To all members of McGill’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences,
Welcome, and welcome back. I hope you all had an opportunity to enjoy time with family and friends during the summer months.
The beginning of my second academic year as VP-Dean provides an opportunity to reflect on the past 12 months, while also considering the themes and priorities that will guide us into the future.
While I have known and collaborated with many members of the Faculty over my career, in the past year I had the opportunity to meet many more, representing the full spectrum of what we do. I have been very impressed in these meetings by the talent, ambition and dedication of our academics, administrative and support staff, students and trainees. These conversations, in the context of a tumultuous year within and beyond the bounds of the University, reinforced for me both the critical importance of our Faculty’s mission and our collective capacity to advance that mission.
Universities are amazing institutions – they embody an open society’s commitment to learning, pursuing new knowledge and the free exchange of ideas. Yet, these functions—vital to the health of our society—cannot be taken for granted. We must work to maintain and strengthen them, as we pursue the more specific mission of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences within our university.
Now, more than ever, the many communities we serve—across the province and around the world—need us to deliver. After seeing the many facets of this Faculty in action over the past year, I am convinced that we have the team and the resolve to achieve our goals.
Our team also includes our alumni. Our graduates’ strong attachment to the Faculty and the University has come through loud and clear in the past year. There is something about being part of a community of learning that keeps you connected throughout your life, and I think that is a remarkable thing.
True to their McGill training, our alumni bring creative ideas and ask good, sometimes challenging, questions. They remain part of the McGill and Faculty community, even decades after they studied here. They want to ensure current and future students have the same opportunities they did: to be well-prepared, even transformed, by their time at McGill. In short, they care. The engagement of our alumni is a much-appreciated, and not-so-secret, ingredient in our continued success.
Working together to set the path forward
With the pressures we face on a daily basis, it is easy to lose sight of our shared purpose to train and support outstanding health professionals and scientists who together lead the discovery, innovation and care needed to improve the health of Quebecers and communities around the world.
It is particularly important in challenging times to make space for reflection, to re-orient ourselves, and to identify where best to focus our efforts. The strategic planning exercise we launched earlier this year provides the opportunity to have these conversations and to refine what it is we are trying to do collectively, to be really clear on our priorities and to identify how we can accomplish them in the most exciting and efficient ways, together.
So far, there is no shortage of ideas. There is plenty of opportunity to make change for the better, to engage more purposefully, to maximize our impact. Already we are training more healthcare professionals than ever before, working with clinical partners and communities in all corners of the province and with the international reach that has long been our calling card. We are developing new research centres and strengthening interdisciplinary teams to address our world’s toughest problems: the health impacts of climate change, access to healthcare, cancer, infectious diseases and neurodegeneration, to name just a few.
New opportunities for a new academic year
The world is constantly changing and presenting new challenges, and, over two centuries, we have consistently met those challenges, opening doors to new opportunities, to advance our mission.
We are once again called upon to do so, and once again will need a good dose of creativity and innovation to succeed. The good news is that the last year has shown me that our Faculty is made up of very creative and innovative people. People who are not easily daunted, who support each other and who care deeply about our mission.
I’m looking forward to working together, towards better health, with you all.
Wishing you a great Fall 2024 semester.
Lesley Fellows, MDCM, DPhil
Vice-President (Health Affairs)
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences