THE UPSTATE DISCOVERY CHALLENGE
APPENDIX A:
THE RESEARCH STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS; RE-IMAGINING THE RESEARCH MISSION THROUGH THE UPSTATE DISCOVERY CHALLENGE It has been 12 years since the development of the last strategic plan for research at Upstate Medical University and since then we have seen strong growth, both in the numbers of faculty with research programs, but also in the size of our portfolio and expenditures. In addition, new areas of strength have emerged with the recruitment of additional faculty with diverse interests and expertise. Therefore, it is time to assess our current state and map out a strategy to propel us forward for accelerated growth, greater impact, and increased reputation. The process by which we will develop a new research strategic plan is designed to be inclusive and from the bottom up, with broad faculty input through focused working groups that will bring their ideas and priorities up to a synthesis committee that will meld the ideas, priorities, and mini- strategies into a cohesive and synergistic, strategic plan. Each of the Chairs of the Working Groups, will serve on the Synthesis Committee. The straw-man strategic plan, will be shared with the community in advance of a research retreat during which further input and ideation will be broadened to inform the crafting of the final research strategic plan. The Working Groups are as follows: • Bioinformatics • Cancer • Clinical Research, sub-committee on the Clinical Research Unit (CRU) and future CTSA application • Education Research • Entrepreneurship and Industry Relations • Environmental Health and Environmental Medicine • Facilities, Instrumentation, and Operations • Global Health, Infectious Disease, and COVID-19 • Immunity and Auto-Immunity in Disease • Mechanisms of Disease • Neuroscience The members of each working group have been chosen carefully to have deep expertise and familiarity in the indicated areas of strength so that we may proceed nimbly and efficiently to derive a new research strategic plan in as short a time frame as is reasonable.
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