University Names Faculty Advisory Committee to Explore Idea of Medical School

Chancellor Kent Syverud and Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost Liz Liddy have appointed 21 faculty members to serve on a new faculty advisory committee tasked with exploring the opportunities and potential challenges associated with creating a small interdisciplinary college of medicine at Syracuse University.

Sean O’Keefe

The idea under consideration involves creation of a medical school dedicated to serving the needs of the nation’s military veterans and their families. The school would train doctors and healthcare professionals to serve at Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals nationwide; advance veteran- and military-related research; and potentially develop pilot projects focusing on veterans’ care for other medical schools to implement.

Should it be deemed feasible, the college would be national in scope and be the first to focus on attracting, educating and placing physicians into VA hospitals and clinics around the country.

The faculty advisory committee is charged with gathering faculty input on how the University’s ongoing and future plans, programs, research, curricula and students themselves could play a role in, and benefit from, a niche-focused college of medicine.

“The Chancellor is considering a very important initiative with considerable opportunities and challenges,” says University Professor Sean O’Keefe, chair of the committee and the Howard G. and S. Louise Phanstiel Chair in Strategic Management and Leadership at the Maxwell School. “The due diligence process he is undertaking will be thorough and must include a wide range of interested communities. Based on my prior public service experiences, I know there is a critical need for medical professionals at veterans’ health care facilities. But I am particularly pleased that the Chancellor seeks input from faculty colleagues prior to reaching a decision on this transformative idea. We will do our best to organize our inputs to help inform his decision on the question of impact on the University from the faculty’s perspective.”

In addition to O’Keefe, members of the Faculty Advisory Committee include:

• Keith Alford, associate professor, social work
• Dessa Bergen-Cico, associate professor, public health and addictions
• Lori Brown, associate professor, architecture
• Thomas Dennison, director, Program in Health Services Management and Policy; director, Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion; associate director, CNY Master of Public Health program at Upstate Medical University
• Robert Doyle, professor, chemistry
• Jeremy Gilbert, professor, biomaterials
• Jeffrey S. Good, assistant professor, communication and rhetorical studies
• James Henderson, professor, biomedical and chemical engineering
• William Horrace, chair, Department of Economics; co-director, Health Research Network
• Arlene Kanter, founder and director, Disability Law and Policy program
• Lisa Manning, professor, physics
• Cristina Marchetti, William R. Kenan Professor of Physics
• Patrick Mather, director, Syracuse Biomaterials Institute; professor, biomedical and chemical engineering
• Alexander McKelvie, associate professor, entrepreneurship; chair, Department of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises
• Robert Murrett, deputy director, Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism; professor of practice, public administration and international affairs
• Karin Ruhlandt, dean, College of Arts and Sciences; Distinguished Professor, chemistry
• Robert Silver, professor, biology
• Radhakrishna Sureshkumar, chair, Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering
• David Van Slyke, professor and chair, public administration and international affairs
• Douglas Wolf, professor, public administration and international affairs

Provost Liddy will serve in an ex-officio capacity.

The committee will take an interdisciplinary approach to its work, exploring how the University’s diverse strengths across schools, colleges, departments and programs could feed into and support such an initiative. It also will evaluate issues relating to the potential impact of such a college that may justify further consideration before the Chancellor makes a decision on the idea.

The committee is tasked with submitting a report of its findings to the Chancellor by early October.