Issue 49 - June 14, 2016
Making the Rounds with Founding Dean Dr. Barbara Atkinson

NSHE Regent James Dean Leavitt, JD
Friends and Colleagues,    

Last week I attended the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Board of Regents' meeting in Reno where three significant items were approved for the medical school. Each of these items will help us to accomplish our vision to create a c enter of excellence and innovation for medical education, patient care, and research.
 
Permanent location for medical school: The Regents approved an agreement with Clark County that provides a permanent location for the medical school at 625 Shadow Lane. Once the agreement is approved by the Clark County Commissioners on June 21, nine acres for the site will transfer to UNLV School of Medicine. UNLV in return agreed to a 10-year agreement with University Medical Center to build the region's first Academic Health Center. 
 
New Autism Center: The Regents also gave us approval to open our first patient care center -- the UNLV Ackerman Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment Solutions. The Center will open in July in partnership with the Grant a Gift Autism Foundation. The new center will provide a full-service medical home for diagnosis and treatment of children with autism and other n eurodevelopmental diseases. We are thrilled to work with our community leaders to launch this amazing comprehensive patient care facility.
 
Medical school branding: The Health Science Systems Committee chaired by Regent James Dean Leavitt, JD, and vice chair Regent Mark Doubrava, MD, have played a crucial role in the founding of the medical school and who continue to help us achieve success, discussed branding for the state's two medical schools. 
 
The University of Nevada School of Medicine (UNSOM) presented its brand research to identify a new name for the medical school as it moves its entire educational and clinical operations to Reno. The research unveiled its new brand as the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine.  
 
Following the Regents' vote to change UNSOM's name, I presented the UNLV School of Medicine's marketing strategy as it relates to branding. Our consultant recommended a branding architecture for the school that identified our "nominal master brand" as UNLV, our "formal academic brand" as UNLV School of Medicine, and our "trade brand" as UNLV Medicine. We're going to use "UNLV Medicine" for our clinical practice, student recruitment, and communications, such as social media. UNLV Medicine works especially well for our clinical practice because we're going to offer a wide-range of services, including fully-integrated care with other specialties, nursing, physical therapy, dental medicine, public health, social services, etc. 
 
Dr. Atkinson's license plate
We're working hard to ensure UNLV School of Medicine exudes excellence and innovation - two of our six core values -- for guiding our curriculum, clinical programs and practices, and research. We want to produce the very best physicians and provide the very best care to our community through our clinical practices. 
   
Best wishes,
 
Barbara
Community Advisory Board Spotlight
 
Meet Dianne Mazzu, MD, a board certified radiologist with Desert Radiology. Dr. Mazzu obtained her medical degree from the University of Nevada School of Medicine, graduating Alpha Omega Alpha. She completed her Radiology Residency at Stanford University, including fellowships in both Body and Women's Imaging. Dr. Mazzu returned home to practice at Desert Radiology and is the current Chief of the Department of Radiology for the University Medical Center. 

Dr. Mazzu is thrilled about the forthcoming medical school. "Development of this state-of-the-art medical school will wholly support the enhancement of health care in our area. With the addition of vital medical education and residency programs to our city, we have the opportunity to educate, produce and keep highly trained physicians who are dedicated to practicing in southern Nevada," said Dr. Mazzu.
Community-based nonprofit, Together We Can, runs the Vegas Roots Community Garden, which grows food and teaches health, gardening, and nutrition classes to southern Nevadans. (Courtesy Vegas Roots)
UNLV School of Medicine: The Community and the Curriculum
By Ed Ort

Connecting with the community will be an important part of our medical school's curriculum. Dr. Ellen Cosgrove, vice dean of academic affairs says, "Health care is not just about the body, it's also about the social, economic, physical, and cultural environment of the person. We want our students to understand that when they see a patient to take these factors into consideration." Read more.
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