Transforming Well-Being Through Collaboration and Innovation
Because health, medicine, and humanity shape every aspect of our lives, advancements in this area have the potential to profoundly improve the human experience. Advancements in health and medicine uplift individuals, strengthen our communities, and enrich society as a whole by preventing disease, guiding compassionate policy, and fostering innovations that transform the way we treat disease and care for one another. When guided by humanity, these efforts not only heal bodies but also nurture dignity, equity, and hope—creating a healthier, brighter future for all.
Building off of the 2023 WFU Strategic Framework, a new university-wide Health, Medicine & Humanity initiative will leverage the university’s unique interdisciplinary expertise to create an ambitious vision for how health, medicine, and humanity will contribute to a better future by creating meaningful collaborations between scientists, clinicians, scholars across all disciplines, and the communities whose lives may be influenced by their discoveries.
The goal of the Strategic Framework Visioning process is to define that ambitious vision.
Led by the Provost’s Office, this initiative will shape a vision for the future of this discipline at Wake Forest, ensuring that the University becomes a globally recognized leader in this field and defining the aspirational goals that will make a real, positive and sustainable difference for our students, faculty, and local and global communities for years to come. The process consists of three key phases described below.
Wake Forest’s Health, Medicine & Humanity initiative aims to leverage the University’s interdisciplinary strengths to contribute to a better future by creating meaningful collaborations between scientists, clinicians, scholars across all disciplines and develop innovative solutions to improve well-being, policy and technology.
This visioning process seeks to define a bold and specific vision for Wake Forest’s role in health, medicine and humanity over the next 10-20 years, ultimately leading to a white paper that outlines short-term and long-term strategic goals and milestones and metrics for implementation.
A leadership task force is developing a comprehensive framework to define Wake Forest’s aspirations and unique contributions to the field.
The task force has been working to:
- Assess Wake Forest’s current strengths in health, medicine, and humanity.
- Identify opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration across disciplines university-wide.
- Articulate the principles that could define a long-term vision that positions Wake Forest as a hub for pioneering work in health, medicine, and humanity that creates a better future for all.
The University community will have the opportunity to engage in discussions, dream about the future, and help define the strategic vision.
In the next phase, the University community will help us to define the vision. A facilitated session will provide an overview of the goals, followed by activities designed to encourage aspirational thinking. This session will help participants envision bold, cross-disciplinary opportunities to advance a shared university-wide initiative. Most important, participants will then provide ideas and input to a series of questions that will serve as the basis for Phase 3.
The task force will compile the information from phase 2 to draft a whitepaper articulating our vision, identifying broad areas of focus, setting short- and long-term goals (with milestones and assessment for accountability), and detailing a plan for pursuing funding, partnerships, and academic growth.
- Kim McAllister, Ph.D. (Vice Provost for Research, Scholarly Inquiry, and Creative Activity; Professor of Biology, WFU and Professor of Translational Neuroscience, WFUSM)
- Nadine Barrett, Ph.D., M.S., M.P.H. (Professor, Social Sciences and Health Policy, Public Health Sciences, WFUSM)
- Mollie Rose Canzona, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Communication, WFU and Social Sciences and Health Policy, WFUSM)
- Jennifer Claggett, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Management Information Systems and AT&T Faculty Fellow, School of Business, WFU)
- Christine Coughlin, J.D. (Professor of Law, School of Law, WFU)
- Isabel Farrell, Ph.D. (Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Counseling, WFU)
- Kristie Foley, Ph.D., MS (Professor, Implementation Science, Public Health Sciences)
- Cristina Furdui, Ph.D. (Vice Dean for Basic and Pre-Clinical Science, Professor of Molecular Medicine, Internal Medicine and Biochemistry and Cancer Biology; Co-director of the Center for Redox Biology and Medicine and T32 Training Program in Redox Biology and Medicine)
- Cal Garrett, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor of Sociology, WFU)
- Christina Hugenschmidt, Ph.D. (Rebecca E. Shaw Professor and Director Memory Counseling Program, Associate Professor of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, WFUSM)
- Ana Iltis, Ph.D. (Professor of Philosophy and Carlson Professor of University Studies; Director of the Center for Bioethics, Health and Society; Director of the Interdisciplinary Minor in Bioethics, Humanities and Medicine, WFU)
- Alana James, M.A. (Director of Wake Downtown)
- Dany Kim-Shapiro, Ph.D. (Professor of Physics and Harbert Family Distinguished Chair for Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship; Director, Translational Science Center)
- Aimee Mepham, M.F.A. (Associate Director of the Humanities Institute)
- Shannon Mihalko, Ph.D. (Professor of Health and Exercise Science, WFU and Professor of Social Sciences and Health Policy within the Division of Public Health Sciences, WFUSM)
- Scott Rhodes, Ph.D. (Professor and Chair of Social Science and Health Policy; Director of the Program in Community Engagement in the WF CTSI; WFUSM)
- Stacey Smallwood, Ph.D. (Visiting Associate Professor of Religion and Public Health; Executive Director of the Faith COMPASS Center, School of Divinity, WFU)
- John Tomlinson, Ph.D. (Associate Teaching Professor of Chemistry; Director of Health Professions, WFU)
- Lynnel Wagenknecht, Dr. PH. (Professor of Public Health Sciences; Associate Director of the WF CTSA program, WFUSM; Director of the Program in Community Engagement within the WF CTSI, WFUSM)
- David Winwood, Ph.D. RTTP (Vice President, Technology Transfer and Commercialization, Wake Forest Innovations, WFUSM)
Get Involved
There are multiple ways to participate in this important process.
In-person events: All faculty are encouraged to attend this facilitated session:
- Monday, October 6, 3:00-5:00 pm in ZSR 403
Office hours: If you are not available on Monday, Oct. 6, and want to discuss any aspect of the process or provide 1:1 input on the vision (in person or via Zoom), Vice Provost Kim McAllister will host office hours on:
- Wednesday, Oct. 8, 9:00 am-12:00 pm and 1:00-4:00 pm in Reynolda Hall 304
- Friday, Oct. 10, 9:00 am-12:00 pm and 1:00-4:00 pm in Reynolda Hall 204 (Provost’s Conference Room)
Faculty are welcome to stop by anytime during office hours. If you’d like to schedule time for a 1:1 Zoom session, please email Jen Haggas (haggasji@wfu.edu).
Online Survey: Link to provide input will be posted on October 14.
Our aspirational vision will be stronger if everyone participates. Please come dream with us!