To the many alumni I have met since arriving in January, thank you for a warm welcome to the Wake Forest University School of Medicine family! I have truly enjoyed meeting so many of you, whether at our festive MD Alumni Weekend ’23 in May or at events for alumni from all our school’s programs. I am moved by your pride and loyalty to our school, and I am overwhelmed by the true sense of community into which you have welcomed me. I deeply appreciate your involvement and support as I join our community and as we continue to extend the impact of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, training the next generation of medical professionals and furthering the impact of our groundbreaking research.
Through this Catalyst alumni magazine, we want to keep you informed about the school’s priorities and actions to improve health, elevate hope and advance healing — for all. In this edition, we will update you as to how we are elevating health equity as a priority for our school and our academic learning health system, and we want to tell you about a new fundraising campaign that will amplify the already incredible capabilities of our research.
Health inequities are among the most vexing problems we face in medicine, costing not only significant hardship to our patients and our communities, but also affecting our well-being as a nation. As a leading medical school, we are poised to meet this challenge. We will do this by ensuring all our educational and research programs help all individuals achieve their full potential for health and well-being, regardless of their backgrounds or circumstances.
In research, we are launching our ENVISION campaign, a campaign that will focus our efforts toward building our science programs further to solve the most pressing health challenges we face as a society. As we focus these efforts to extend our excellence, I am confident we will make great strides to improve health, accelerate discovery, and advance hope and healing.
I look forward to meeting even more of you in the coming months and to working with you as we embark on this next exciting chapter for the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
L. Ebony Boulware, MD, MPH
Dean, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Chief Science Officer and Vice Chief Academic Officer, Advocate Heath