MUSC Trustees Re-Elect Officers, Review Strategic Plan Progress, & Celebrate Groundbreaking for MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital

Contact: Heather Woolwine
843-792-7669
woolwinh@musc.edu

Aug 12, 2016

CHARLESTON, SC – The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Board of Trustees held its regular, scheduled meeting August 12. Among its numerous orders of business, the 16-member board voted to re-elect Chairman Donald R. Johnson II, M.D., and Vice-Chairman William H. Bingham, Sr. Each officer will serve another two-year term at the helm of the Board of Trustees for the Medical University Hospital Authority and MUSC.

In addition to information and recommendations from its standing committees, the board received a report from MUSC President David J. Cole, M.D., FACS, which focused on the organization’s leadership, strategy, structure and specific business highlights. Under leadership, since fall 2015, Cole has hired or promoted seven new senior-level team members to fill existing positions within colleges and departments, or to assume newly created leadership roles within the institution.

“We’ve had a lot of high-quality individuals of a national caliber who have come forward to join us,” Cole said. He noted there is an organizational focus on leadership and on “how to develop the qualities strategically and institutionally to move MUSC forward.”

With the values of compassion, collaboration, respect, integrity and innovation as the framework, Cole told the board that Imagine MUSC 2020 is emerging as the most significant culture-changing initiative in recent MUSC history. His report provided examples of progress made toward each of the five strategic pillars: Commit to Patients & Families First; Advance New Knowledge and Scientific Discoveries; Embrace Diversity and Inclusion; Foster Innovative Education and Learning; and Build Healthy Communities.

“In terms of our strategy, our mission, our values, our goals – I hope these things are becoming embedded in the verbiage of individuals at MUSC and that there is an awareness in terms of what our purpose and direction is,” Cole said. “If you look at our strategy, there are some pieces that you might not be aware of but a lot of work has gone into developing a high-level Strategic Advisory Council focused around implementation. It’s organized around prioritizing initiatives, key performance indicators for each of the major directives, and purposely working toward alignment, integration and accountability.”

In terms of specific business achievements, Cole summarized a variety of legislative, external, academic and clinical highlights, noting that fiscal year 2016 was a benchmark for MUSC in all three segments of its mission – education, research and patient care. “We awarded degrees to more students than ever before [978], and are on pace to bring in more than $250 million in sponsored research funding,” he stated. Those numbers are all-time high marks. Cole also advised the Board that the children’s hospital fundraising passed the $100 million benchmark the day before. “That’s a notable moment,” Cole said, especially since the groundbreaking for the new hospital was only hours away.

In June, just before FY2016 ended, MUSC Children’s Hospital was the only institution of its kind in the state to be ranked in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2016-2017 edition of “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals.” Then, on August 2, MUSC earned national recognition from U.S. News for adult care, being named the state’s No. 1 adult hospital for the second consecutive year, and one of the nation’s top 50 “Best Hospitals.” 

In other business, the Board of Trustees approved the appointment of Patricia Blanton, DDS, Ph.D., as interim dean for the College of Dental Medicine and authorized MUSC Strategic Ventures to engage in discussions on the potential expansion of its existing relationship with East Cooper Medical Center.

Following its regular business meeting, the Board of Trustees adjourned and joined more than 500 dignitaries, donors, and guests at the corner of Courtenay and Calhoun streets for the groundbreaking of the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and the Pearl Tourville Women’s Pavilion. When construction on the estimated $385 million project is completed and the doors open in 2019, the structure will be among the most well-equipped and technologically advanced children’s hospitals and women’s facilities in the country. 

About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is the state's only comprehensive academic health system, with a unique mission to preserve and optimize human life in South Carolina through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates more than 3,200 students in six colleges – Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy – and trains more than 900 residents and fellows in its health system. MUSC brought in more than $300 million in research funds in fiscal year 2023, leading the state overall in research funding. MUSC also leads the state in federal and National Institutes of Health funding. Learn more about our academic programs.

As the health care system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest-quality and safest patient care while educating and training generations of outstanding health care providers and leaders to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. Patient care is provided at 16 hospitals (includes owned or governing interest), with approximately 2,700 beds and four additional hospital locations in development, more than 350 telehealth sites and nearly 750 care locations situated in all regions of South Carolina. In 2023, for the ninth consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health University Medical Center in Charleston the Number 1 hospital in South Carolina. Learn more about our patient services.

MUSC has a total enterprise annual operating budget of $5.9 billion. The nearly 26,000 MUSC family members include world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers, scientists, students, affiliates and care team members who deliver groundbreaking education, research, and patient care.