly $70 million testament to the university’s bright future became a reality in early 2021. The renovation of the Historic Quadrangle, the original center of campus, was completed after three years of construction. Restoring the quadrangle and four of the buildings that comprise it provides not only much-needed office, classroom, and research space, but anchors the inner-city campus in a way not seen in decades. The renovation includes a new administration building in the Mooney Building, a new home for the College of Nursing in the Crowe Building, and 68,000 square feet of state-of-the-art wet lab research space in the Nash and Nash Annex Buildings.
Mooney Building
“The revitalization of the Historic Quadrangle is of major significance to the Health Science Center campus for many reasons, the most noteworthy being this is where it all started,” said Ken Brown, JD, MPA, PhD, FACHE, executive vice chancellor and chief operations officer, who led the project from conception to completion. “This is the original footprint of where the University of Tennessee College of Medicine started over 100 years ago, the footprint that now serves as the nucleus to a thriving academic medical center comprised of nationally ranked programs. This has been a project that has been in the planning stages for the better part of the last 15 years and seeing it materialize the way it has was well worth the wait.”
• 82 offices
28
• 3 floors plus basement • 30 offices • Formal gathering space for campus events • Campus boardroom • Chancellor and Executive Vice Chancellor’s offices
Crowe Building • Home to College of Nursing • College of Nursing Board Conference Room • Student lounge • Quiet room
The Nash and Nash Annex Buildings • 68,000 square feet of lab space
Under Construction
$45 MILLION
Delta Dental of Tennessee Building that will wrap the existing Dunn Dental Building and bring new classroom, clinical, and research space to the College of Dentistry. It will add 60,000 square feet for education and clinical care, including a special needs dental clinic.
10-ACRE PUBLIC-PRIVATE HOUSING VENTURE
on the western edge of campus
Completed Campus Improvements
$39.7 MILLION
Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Simulation
$25.2 MILLION Cancer Research Building
$20 MILLION
Renovation and equipping of the Plough Center for Sterile Drug Delivery Solutions
$49 MILLION
Translational Science Research Building
Possible Future Construction
$250 MILLION College of Medicine Building
>$150 MILLION
Women’s and Infants Pavilion (Joint venture with Regional One Health)
Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Memphis, TN Permit No. 4026
Communications and Marketing 875 Monroe Avenue Memphis, TN 38163
Show Your UTHSC Pride New UTHSC specialty license plates are now available at Tennessee County Clerk offices.
uthsc.edu/license-plate
