Jefferson’s Chair of Medicine Authors New Book Addressing the Challenges Facing Academic Medical Centers
Arthur Feldman, M.D., Ph.D, Magee Professor and Chairman, Department of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College, has written a new book, Pursuing Excellence In Healthcare: Preserving America’s Academic Medical Centers,
one of the first textbooks since the works of Abraham Flexnor in 1910
to take a comprehensive look at the issues facing academic medicine.
Dr. Feldman reviews the economic, demographic and cultural aspects
which threaten healthcare in general and academic medical centers
(AMCs) in particular, but also provides a framework for change that can
enhance the ability of AMCs to survive. This framework is based on
careful evaluation of the most successful AMCs but also on lessons that
can be learned from business and industry. The book has received praise
and endorsements from leading experts in the field of academic medicine
and nationally prominent health educators including members of the
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
“If academic medical centers are to fulfill their responsibilities to society then they will need to restructure because the
current model is simply flawed,” said Feldman.
“As with anything of this magnitude these changes are not going to be easy, but to continually ignore them puts the future
of medical education, research and patient care at risk.”
Pursuing Excellence in Healthcare offers a systematic plan towards reform including:
- A look at the four interconnected spheres of action that support the core goal of the AMC - excellence in patient care
- The challenges within each sphere – structure, education, research and business - and how attention to each sphere is necessary
but not sufficient to preserve the integrity and excellence of AMCs
- Unique structures at selected AMCs that have allowed them to succeed despite challenging times including re-organization and
globalization
“I
hope that this book can serve as a platform for discussions amongst
physicians, students, policymakers, analysts, regulators and those in
the financial sector as it will take a collaborative effort of the many
stakeholders in academic medicine to ensure survival,” said Feldman.
“Hopefully the new perspective and new philosophy offered in the book
will spur all the agents involved towards reform and continue making
our AMCs to be the focal point for the future of American medicine.”
About the Author:
Arthur D Feldman, M.D., PhD.,
is the Magee Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Department of
Medicine at Jefferson Medical College. He is a past President of the
Heart Failure Society of America and of the Association of Professors
of Cardiology. He has served on numerous editorial boards and is
currently the Editor-in-Chief of Clinical and Translational Science.
He has received numerous honors including election to Alpha Omega
Alpha, the Association of University Cardiologists and the American
Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American
Physicians. Dr. Feldman has chaired numerous multi-center clinical
trials and his research in the
molecular
biology of heart failure has been funded since 1986 by the NIH. He has
published over 210 peer-reviewed articles, 60 chapters, and two edited
textbooks. Dr. Feldman is the founder and a member of the Board of
Directors of Cardiokine, Inc. He has a B.A. degree from Gettysburg
College, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Maryland. He
earned his medical degree from the Louisiana State University School of
Medicine.
The book is published by Productivity Press.
Media Only Contact:
Richard Cushman
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Phone: (215) 955-6300
Published: 2/18/2010