Only a Few Weeks Until We Converge on San Diego!

The 2008 GIA national professional development conference, Collaboration: The Art, Science, and Practice of Teamwork, will take place March 26–29 at the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina, bringing together more than 500 institutional advancement professionals. The conference steering committee has planned a stimulating slate of topical and innovative sessions, master classes, focused discussions, and plenaries. Plenary speakers will include:

• Pat Richie, president of SLG Corporate and an experienced consultant, fundraiser, and team expert, will take the model developed by his strategic partner, Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, and help us understand that, like so many other aspects of life, teamwork comes down to mastering a set of theoretically uncomplicated behaviors often extremely difficult to put into daily practice.
• Leonard Shlain, M.D., is chairman of laparoscopic surgery at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and an associate professor of surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. He has won several literary awards and also holds patents on innovative surgical devices. Join us for lunch as Dr. Shlain discusses his book, The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image, which the New York Times Book Review called "A bold and fascinating investigation of the dark side of literacy."
• Chris Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps Health who has been commended for engineering a $150 million turnaround of this San Diego health care system, will discuss this transformation. Van Gorder will detail how Scripps Health successfully battled adversity within its ranks and transformed its culture, working environment, and bottom line.

In addition to the 60-plus sessions, don’t miss the various networking opportunities, including an opening night reception and dinner on the hotel terrace, Thursday’s Dutch-treat dine-arounds at San Diego’s most popular restaurants, and an early evening reception on Friday at The Prado at Balboa Park.

For the full meeting agenda as well as travel, registration, and hotel information, please visit www.aamc.org/meetings. Hotel deadline is February 26.

Excellent!

The 37th annual GIA Awards for Excellence competition received 140 entries. Review and on-site judging of the entries was conducted at the Moody Gardens Hotel in Galveston in early December. This year’s on-site judges were:

• Michael Hoad, associate vice president for health sciences advancement, University of South Florida
• Gary Snyder, associate vice president for marketing and communication, University of South Carolina
• Gary Mans, director of public relations, University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Mary Havard, associate director of publications, University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine

The electronic and Robert Fenley writing categories were reviewed off-site by the following judges:

• Matt Havard, manager, information design services, University of Texas Medical Branch
• Matt Isch, executive director of development, University of Mississippi
• Kallie Michels, director, public relations, University of Michigan Health System
• Don Clayton, associate vice chancellor, medical public affairs, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
• Nancy Humphrey, senior information officer, news and public affairs, Vanderbilt University
• Chuck Staresinic, senior editor, Pitt Med Magazine, University of Pittsburgh

The colossal task of overseeing the awards and judging process was expertly handled this year by the competition chair Chris Comer, associate vice president for public affairs at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and our GIA vice chair for marketing, public affairs, and public relations, along with her office colleague Candy Galan. Many thanks to Chris, Candy, the judges, and all those who submitted entries!

Winners have been notified and will be recognized at various events during the GIA’s March conference.

Highlights from the AAMC Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., November 2–7, 2007

In his address to the more than 4,000 attendees of the 2007 AAMC annual meeting, AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., urged leaders of the nation’s medical schools and teaching hospitals to change the culture of academic medicine by emphasizing "collaboration, shared accountability, and team performance."

Dr. Kirch’s remarks, "Culture and the Courage to Change," can be read or viewed at http://www.aamc.org/meetings/annual/2007/highlights/president.htm.

The GIA’s plenary sessions included:  “Health Care, Politics, and the American Public“ with a Democratic pollster, a Republican pollster, and a Wall Street Journal bureau chief providing their insights into the 2008 election; a panel of deans and CEOs discussing the role of institutional advancement at their own institutions; and a breakfast with U.S. Representative Jim Cooper who shared his views on Medicare, Medicaid, and undergraduate and graduate medical education.   In addition to the general sessions, a variety of topical issues were addressed in sessions for all five of the group’s institutional advancement tracks.

Thanks to the more than 180 GIA members who joined us in Washington and to all the speakers and moderators. We also owe a great deal of thanks to the current and immediate past steering committee members for their many hours of planning the program, identifying topics, and securing speakers for the meeting.

Mark your calendars now for the 2008 AAMC annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, October 31–November 4!

AAMC Annual Development Survey

The AAMC Annual Development Survey opened on January 18. Now in its ninth year, the survey collects data on fundraising benchmarks, including total private support, alumni giving, development staff functions and compensation, and campaign progress.

As in past years, the survey data and online reports are made available only to survey participants. Make sure that someone from your institution completes the survey. More details are available at www.aamc.org/developmentsurvey. The survey deadline is April 4.

Welcome New Members!

Here are just some of our newest GIA members:

• Marcia Bourdon, assistant vice president, health and human sciences, Florida State University College of Medicine
• Doug Carlson, director of communications, Florida State University College of Medicine
• Tory M. Jennetten, alumni relations manager, University of Illinois College of Medicine-Peoria
• Sarah Paris, communications manager, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
• Stefanie Scoppettone, Ph.D., director of development, University of Nevada School of Medicine
• Michael L. Sondergard, publications coordinator, Joint Office for Marketing and Communications, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
• Jane D. Zimmerman, Ph.D., chief marketing and communications officer, Mount Sinai Medical Center
• Eight members of the development office of Meharry Medical College: Robert S. Poole, senior vice president, institutional advancement; Patrick Johnson, senior associate vice president, institutional advancement; Ruth Johnson, associate vice president, institutional advancement; Bernard Turner, associate vice president, institutional advancement; Linda Witt, associate vice president, institutional advancement; Janet Caldwell, associate vice president, institutional advancement; Robert Stephens, senior development officer; and Walter Owens, senior development officer.

Do you have colleagues who may be interested in joining the GIA? 

Please direct them to www.aamc.org/gia/membership for more information.  Please contact Sandra Dunmore, sdunmore@aamc.org, for updating any GIA membership records.

Need Advice?

Does your boss suddenly question what peer institutions are doing in some area of institutional advancement and you need fast answers?  Are you considering a new initiative but still weighing the pros and cons?  Want to know if someone has had experience with a particular agency or other vendor?  Take the easy road and pose your question on one of the five GIA list-serves. It’s fast and easy.  Just address your question to one of the following email addresses and gather the responses from your helpful GIA colleagues. Listserve e-mail addresses are:

• Alumnitalk@aamcinfo.aamc.org
• Developmenttalk@aamcinfo.aamc.org
• Marketingtalk@aamcinfo.aamc.org
• Publicaffairstalk@aamcinfo.aamc.org
• Publicrelationstalk@aamcinfo.aamc.org

From the AAMC:

Study Reports Gaps in Institutional Conflicts of Interest Policies
The AAMC addresses a new study in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association on the status of institutional conflicts of interest policies at U.S. medical schools. (Feb. 12, 2008)

Bush Budgets Cuts Will Cripple U.S. Teaching Hospitals and Erode Medical Progress
The AAMC voices strong opposition to the Bush administration’s plan to slash Medicare payments to teaching hospitals and freeze funding for the National Institutes of Health. (Feb. 4, 2008)

Reform Is No "Either-Or"
In this Modern Healthcare commentary, AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., provides his perspective on how we can achieve a better U.S. health care system. He argues that the key success factors are reforms in financing that will make health care coverage more affordable and accessible, and reforms in clinical care that will improve quality and effectiveness. (Feb. 8, 2008)

New AAMC Study Examines Challenges and Strategies for Increasing Enrollment 
The report finds that medical school administrators face numerous obstacles throughout their expansion efforts-including a lack of faculty resources, financial resources, and classroom and training space-but shows how careful planning can help overcome these challenges.
(Jan.31, 2008)

The Scientific Basis of Influence and Reciprocity: A Symposium
This AAMC publication presents the findings of a scientific symposium that summarized the latest evidence from neuroscience and the behavioral sciences that addresses the challenges to objectivity presented by gifts, favors, and influence in academic medicine.

Around the Nation:

Med School Gift Still More about 'Impact' Than Cash
The Brown Daily Herald featured a story about the impact on the medical school of Warren Alpert's $100 million naming gift announced a little over a year ago.
(The Brown Daily Herald February 15, 2008)

UM Fundraising Drive Brings in $1.4 Billion
The University of Miami concluded its seven-year fundraising campaign with a record-breaking $1.4 billion in donations; 60 to 70 percent of the donations were made to the medical school.
The Miami Herald, February 8, 2008

Top-Rated Hospitals Continue to Deliver Better Care
A new study reports patients admitted to the top-rated hospitals in the United States have an average 27 percent lower risk of dying than patients admitted to other hospitals in the country.
The Washington Post, January 31, 2008

Just Say No to Drug Reps
Medical schools are now teaching future docs how to resist those pharmaceutical pitches.
Business Week, January 24, 2008

AAMC’s Fulfilling the Promise February 2008 Newsletter
"Fulfilling the Promise" is a special AAMC initiative highlighting the collaboration between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and academic medicine.  The next Capitol Hill briefing for congressional staff will focus on autism and highlight some of the groundbreaking research taking place at medical schools and teaching hospitals to determine what causes autism, and how best to treat it.