Friends and Colleagues,

Welcome to "Rounds" the first issue of my weekly enewsletter. I want to start by thanking everyone who has so graciously welcomed my husband, Bill, and I to Las Vegas and to Nevada this past year. I particularly want to thank those of you who have so passionately supported the launch of the UNLV School of Medicine, which we are now calling in shorthand, UNLV Medicine.       

The long list of individuals deserving recognition include those of you who met with me early to develop the vision for what an innovative and forward-thinking medical school in Las Vegas could look like. Members of the university and the community who spent endless hours helping me shape the future of the school and its programs, then who took the time to talk to government officials and legislators to help secure necessary funding for our accreditation. The amazing individuals and corporations who provided 135 student scholarships, our Community Advisory Board, the Chancellor and Board of Regents, and the leadership of UNLV and countless community members that have deftly guided and supported the school throughout its first year of start-up. My particular thanks go to Gov. Brian Sandoval and the legislature who approved our budget. 

It has been an exciting week. We welcomed former Deans Phil Pizzo, MD, Stanford University School of Medicine; Arthur Rubenstein, MBBCh, University of Pennsylvania Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine; and Tom Lawley, Emory School of Medicine; who are working with the Merritt Hawkins consulting group to provide strategic guidance to selected medical schools. For three days, they visited with more than 20 people, some of whom were from UNLV Medicine and the UNLV administration. They also visited with many of our local partners, as well as the Chancellor and Dean Thomas Schwenk of the University of Nevada School of Medicine. We are looking forward to their report and recommendations. In addition, they will review our accreditation documents in July before we submit them to the accrediting body, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), on August 1.

I would say the two things most impressive to the deans were our exciting and innovative curriculum, and the outpouring of support from the community.

Lastly, I want to underscore the tremendous impact of having 60 full four-year scholarships for our charter class, and 25 each for the next three entering classes. The news is getting out and creating a lot of interest in UNLV Medicine.

Best wishes,