Dean of Medicine

Winter 2012 Message

What does it mean to be a faculty member?

Why am I doing this and why is this my third attempt? Well the second question is easy – I was very dissatisfied with my first two attempts. The first question is not so easy to answer and you will need to keep reading if you want to learn the answer and even then you may be no further ahead than you are now.

I started this exercise because some of you indicated that you weren’t being paid to do such and such a task and therefore wondered why you should do it; others indicated that they were overwhelmed with clinical responsibilities and didn’t have time for teaching and/or research.

There is compelling evidence, however, that most of you are good faculty members and some of you are outstanding faculty members. Consider that at a moment’s notice six hundred of you gave your time and talents to working on a new curriculum and put it in place within one year.  An undertaking of this magnitude is generally accomplished within 3 to 5 years.

In mid-December I met with 15 Med 1 and 2 students. They related the great experiences that they had with faculty members with whom they interacted on a one-on-one basis; such as during a clinical elective. They were surprised that they were treated as colleagues and that each faculty member  ensured that the experience was an optimal one. This often included extra sessions or arranging for the student to come to the operating room.

While each of us could develop a list of the attributes of what it means to be a faculty member, the best way to understand this sometimes abstract concept is to consider the example set by those faculty members we would like to emulate – Drs. Richard Goldbloom, Jock Murray, Allan Purdy, John Rutherford as builders and/or teachers; Drs. David Murphy, John Sullivan, David Bell and David Kirkpatrick as skilled surgeons; Drs. Ford Doolittle, Michael Gray, Gerry Johnston, David Byers, Jana Sawynok as basic scientists; Drs. Don Weaver, Robert Brownstone as clinician scientists; Drs. Karen Mann and Joan Sargent as medical education researchers. The list could go on and I would still leave out many of you who are great role models.

This summer, Drs. Hyndman, Shukla and Gross chaired committees which developed the foundation for the new model of alternative funding plans. Individual accountability is one of the cornerstones of this new model. To achieve this there has to be a job description and metrics by which to determine if one has delivered what has been contracted for. What such an approach cannot capture is vision, inspiration and leadership. We know it when we see it but it is difficult to define it – I guess I am back where I started – what does it really mean to be a faculty member?  A fully engaged faculty member is one who is an enthusiastic, committed role model, one who truly does live up to the Dalhousie motto “ inspiring minds” and someone who does leave this corner of the world better than he or she found it.

Thomas J. Marrie M.D.
Dean, Faculty of Medicine
Dalhousie University