Planning Phase
Stakeholder engagement was a critical driver in successfully developing the strategic plan. The process was overseen by a steering committee, an operations committee, and seven work groups. The larger college-wide community was also an important stakeholder group that contributed to the strategic plan. Community forums were held twice (May and September 2019) to bring together stakeholders from all campuses to reflect on the results of the strategic planning process and provide valuable feedback that directed the work groups and committees in their work to develop the final plan.
The steering committee consisted of senior-level leaders (10 individuals) who were charged with recommending a final strategic plan to executive leadership. They oversaw the vision and direction of the strategic planning process and confirmed and endorsed strategic recommendations and initiatives in collaboration with UI Hospital & Clinics and other partners and university leaders. This committee met approximately every six to eight weeks in 2019.
The operations committee (24 individuals) provided continuous review of findings and ensured the strategic planning process kept the tripartite mission in balance. They were also responsible for reviewing analytics and findings, drawing conclusions, and making recommendations. They helped identify strategic areas of inquiry for the work groups and coordinated the planning process with existing strategic initiatives. To further pare down the identified strategies, the committee members engaged in a detailed prioritization process to determine the impact each goal would have on the broader college of medicine. The committee was ultimately responsible for recommending the adoption of the final strategy and goals to the steering committee. This committee met approximately every four to six weeks in 2019.
Each work group consisted of a small group of faculty, staff, and students best positioned to “work through” an identified focus area and to brainstorm an initial set of goals. The work groups then developed these goals into a proposed set of strategies, along with the specific tactics to achieve these strategies and the potential metrics to monitor them. During the entire process, the work groups assimilated data and gathered input from community forums and other stakeholders to inform their output.
Work Groups
*Denotes work group chair
To provide feedback to specific work groups, please contact the chairs of the respective work groups.
| Beth Wrona Murphy* | Senior Director of Special Projects |
| Tom Wyatt | Director of Marketing |
| Leila Amiri, PhD | Director of Admissions |
| William Walden, PhD | Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs |
| Jeff Jacobson MD | Professor of Medicine |
| Sara Rusch, MD | Meenakshy Aiyer, MD | Regional Dean, Peoria | Associate Dean for Academic Affairs |
| Pauline Maki, PhD | Sr. Director of Research, Center for Research on Women and Gender |
| Carrie Hermanson | Director of Marketing, Public Relations & Business Development, Rockford |
| Raymond Curry, MD* | Senior Associate Dean for Educational Affairs |
| Olga Garcia-Bedoya, MD | Associate Professor of Medicine |
| Meenakshy Aiyer, MD | Associate Dean for Academic Affairs |
| Alex Auseon, DO | Associate Professor of Medicine |
| Mitchell King, MD | Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Rockford |
| Kelvin Wynn, MD | Thomas and Ellen Foster Endowed Chair, Peoria |
| Henry Dove, MD | Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education |
| Bellur Prabhakar, PhD* | Associate Dean, Technological Innovation & Training |
| Ron Gaba, MD | Associate Professor of Radiology |
| Marcelo Bento Soares, PhD | Senior Associate Dean for Research; Professor and CBP Department Head, Peoria |
| Jan Kitajewski, PhD | Head, Department of Physiology & Biophysics |
| Richard Minshall, PhD | Professor of Medicine, Anesthesiology and Pharmacology |
| Lea Smucker | Dir. of Admin. Operations, Anatomy and Cell Biology |
| Martha Daviglus, MD, PhD | Professor of Medicine, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research |
| Gail Prins, PhD | Professor of Urology and Physiology; Director, University Andrology Laboratory |
| Geri Donenberg, PhD | Professor of Medicine and Psychology, Director, Center for Dissemination and Implementation Sci., Dir., Healthy Youths Program |
| Ramaswamy Kalyanasundaram, PhD | Professor & Head, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford |
| Jalees Rehman, MD | Director of Research, Division of Cardiology, Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology and Bioengineering |
| Subhash C. Pandey, PhD | Professor & Director, Alcohol Research Center, Department of Psychiatry |
| Peyton Bohnsack, PhD | Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychiatry |
| James Hopkins | Graduate Student, Ocular Virology Lab |
| Kathleen Kashima, PhD* | Senior Associate Dean of Students |
| Michele Marsicalco, MD | Assistant Vice Chancellor, Health Sciences Student Affairs, Chicago |
| Julie Mann | Director, Program Administration, MSTP, Chicago |
| Gloria Elam, MD | Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion, Chicago |
| Terri Blevins, EdD | Assistant Dean, Student Affairs & Academic Progress, Rockford |
| Tim Bruce, PhD | Professor and Associate Chair, Psychiatry Clerkship Director, Peoria |
| Trevonne Thompson, MD | Assistant Dean of Residency Preparedness, Chicago |
| Mrinalini Rao, PhD | Professor, Department of Physiology & Biophysics |
| Olivia Lanser | M3 student, Chicago |
| Saagar Palumapati | M2 student, Rockford |
| Alex Tang | M3 student, Peoria |
| Carlos Dostal | MD/PhD student, Urbana/td> |
| Tara McCray | PhD student, Chicago |
| Joshua Ames | PhD student, Chicago |
| Jenny Baker | Research Associate |
| Charles Ray, MD, PhD | Head, Department of Radiology |
| Patricia Finn, MD | Associate Dean for College Strategic Initiatives |
| Rhea Begeman, RN | Director of Administration, Emergency Medicine |
| Marci Fanti | Director of Human Resources |
| Barry Wenig, MD, PhD | Professor and Director of the Head & Neck Cancer Surgery Center |
| Gillian Coombs | Director, Office of Faculty Affairs |
| Daniela Nita | Director of Administrative Operations, Cardiology, Chicago |
| Janet Jokela, MD | Regional Dean, Urbana |
| Sara Smith, MD | Asst. Professor, Clinical Medicine, Chicago |
| Michael Fischer, MD | Assoc. Professor, Medicine, Chicago |
| Meenakshy Aiyer, MD | Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Peoria |
| Carol Schuster, MD | Assistant Dean of Operations, Rockford/td> |
| Lisa Marie Stigger | Executive Assistant to the Chair and Vice Chair of Medicine |
| Brett Ruiz | Director of HR, Rockford |
| Patrick Tranmer, MD* | Executive Director of Medical Service Plan |
| Frank Goldberg, PhD | Chief Business Officer of Medical Services Plan |
| Heather Prendergast, MD | Associate Head for Academic Affairs |
| Lisa Lenz | President, Wolcott, Wood and Taylor, Inc. |
| George Kondos | Professor and Vice Head of Medicine |
| Travis Romagnoli | Director of Administrative Ops., Dept. of Surgery |
| Anand Kumar, MD | Department Head, Psychiatry |
| Rhea Begeman, RN | Director of Administration, Emergency Medicine |
| James Bui, MD | Associate Professor of Radiology, Chief of Vascular and Interventional Radiology |
| Rachel Caskey, MD | Chief of the Division of Academic Internal Medicine |
| Mary Lou Schmidt, MD | Professor of Pediatrics, Division Chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology |
| Todd Van Neck* | Associate Dean for Administration |
| Kunal Vora | Director, Administrative Operations |
| Alex Stagnaro-Green, MD, MHPE, MHA | Regional Dean, Rockford |
| Eric Dubrowski | Executive Director for Fiscal Affairs, Peoria |
| Ben Van Voorhees, MD | Department Head, Pediatrics |
| Angela Tyner, PhD | Professor, Dept of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics |
| Eliot Rapoport | Rising M2 student based in Peoria |
Community Forums
Engaging the community was an important element of the strategic planning process. Over 100 stakeholders were interviewed to provide input to the current and future state of UI COM. Furthermore, during the first community forum in May 2019, stakeholders across the Chicago, Peoria, Urbana, and Rockford campuses were presented with the initial findings of the SWOT, the peer analysis, and work groups outputs. The aim of this first forum was to have the community provide feedback to the work groups and challenge the results by offering specific questions for the work groups to tackle. Over 400 individuals participated in this community forum that spanned two weeks and included six town hall meetings and 19 breakout sessions. In September 2019, the each of the regional campuses again invited all students and employees to come together to review and vet the preliminary strategies.
September Community Forum Presentation
