February 5, 2009
Ramsey highlights challenges, opportunities for UW Medicine
Steve Butler
News & Community Relations
Dr. Paul Ramsey, CEO of UW Medicine and dean of the UW School of Medicine, described longstanding challenges for academic medicine, as well as new challenges resulting from the deep global recession, in his annual report on Tuesday, Jan. 27. While his tone was cautionary, he emphasized that UW Medicine is prepared to meet current challenges, thanks to the accomplishments, work ethic and service orientation of faculty, staff, students and trainees.
Ramsey attributed our current success to the excellent work of the 23,000-plus members of the UW Medicine community, as well as careful fiscal policies and multiple process improvements. Because of these factors, Ramsey said, UW Medicine is better prepared than some of its peer institutions for current challenges. But no institution, he cautioned, will get through the current economic downturn without substantial changes. Ramsey talked about the need for collaboration and strategic decision-making to enable UW Medicine to make constructive changes to advance its mission of improving health for all people.
As all UW Medicine units model budget cuts to address predicted revenue shortfalls due to the global recession, Ramsey said it is important to focus on sustaining excellence in the core academic activities of teaching, research and patient care. By working together to increase efficiencies, the UW Medicine community can continue to provide service to others and model leadership for the medical profession.
Read more and watch a video replay at www.uwmedicine.org.
