As always, there is much to be proud of and thankful for as we head into summer. We are preparing to welcome the first class of MD students who will begin their medical education in our beautiful new Drexel Health Sciences Building. Transitions can be challenging, and I am grateful to everyone who helped ensure that the academic and administrative teams who have completed their phased move into the building have been able to do so efficiently and with minimal disruption.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to Donna Russo, PhD, interim vice dean for educational affairs, senior associate dean for curriculum, and William Maul Measey Chair in Medical Education, who has shown steadfast leadership from the building’s inception.

We just completed another excellent fourth year-student match! We matched all of our students who wanted residency positions into programs starting this summer. As I write this, we are in the midst of final preparations for the 2023 Commencement ceremony at the Kimmel Center on May 12. Our MD, PhD, master’s and certificate graduates of the class of 2023 have all made us proud during their time here, and I know they will continue to do so as they enter the next phase of their training or begin their careers. The next issue of Pulse will include complete coverage of the event.

It is also exciting to send the inaugural class of MD students at the College of Medicine at Tower Health into their third-year clinical training years this spring. Their arrival in West Reading seems like it was yesterday, but what they have accomplished during their time there is remarkable. Their outreach in the community is especially notable: They have established eye health and respiratory clinics that serve people experiencing homelessness, initiated relationships with organizations that support the area’s LGBTQ+ populations and Hispanic/Latinx communities, and implemented a Narcan distribution program in the community.

Our Office of Faculty is hard at work rolling out the Faculty Affairs Dashboard, which will be an incredible asset to our faculty. Knowing how hard our educators work to support our teaching, research, clinical care and community service missions, I am grateful that we have this opportunity to make some parts of their roles more streamlined and straightforward.

Nancy Spector, MD, who leads that office as senior associate dean for faculty, received an incredible honor from the American Medical Women’s Association: She is the recipient of this year’s Elizabeth Blackwell Medal, which is given annually to a woman who has made outstanding contributions to the cause of women in medicine. Dr. Spector has done a remarkable job of overseeing the ELAM and ELH programs as executive director, as well as leading the Lynn Yeakel Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership since Lynn Yeakel’s passing last year.

Our culture of investigation and innovation is stronger than ever, with research expenditures across Drexel for Fiscal Year 2022 at an all-time high. It will also soon be time to start submitting abstracts for November’s Discovery Day 2023. I look forward to learning more about our trainees’ research efforts at that important annual event in the fall. As always, I am proud to lead the College of Medicine through all our transitions, our achievements and our challenges, and I thank you for being part of what makes us excellent.