Announcement: New five-year Strategic Plan launched today

Today, Schulich Medicine & Dentistry released its new five-year strategic plan. The Plan brims equally with optimism and goals focused on five priority directions.

It is the result of one of the most comprehensive planning and consultative processes ever undertaken at the School. Fifty virtual focus groups and interviews were conducted with 400 faculty, staff, learners, alumni, community and national thought leaders. A survey engaging another 500 individuals capped off 12 months of planning.  

The feedback, thoughtful ideas and candid insights offered throughout helped to uncover a new mission, vision, and set of values. 

It also helped to crystalize the five strategic priorities: Educational Excellence; Research Impact; Social Accountability; People; and Partnerships. stratplan-infographic

These priorities set the stage for an ambitious mandate; one that the School’s leadership hopes will propel the School to the forefront of health education, research and innovation for generations to come.

“This is a bold plan,” said Dr. John Yoo, Dean. “And one that I see will position us to be among the world’s leading medical and dental schools.”

Yoo is grateful to Dr. Chris Watling for his dedicated leadership during the past year to bring the plan to fruition. He is also very appreciative of the Strategic Planning Committee that is comprised of faculty, staff and learners from across the School’s diverse programs.

“Their contributions made an important difference in our work. And they will continue to provide support and advice as we activate the Plan,” Yoo said. 

“We can only achieve the success to which we all aspire if we work the plan and are disciplined in our decision-making moving forward,” he added.

To that end, Yoo has initiated a process with the Strategic Planning Committee to identify metrics associated with the Plan goals and committed to a regular reporting mechanism to keep the School community informed.

He believes that a transparent process that is candid about progress will make a difference with the Plan.

Now that the School has a solid plan in place, the hard work begins to realize the goals. And the School’s leadership is looking forward to full engagement across all teams to achieve success.

An important first step will be sharing the details of the plan with as many faculty, staff and learners as possible. Information is available online and Yoo is hosting several town halls with members of the School in October. Staff and faculty can also expect to be receiving materials about the Plan in the coming weeks.

Individuals can learn more about the Plan online and access additional supplementary materials.