Newsroom

President Michael R. Williams, outlining his strategic goals for the next five years, called this week for transformative change that will turn UNT Health

Science Center by the year 2020 into a nationally recognized leader in education, research and health care innovation.

By the target date of Sept. 1, 2020, Dr. Williams said he sought for UNTHSC to be recognized as one of the “Great Places to Work” in the U.S., to be a nationally acknowledged leader in interprofessional education and practice and to add two “high-performing” schools or institutes to the five that make up UNTHSC today.

By 2020, Dr. Williams said the University must significantly expand the amount of research grants awarded to its faculty and greatly enlarge the amount of new philanthropic gifts it now receives.

UNTHSC should be recognized on a national level as a “convener of experts,” a place where the best minds in health care gather to share ideas and plan bold initiatives, Dr. Williams said. It should be known far and wide for its cutting-edge research and its leadership. Locally, it must pursue opportunities to be an educational and research partner for hospitals and health systems in Tarrant County.

Change is inevitable, he said, and the best way to manage that change is get out front and lead it.

“My vision is that we be an extraordinary team committed to excellence and unafraid to challenge conventional wisdom,” Dr. Williams said.

He said plans to create an MD school with TCU is the kind of transformational change he seeks. The new MD school, when it begins accepting students in 2018, will represent “a new direction in medical education. We will be in the forefront of new trends.”

Likewise, Dr. Williams heralded the creation of a Patient Safety Institute, thanks to a $4 million appropriation from the Texas Legislature this year. He said it will insure that UNTHSC leads the way in eliminating preventative medical errors that cost 440,000 lives a year in the U.S.

As a first step, the University will host a national conference on the subject on Nov. 6-7. The “Leading Innovation in Patient Safety Summit” will bring nationally recognized experts to campus to discuss the problem and to suggest real and lasting improvements.

By taking such leadership roles and acting on such opportunities, Dr. Williams said he’s confident UNTHSC will expand, in five years, its reputation and influence both regionally and nationally.

“Five years from now, if we are successful, we should be getting significant recognition,” he said.

• Share
• Tweet