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Showing posts from November, 2013

Giving Thanks


I am writing to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving and to thank you for your dedication to our collective mission of advancing health and creating knowledge through research across MedStar Health.

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays.  Growing up, I remember my home being filled to the brim every year with family and friends.  We would sit at (what felt like) the longest table in the world with more dishes than you can count. 

But besides the food and the friends, it has been a favorite because it gives us a chance to reflect on the year and the fortunes in our life. There is no time that this becomes more important than now, as we deal with the daily challenges of change and the increasing demands of healthcare reform.

For me, I feel particularly fortunate. I have a wonderful family. I work with great people who are smart, dedicate, stimulating and collaborative. I get to be part of a number of great teams made up of investigators, clinicians and administrators. As an effective team, we do meaningful work that will literally change the lives of future patients.  And, on top of all this, I get to be part of a healthcare system that is evolving to not just survive, but to lead in the ever changing healthcare environment. 

None of this could be possible without you.  Thank you for your commitment to research at MedStar, commitment to our patients, commitment to each other and to your commitment to the future health of our community.

Best wishes for a very healthy, happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday season!   

Neil







Visit to Feinstein

Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Just like MHRI, they are the research home for a large healthcare system (the North Shore Long - Island Jewish health care system in the New York area). 

It was great to meet with their leadership and compare and contrast. They have many similarities to us. They serve 16 hospitals and over 400 sites. In addition to clinical research, they also have substantial translational research located on the North Shore campus (see picture to the right). Yesterday we had a stimulating conversation about  collaborative potentials for research at  large healthcare systems that pride themselves on linking academics and real-world healthcare.

Where Sports Medicine Research and Oncology Research Collide



By: guest blogger Becky Montalvo, executive director, Oncology Research


Andy Lincoln, ScD, MS, (left) director of the MedStar Sports Medicine Research Center at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital, recently attended one of our Oncology Research staff meetings at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.


Our staff has had an interest in learning more about the other kinds of research taking place throughout MedStar, and have incorporated staff meeting guests as part of a continuing education Action Plan.   They were specifically interested to have Andy come in to discuss his niche area of sports medicine research.


While the meeting was low key, what Andy taught our staff about was informational, interesting and very much enjoyed. Like at our recent town hall meetings, it’s important for research staff to learn more about what goes on outside their research areas. When we expose our staff to other types of research, we expose to other worlds, and give them the opportunity to find ways to collaborate throughout disciplines. We open up the communication lines, and reinforce pride in MedStar Health Research Institute.

MedStar Medical Group and MedStar PromptCare

In prior posts, I have shared that MedStar has an ambitious agenda to develop more ambulatory sites (see prior post) as we continue on the road to a distributive care delivery network, we call MedStar 2020.

Today I want you to be aware of two new sites - MedStar Medical Group and PromptCare in Adams Morgan in DC and another MedStar Medical Group opening of a primary care practice in Charlotte Hall in southern Maryland. Both of these launches will be supported with an advertising campaign, emphasizing to patients the convenient access to a highly regarded, coordinated system of services.

So that is the facts - but what really got my attention was this ad on the side of a bus!