Each January brings renewed hopes and plans for a year better than the last. It’s often the time for reflection on the previous year, and in the case of our new report on University of Mississippi Medical Center activities, the previous two years.
We recently published a biannual report, “Disruption, Innovation and Growth: A Story of Perseverance,” which documents accomplishments covering fiscal/academic years 2020 and 2021 in our tripartite mission of education, research and health care as we also responded to a pandemic. Our previous annual report for 2018-19 was the first for UMMC in some years, and the goal was to make it an annual publication. Then, COVID-19 delivered a devastating blow to our state driving our time, resources and attention to answering the challenges of the pandemic, and rightly so. The upheaval caused by the pandemic may make it difficult to see the achievements of the last two years – and there were several – and that is why this report is important.
It serves a two-fold purpose: a round-up of highlights and a historical record. It highlights two fiscal years of UMMC activity from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2021. Like the 2018-19 report, it’s organized by our institution’s work and features sections related to administrative achievements and finances. What’s new in this edition is a section on our COVID-19 response. This disease impacted every aspect of our mission, and the countless hours of work by employees since March 2020 needed to be featured separately. This historical record will serve to inform others in the future of what we did collectively to care for one another and our state in the most trying times our institution has faced.
There is no way to completely capture all of the thousands of ways you contribute to our mission, but we wanted to include the highpoints of the last two years. We entered into the new five-year cycle for UMMC’s strategic plan, and the report outlines the first-year targets.
The report brings to our remembrance key accomplishments, including, strong application and admission numbers in our health professions schools, record-setting research funding and the opening of the Sanderson Tower for Children’s of Mississippi. (We celebrated the one-year anniversary in November.)
From masked faces at commencement to personal protective equipment in the hospitals, the pandemic is an undercurrent of the previous two years, which is represented in the report through photos.
We have a limited number of printed copies that we will use for strategic outreach efforts, but I hope you enjoy this report online. I invite you to take a few minutes to reflect on the work of the past two years. You should feel proud of what we’ve done in the most challenging of circumstances.
I know I am proud of the work you do each day. There’s a lot to celebrate. Thank you for your commitment to our mission. I remain hopeful for 2022 because I’ve seen the evidence of #UMMCStrong over the last two years. We can accomplish great things together.
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” (from J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Fellowship of the Ring)
At UMMC, we will continue on the road to A Healthier Mississippi. It is the only choice.
We recently published a biannual report, 