The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, located in Hanover, New Hampshire, is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States. Geisel has a total annual enrollment of more 800 students, with the MD program accounting for 368 students and the PhD and master’s programs each enrolling approximately 230 students. The school has consistently maintained an outstanding research enterprise with a portfolio of nearly $100 million in extramural funding.
Similar to many medical schools, Geisel struggled financially for a number of years. Beginning in 2015 and 2016, the school took steps to address imbalances in its financial and operating models, resulting in a hard-won financial turnaround and putting it on strong academic and financial footing. As Geisel started generating positive operating margins, leadership began contemplating investments to enhance the school’s mission areas as it looked to build for the future.
Coinciding with the financial turnaround, the school started addressing accreditation review findings from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) in areas such as sufficiency of administrative staff, diversity, infrastructure, curricular content, and student well-being.Ensuring that all members of the Geisel community, regardless of tenure or position, had opportunities to provide feedback on the strategic plan was a guiding principle of the process. ECG conducted stakeholder interviews, assessed the current state of the school, and solicited input from the community during a half-day strategic planning retreat.
The results of the retreat served to direct efforts and facilitate development of a steering committee and four functional work groups. The steering committee was charged with leading and directing the course of the project while each work group completed detailed planning for their respective areas. Throughout the process, ECG gathered input and feedback on emerging themes and values of the strategic plan through a variety of methods, including:ECG partnered with the Geisel community to develop a tailored and actionable strategic plan outlining the school’s mission, vision, and newly defined values, and detailing 7 strategic goals and 19 initiatives to guide its future efforts. Geisel leadership wanted the process to be comprehensive and inclusive, and it was:
