WellSpan Health and the Lewis Katz School of Medicine (Katz) at Temple University have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a new regional campus in York County. The proposed arrangement will add the second regional campus to Temple’s medical school, which currently enrolls 880 medical students at the main Health Sciences Center campus in North Philadelphia and St. Luke’s University Health Network campus in Bethlehem, Pa. (read more)

We are thrilled to welcome Samar Khan as Project Manager for Strategic Initiatives at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine. Reporting to Kendra Kirk, Chief of Staff and Associate Vice Dean for Strategic Initiatives, Samar will play a crucial role in advancing the goals of our Inspiring Excellence 2024–2029 five-year plan.

Already a member of the Temple family, Samar brings over seven years of experience to the role, most recently serving as Associate Director in the Department of Finance at the Fox School of Business. Her extensive project management experience includes facilitating cross-departmental collaboration, processes and procedures to support institutional recruitment, programming and events. Samar also brings a background in data analysis and business communications to the role. She holds an MBA from Thomas Jefferson University, is pursuing a Post Master’s Certificate from Temple in Clinical Trials Management and is a Temple PhD candidate in Health Policy and Human Services.

In this position, Samar will collaborate with the Dean, senior leadership, Inspiring Excellence working groups and various departments to oversee the execution of our strategic plan, ensuring consistency, adaptability and continued alignment with the school’s long-term goals. Samar’s leadership will be key to the successful launch and management of projects that support Katz’s mission to advance our excellence in education, research, and clinical care.

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.

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.