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Toward an Ever Brighter Future
Dr. Ford for University of Miami Medicine Magazine and website

Photograph by Jeffery Salter

Dear Alumni, Colleagues, and Friends of the Miller School Family,

I am thrilled to share some exciting news with you: The Miller School of Medicine has moved up two spots in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools rankings, a total of nine spots since I became dean. We are now No. 43 on the 2023 list for Best Graduate Schools – Medical Schools: Research. We also moved up one place, to No. 6, in the Diversity rankings. These are the highest rankings we have ever recorded. Because of the hard work and dedication of our faculty, staff, students, alumni and supporters, the Miller School is on the right trajectory to become one of the elite U.S. medical schools.

We have so much to be proud of. The diversity of our faculty and medical students increasingly mirrors that of our patient population. We serve a community that represents the future demographics of the U.S. population. Our outstanding clinicians and researchers are well positioned not only to deliver outstanding clinical care, but also to effectively address some of the most vexing challenges facing the medical profession.

The stories in this issue of University of Miami Medicine magazine explain both how and why the Miller School is on its way to becoming one of the nation’s preeminent medical schools. In our cover story, you will learn how advances in precision medicine are making us smarter, how big data initiatives are making us faster, and how together they are helping us expand our role in the future of medicine and its future practitioners. We also present profiles of eight of our many outstanding students and describe the interesting — and very different — journeys that led them to pursue medicine.

This issue also features several success stories as well as ongoing opportunities to help us move closer to our ever brighter future. In the previous issue, I announced the University’s ambitious capital campaign, Ever Brighter, in which we are playing a lead role. For the Miller School, the Ever Brighter campaign entered its public phase this spring, and I am asking you to accompany us on this exciting journey. I hope you will consider partnering with us in strengthening our four pillars of medical education, biomedical research, clinical care and health equity.

Finally, I would like to remember the late Dr. Bernard Fogel, who served as dean of the medical school from 1981 to 1995, and who passed away on March 30. Dr. Fogel had an impressive 14-year tenure as dean during which he laid the foundation for the Miller School’s current trajectory, with a special focus on community service. He continued to serve and inspire the Miller School family after stepping down as dean. You will find a tribute to his many gifts on page 66. We thank him for his contributions and invite the ’Cane family to honor him by emulating his example.

Sincerely,

Henri R. Ford, M.D., M.H.A.
DEAN & CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICER
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine

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Class Acts

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