HMS Launches Strategic Plan

The new dean of the Medical School has launched a wide-ranging planning initiative with an eye toward attracting University funds for internal and cross-school projects.

Jeffery S. Flier, who assumed the deanship at the end of last summer, formed four groups in December to investigate biomedical research, social sciences and global health, education, and technology.

Flier said in a recent interview that the committees are slated to deliver interim reports in March, but declined to discuss preliminary findings before then.

“Whatever patterns there are are not really ready for prime time,” he said.

Provost Steven E. Hyman expressed support for the initiative in an interview last week, saying the review was needed to make the Medical School more interdisciplinary and connected to the rest of the University.

“The structure of knowledge is changing,” Hyman said. “Some things are going to remain basically in their current configuration, but many other things need to collaborate and connect.”

Thomas Michel ’77, a professor of medicine who leads the education advisory group, stressed that planning on his committee was “very much a work in progress,” but said the group was considering a broad range of issues—from debt burden to distance learning.

But implementation could ultimately be constrained by finances, Michel added.

“The next challenge will be to take these good ideas and find out which can be implemented,” Michel said.

“Funding is going to be an issue, but that will be the phase beyond the one we’re currently at.”

Flier announced the initiative in October and said last month that he plans to present plans next fall to the Harvard Corporation—the University’s highest governing board—and potentially ask their help in funding specific projects.

Hyman cited the year-old University Science and Engineering Committee, which was chartered with a $50-million budget, as a likely funding source for these projects.

Professor Bruce Spiegelman, who chairs the biomedical research advisory group, said there has not been a review for quite some time.

“I think everybody agrees this is long overdue,” he said.

—Staff writer Clifford M. Marks can be reached at cmarks@fas.harvard.edu.