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Mission Statement & Process

Yale School of Medicine educates and nurtures creative leaders in medicine and science, promoting curiosity and critical inquiry in an inclusive environment enriched by diversity. We advance discovery and innovation fostered by partnerships across the university, our local community, and the world. We care for patients with compassion, and commit to improving the health of all people.

Mission

Process

  1. The entire YSM community was invited to participate in a survey soliciting feedback on the school’s current mission statement and was informed about the next steps of the revision process.
  2. There were 455 respondents to the survey: 252 faculty; 142 staff; 44 students, and 17 postdocs. A research team comprised of Keitra Thompson, DNP, MSN, APRN, and Jaclyn Portanova, PhD, MSG, RN, conducted a qualitative analysis to glean meaning from the responses, ultimately identifying themes raised by each of the four groups.
  3. We convened 13 focus groups with a total of 151 participants comprised of those who indicated interest in the survey supplemented by representatives from the following groups: department chairs, faculty (two groups), Dean’s Advisory Council on LGBTQIA+ Affairs, graduate students, Cultural Ambassadors (as community representatives), MD students, staff, alumni, post-docs, Faculty Advisory Council (FAC), Committee on the Status of Women in Medicine (SWIM), and Minority Organization for Retention & Expansion (MORE). Ayaska Fernando, director of admissions, led the focus groups. Mary Hu, associate dean for communications, Cindy Dwyer, chief of staff, and Nancy Barrett, assistant director of admissions, documented the meetings. The sessions focused on the purpose of a mission statement; discussion of the existing mission statement, including words that resonated the most/least; recommendations and data from the survey; and eliciting reactions.
  4. We then convened a writing group and prepared a packet of materials to aid the group in its charge. The packet included: the survey analysis; a description of how each focus group was facilitated along with the slides used; summaries from the focus groups with themes, key recommendations, and detailed notes from the sessions; key questions for the group to consider; a word bank of words to consider/avoid; mission statements from select peer institutions and YSM departments; and a link to missions statements from the AAMC. There were 12 members of the writing group representing leadership, faculty (clinical and basic science), staff, MD students, postdocs, and YNHHS: Nancy Brown, Thomas Balcezak, Shin Mei Chan, Ayaska Fernando, Jorge Galan, Andrew Goodman, Will Khoury-Hanold, Lynn Tanoue, Marcella Nunez-Smith, Darin Latimore, Jill Max, and John Warner. Mary Hu and Cindy Dwyer also participated.
  5. The writing group had thoughtful discussions held during a series of three two-hour meetings. We agreed that the new mission statement should be inclusive and applicable to all members of our community and should highlight YSM’s values and what makes us unique. We discussed leadership, responsibility, what the school does, and what it should do. We went through several rounds of multiple drafts, carefully considering language, sentence order and structure, and meaning. The draft that emerged from this effort was circulated to the YSM community with a request to provide feedback.
  6. There were 638 respondents to the first draft. The consensus was that it was headed in the right direction, but a number of consistent themes emerged that allowed the writing group to further refine and hone its work. Below is the final draft that emerged from this effort:

    Yale School of Medicine educates and nurtures creative leaders in medicine and science, promoting curiosity and critical inquiry in an inclusive environment enriched by diversity. We advance discovery and innovation fostered by partnerships across the University, our local community, and the world. We care for patients with compassion, and commit to improving the health of all people.

  7. The above draft was circulated to the YSM community with a request to provide feedback. The response was overwhelmingly positive; 89.4% of the 282 respondents agreed with the new mission statement.
  8. The mission statement was formally adopted by the school and shared in October 2020.