Seeking Patient Care?
Entering into my 4th year here as Department Chair, I continue to believe that our faculty is our most valuable asset, as we prioritize their professional growth and well-being through faculty development and mentorship (FDM) programs. According to our school’s mission, we follow the C.A.R.E.S. acronym of espousing excellence in each of the academic arenas: Clinical, Administrative, Research (and Innovation), Education, and Service. We also recognize the importance of open communication, recognition of achievements, and providing the resources and advocacy to promote our faculty. This entails a supportive and balanced work environment to maintain high morale, with particular emphases on diversity, equity, and wellness. Our departmental leadership team has helped me champion this effort; we foresee that our faculty size will have doubled when we pass the 5 year point. We have successfully recruited a number of nationally and internationally prominent faculty to augment these efforts.
In addition, we acknowledge the importance of leveraging technology to enhance our imaging workflow. We have strategically invested in various data science-based informatics approaches to optimizing radiologists’ structured reporting, confirming the appropriateness of advanced imaging examinations, and using Natural Language Processing (NLP) to delineate the relevance and impact of the radiologists’ findings and diagnoses; for example, a current effort focuses on the impact of “pertinent negatives” and how they affect care. In the realm of artificial intelligence (AI), we are in the process of implementing POC-AID (Point Of Care AI Deployment) to triage inpatients, emergency patients, and outpatients to accelerate their care. Other critical information technology (IT) endeavors include our work towards next-generation PACS (Picture Archiving System) technology to produce relevant and critical information to the radiologist as they dictate with automated structured reporting, incidental findings followed via AI married to Human Intervention (HI) to ensure surveillance of “at risk” patients, and incorporating patient-centered image sharing via blockchain technology to improve the access to (and accuracy of) our clinical interpretations. We have developed “value partnerships” with select leaders in industry to affect these disruptive, positive changes to radiology and medicine, to dispel the notion that diagnostic radiologists are “non-patient facing”, and thus not impactful. Hence, we intend to trailblaze against the trend of commoditization in imaging.
We are committed to maintaining the recruitment of top talent to sustain the vitality of our department and to uphold our commitment to both clinical and research excellence in South Florida. Our programs and relationship between the University of Miami MSOM and Jackson Health System (JHS) provide trainees with meaningful training and research opportunities, and we cultivate a collaborative environment that promotes learning and innovation. UHealth’s status with the only National Cancer Institute designation in this locale, along with JHS’s record of having one of the highest numbers of transplants several years in a row, together align as a powerful combination that propels our future.
Thank you for choosing our department for your radiology needs. We look forward to serving you with exceptional care and service. Come and join us as we launch into the future of imaging and medical technology!
Sincerely,
Alexander M. McKinney, MD, CI-CIIP
Shapiro Chair and Professor, Department of Radiology
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, UHealth