Improving Outcomes
As the new dean of Emory School of Medicine, I am struck by the commitment and passion of our faculty, staff, and students in keeping and making people healthy.
As physician researchers, Emory’s medical faculty go beyond hoping to actually finding tangible, scientifically based ways to improve patient care. Emory doctors have discovered and developed life-saving drugs, therapies, diagnostic tools, and biomedical devices—from antiretrovirals to apps, microneedles to SpectroPens, Cardiac Toolboxes to fragile X screening tests, spinal frames to devices that detect concussions.
Take, for instance, Chair of Orthopaedics Scott Boden, vice president for business innovation for Emory Healthcare and an orthopaedic surgeon who has spent years developing better and more affordable bone grafting alternatives for spinal fusion patients. “Through my research, I could help patients beyond those I could touch with my own hands,” Boden says. “Being a clinician makes me a better scientist and being a scientist makes me a better clinician.” (And, as you can see on the magazine’s opening spread, an inspiration to his triplet daughters, all newly graduated Emory physicians.)
In this, as in every issue of Emory Medicine magazine, we showcase ways our medical teams are helping make others’ lives better: You’ll hear about a new program that is turning “night into day” (p. 15), be inspired by the remarkable recovery of young Brayden Harrison, who underwent two craniotomies after a dangerous fall from a high tree (p. 20), meet endocrinologist Vin Tangpricha, an international expert on transgender medicine and hormone therapy (p. 26), and visit two of the many Georgia clinics where Emory medical students and doctors volunteer.
Vikas P. Sukhatme, MD, ScD
Dean, Emory School of Medicine
Chief Academic Officer, Emory Healthcare
