UArizona Health Sciences Reaches into the Future of Health Care
It’s an exciting time for the University of Arizona Health Sciences as we reshape the future of health care — in classrooms, laboratories, the community and beyond.
The University of Arizona Health Sciences has launched a new television, digital and social media campaign that highlights the academic medical center’s strategic initiatives.
NASA Astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor (photo courtesy of Space Tango)
“This is an exciting time for the University of Arizona Health Sciences,” said Michael D. Dake, MD, senior vice president for UArizona Health Sciences.
“We are moving forward on multiple fronts as we endeavor to reshape the future of health care and address critical health care challenges across our state and around the world — challenges that certainly are daunting, but that also are providing us with unprecedented opportunities to excel in education and research in more and better ways than ever before,” Dr. Dake said in a message announcing the launch of the effort. The effort — called “Tomorrow is here” — will highlight the continuing achievements of Health Sciences for longtime supporters, and will present the academic medical center to those who are less familiar with the institution.
“We are seeking to make discoveries that until now have been considered beyond the horizon.”
Michael D. Dake, MD, senior vice president for UArizona Health Sciences.
“Tomorrow is here” targets specific audiences across Arizona and at peer academic medical centers, as well as the general public. In addition to a 60-second TV commercial, Health Sciences has developed a supporting website, which will feature stories showing the ways it is making a difference in five key areas: next-generation education, precision medicine for all, innovations in healthy aging, creating defenses against disease and new frontiers for better health.
Some of those stories describe:
- First responders who are reshaping the future of health care through the Excellence in Prehospital Injury Care project, a Health Sciences-led initiative that has flipped the status quo on its head by developing a new protocol that doubled the survival rate of traumatic brain injury victims.
- Students who will interpret the mysteries of patients’ genomes after emerging as the first graduates of the new Genetic Counseling Graduate Program, helping to fulfill the promise of precision medicine.
- Students who are driving the largest study in lifestyle and ovarian cancer survivorship ever conducted. These undergraduates forge bonds with ovarian cancer survivors and coach them for two years, helping them adhere to a diet and exercise program that researchers hope will extend their life spans and boost their quality of life.
- A scientist who is linking an off-kilter vaginal microbiome to increased gynecological cancer risk, and figuring out how communities of “good” bacteria can preserve health while communities of “bad” bacteria might be associated with inflammation, endometrial cancer and cervical cancer.
- An engineer who is developing a device that astronauts can take into outer space during their stints on the International Space Station in order to gain a better understanding of how microgravity and radiation affect astronauts’ bodies.
“We are seeking to make discoveries that until now have been considered beyond the horizon,” Dr. Dake said. “Our students are already immersed in the world of tomorrow — the one they will enter when they graduate. Our researchers are making discoveries that will affect the community’s health tomorrow — and looking ahead to make these discoveries even more powerful.”
Tomorrow Is Here converts Health Sciences’ strategic initiatives into compelling storytelling.