“I feel like academic medicine has had one of its finest hours and people understand its importance in a way they had not before,” says Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for Health Affairs at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and dean of its medical school.
Wearing those hats, she has a ground-level perspective on how the pandemic played out in academic medical centers as well as a national view of how academic medicine and medical education fared generally due to her leadership roles with the Association of American Medical Colleges. As she tells host Shiv Gaglani, she saw an unprecedented level of collaboration and sharing of research and other information that helped advance the quality of care provided to COVID patients. “To see all the organizations in academic medicine come together around that multifaceted but singular focus was thrilling, honestly, and just amazing.” In addition to COVID response, Dr. Woodward has her hands full expanding educational and clinical offerings in a state which struggles in many areas that affect health status, and is ranked last in the country for the number of practicing physicians per capita. “We're working hard to provide all the programs we need for the education of our students, but also to answer the unmet needs for the citizens in Mississippi.”