Earlier this year, the Katz School of Medicine began the self-study phase of the LCME reaccreditation process. This critical initiative is led by Gerald Sterling, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Education and Data Science, Thomas Kupp, Senior Advisor to the Dean and Ken Lee, Executive Director of Educational Affairs Administration. Together, they guide the Katz LCME task force, a multidisciplinary team composed of individuals from across the school, who reviewed all the LCME Accreditation Standards. The standards are organized into the following focus areas:

• Educational Programs: Standards 6-9
• Educational Resources: Standard 5
• Institutional Setting/Faculty: Standards 1, 2, 4
• Medical Student Support: Standards 3, 10-12

What’s Involved in the Reaccreditation Process?

The reaccreditation process requires a thorough self-study and completion of the Data Collection Instrument (DCI), followed by a site visit from an LCME survey team. The survey team’s findings will highlight areas of concern, including those needing additional monitoring or support. Based on this report, the LCME committee will determine the school’s accreditation status.

Key Components of the DCI Include:

• Executive Summary of the Self-Study
• DCI Narratives and Supporting Documentation
• Independent Student Analysis (ISA)
• Appendices

Where We Are Now in the LCME Reaccreditation Process

The  second draft of the DCI is currently being finalized. With guidance from external consultants and practice surveys, we are diligently preparing for the official site visit in April 2025. Ensuring full compliance with LCME standards remains a top priority, and we are committed to addressing student feedback and enhancing the educational experience.

The LCME reaccreditation process is a valuable opportunity for reflection, growth, and improvement. It allows us to ensure we deliver the highest quality education to our students while meeting the rigorous standards set by the LCME. We are grateful for the contributions of everyone involved and look forward to successfully completing this reaccreditation journey together.

Important Dates

• Data Collection Instrument (DCI) & Self-Study Report Due: December 2024
• LCME Reaccreditation Site Visit: April 6-9, 2025
• Site Visitors initial Exit Summary Report: late April, 2025
• LCME Accreditation Status Notification: Expected in October 2025

 

Stay tuned for more updates as we progress through this important reaccreditation process.

This award recognizes and highlights work done by faculty, and or/staff across the Lewis Katz School of Medicine and Temple University Healthcare system.

Submit your nomination >

Nomination deadline is September 8, 2024, 11:59 pm

 

Work is well underway to implement the Lewis Katz School of Medicine’s ambitious new strategic plan, Inspiring Excellence: 2024-2029. The plan is the result of a year of collaboration and inclusive engagement of the entire Katz community, including faculty, staff, and students, alongside Temple University, Temple Health and school advisory and alumni boards, as well its external communities. Developed in alignment with strategic priorities for both Temple University and Temple University Health System, Inspiring Excellence is driven by a vision of a big and bold future that harnesses the unlimited potential and passion deeply embedded within the community and honors a long history of valuing and embracing diversity and health equity.

“This plan charts Katz’s future, keeping us on the cutting-edge of education, discovery, and clinical care while building new practices and platforms to enrich and enhance our work,” said Amy J. Goldberg, MD, FACS, the Marjorie Joy Katz Dean. “The time, talent and passion that went into its development is really apparent, and I am excited for what lies ahead.”

Mission and Vision

Katz’s mission and vision statements, crafted collaboratively with input from over 150 individuals across the school community, emphasize its core tenets of responsiveness, inclusion, innovation, excellence, and commitment to social change in all mission areas. These inspirational statements were formulated to represent the Katz community, articulate key beliefs about the future and will serve as directional statements for the organization’s journey forward.

Mission: Align with our diverse communities to advance medicine and improve health through education, research, training, and development of the next generation of clinicians, educators, and scientists.

Vision: The Lewis Katz School of Medicine will inspire a new standard of excellence in education and research and lead social change in medicine.

“Our new mission and vision form the foundation of the school’s strategic direction,” said Dean Goldberg. “My leadership meetings now lead off with these statements, and not Kyle Schwarber… a reminder of why we do what we do, and how we need to think big and bold. I encourage all our leaders within the school to do the same.”

Continuing to Move the Needle

Since the development phase of the strategic plan began over a year ago, the school has made meaningful progress against our strategic goals, and with the launch of Inspiring Excellence and its implementation, that momentum has a roadmap.

Guided by the plan’s goals, its strategic initiatives are the actionable projects and programs that will be implemented in phases, with completion by 2029. Vetted by the Katz community during the strategic planning retreat in January, the initiatives provide clear guidance while fostering creativity and innovative thinking in their execution.

Led by Dean Goldberg and comprised of senior leaders across Katz faculty and staff, the plan’s steering committee is overseeing the implementation, in close collaboration with individual workgroups supporting each strategic initiative:

• New Regional Medical Campus: Establish a new regional medical campus with a clinical partner, which will open doors to new geographies and partnerships beyond education.
• Programs That Attract and Support Diverse Students: Enhance program offerings to attract and support diverse students by expanding outreach, creating cost-effective pathways for medical education, and increasing scholarship opportunities to alleviate student debt burdens.
• Education Innovation Hub: Create a hub focused on testing, scaling, and adopting effective innovations through pilot projects and exploring diverse uses of technology in education. This hub will prepare faculty, staff, and students to interact with emerging technologies.
• Dynamic and Collaborative Research Environment: Foster a dynamic and collaborative research environment through enhanced collaboration, communication, and resource access, driving impactful advancements across disciplines.
• Redesign of the Faculty and Staff Journeys: Redesign faculty and staff journeys to align with strategic goals, fostering professional development, career advancement, and a sense of community through interdisciplinary engagement and mentorship initiatives.
• Temple Connects: Increase community engagement and foster a sense of belonging, utilizing technology-supported approaches to improve satisfaction, connection, resilience, and responsiveness.
• Safety, Health, and Wellness: Improve safety, health, and wellness by integrating these values into Katz’s culture, policies, and operations.

Representing a comprehensive cross section of departments, roles and responsibilities across the school, workgroups began meeting earlier this summer to refine the tactics within each initiative and begin developing implementation plans that will inform and help guide the work in each area over the next five years. Once the plans are developed, workgroups will convene and support teams across the school for tactical execution. Each workgroup is led by two group champions tasked with managing the group’s work, providing feedback, and reporting back to the steering committee.

Exploring the Plan

Inspiring Excellence is a dynamic plan built to guide the future while adapting and flexing to meet the needs of our school and communities in real time. The Inspiring Excellence hub on the Katz portal has been designed the same way.

The hub’s homepage features high-level information about the plan’s elements and oversight, and each strategic initiative is housed within its own sub-section. As plans are developed and updates are made, these sections will grow accordingly. The Inspiring Excellence hub is publicly accessible, so all members of the Katz community, including alumni, friends and prospective students and faculty can engage with the plan and its components.

 

Dear Faculty, Staff and Students,

I am delighted to announce that Erica Golemis, PhD, is joining the Lewis Katz School of Medicine faculty as the Senior Associate Dean of Research, effective July 1. Her commitment to advancing translational research and forging strong partnerships across disciplines, alongside her passion for mentoring the next generation of scientists, will be foundational to advancing our research mission, ensuring that Katz remains on the vanguard of scientific discovery. 

Throughout her distinguished career, Dr.Golemis has been a trailblazer in cancer research, advocating for multidisciplinary collaboration to tackle complex challenges in oncology. At Katz, she has been the Department of Cancer and Cellular Biology Chair since 2021. Her leadership has continuously set an exceptional standard here at Temple and within the broader research community. At Fox Chase Cancer Center, she holds the William Wikoff Smith Chair in Cancer Research and serves as Associate Director for Systemwide Integration, focused on identifying or creating synergies between Fox Chase and the Temple system.

Dr. Golemis' approach to cancer research emphasizes integrating diverse fields such as cell biology, genetic approaches, and bioinformatic analysis. Her efforts have not only expanded our understanding of cancer biology but also facilitated breakthroughs in therapeutic approaches. She has been instrumental in bridging research efforts between Katz and Fox Chase, promoting synergies that enhance patient outcomes and advance medical knowledge. 

Dr. Golemis is a native of the Bronx, and first came to Philadelphia as an undergraduate at Bryn Mawr College, where she majored in Biology and English. Subsequently, she earned her PhD at MIT studying retroviral induction of cancer, and then performed postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School, where she worked on developing a system for study of protein-protein interactions, known as a yeast two-hybrid system. She first established an independent laboratory at Fox Chase Cancer Center in 1993. Her groundbreaking work on protein-protein interactions and the role of Aurora-A kinase in cancer signaling has garnered international acclaim and significantly influenced the field of oncology. To date, she has authored over 240 manuscripts on these and other topics. She currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Cancer & Metastasis Reviews, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). 

As Senior Associate Dean of Research, Dr. Golemis will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of research at Katz, overseeing strategic initiatives, supporting development of translational and clinical research, and promoting a culture of innovation and excellence. She firmly believes in the importance of interdisciplinary research in fueling creativity, and looks forward to working closely with colleagues at the school and across Temple Health to strengthen institutional capacity for high-impact research. In particular, her extensive knowledge of both Katz and Fox Chase will help foster an even deeper collaboration for coordinated research growth. 

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Golemis on her appointment. Her leadership will undoubtedly propel our research endeavors to new heights and reinforce our commitment to advancing health through groundbreaking discoveries. 

Amy J. Goldberg, MD, FACS
The Marjorie Joy Katz Dean
Lewis Katz School of Medicine

Claire Raab, MD
President & CEO
Temple Faculty Physicians