MEDICAL FACULTY ASSEMBLY
Attendance by Officers and Members of the Executive Board:
| President | Harvey Kaslow | present |
| President-Elect | Loren Laine | present |
| Secretary | Robert Stellwagen | present |
| Treasurer | Jerry Gates | present |
| Past President | Kathryn Challoner | present |
| Member-at-Large | Peter Heseltine | |
| Member-at-Large | Roger Jelliffe | present |
| Member-at-Large | Dennis O'Leary | present |
Representation at the Meeting:
| Anesthesiology | |
| Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | Frank Markland |
| Cardiothoracic Surgery | |
| Cell and Neurobiology | |
| Children's Hospital | Gary Lerner |
| Emergency Medicine | Michael Orlinsky |
| Family Medicine | |
| Medicine | Om P. Sharma |
| Molecular Microbiology and Immunology | Joseph Landolph |
| Neurological Surgery | Peter Gruen |
| Neurology | |
| Norris Medical Library | |
| Obstetrics and Gynecology | Rebecca Sokol |
| Ophthalmology | |
| Orthopedics | |
| Otolaryngology | Dennis O'Leary |
| Pathology | Florence Hofman |
| Pediatrics | Laura Wachsman |
| Physiology and Biophysics | Herb Meiselman |
| Preventive Medicine | Wendy Mack |
| Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences | Bruce Gross |
| Radiation Oncology | |
| Radiology | Michael Terk |
| Rancho Los Amigos Hospital | |
| Surgery | Jeffrey Peters |
| Urology |
Also attending: Sandra Mosteller, Ronald Smith, Clive Taylor, Ronald Kaufman, Zoltan Tokes, Vijay Kalra, Sheng He Huang, Victor Henderson
The meeting was called to order a little past noon by President Harvey Kaslow. Consideration of minutes and notes was deferred until a quorum was present. At that time the minutes of the September 1, 1998 meeting were approved as circulated. Dr. Challoner asked for a change in one paragraph of the minutes of the November 3, 1998 meeting. It was agreed that the change would be made and that the November minutes would be reconsidered at the next MFA meeting. The notes from the meeting of the Faculty-at-Large on October 6, 1998 were discussed and were adopted with minor revision as the minutes of that meeting.
Discussion of the minutes raised a question concerning issuance of faculty
contracts. Assistant Dean for Faculty Affairs Sandra Mosteller indicated
that contracts for basic science faculty should be out in early January.
She also indicated that issuance of contracts to clinical faculty may be
delayed and did not indicate a date for their issuance.
Dr. Ronald Smith, leader of the self-study initiated by the Dean, summarized
the reasons the study was undertaken and described the work that has taken
place to date. He stated that the first phase of the process would be the
issuance of draft documents by the administration, to be followed by revisions
after input from faculty. He stressed the need and desire for inclusive
faculty input. He also noted that as a result of the study done to date,
it is evident that there are many positive accomplishments of the School
over the last five years, largely due to faculty efforts. Dr. Smith distributed
a draft (dated 11/30/98) of a one-page document called "Vision Statement
USC School of Medicine: 21st Century" and requested faculty
input. Dr. Challoner stated that document should reflect a greater emphasis
on the community service role of the School of Medicine. Dr. Smith stated
that refinement of the document would continue and indicated that he thought
the document should be as inclusive as possible.
Dr. Clive Taylor, Senior Associate Dean for Educational Affairs, reported on three issues:
The LCME site-visit of November, 1999. The site-visit will be an extensive three-day visit, but a full internal self-study review process as done for the 1996 site-visit will not be required. A few months before the visit, the School will receive a request for specific information to be submitted prior to or at the site-visit. It is anticipated that the LCME will request a written explanation regarding the School's response to the concerns identified in the 1996 LCME site-visit. In that regard, Dr. Taylor said he was pleased to announce that a new student lounge is being opened today at the LAC-USC medical center. He also indicated that committees have been established to address the issues of program evaluation, student assessment, and curriculum revision.
Dr. Meiselman asked whether relevant parts of the LCME report have been shared with appropriate faculty groups. Dr. Taylor indicated that the parts of the report relevant to education were shared with Dr. Jim Dixon and faculty committees but that there was really nothing in the report specifically referring to governance. Thus, there was nothing to share in that area.
Curriculum revision. Dr. Taylor indicated that the Year I/II and Year III/IV Committees are addressing some of the issues raised by the LCME. In addition, a small working group chaired by Dr. David Hinton has been appointed to revisit the planned curriculum revision from 1993-94 that was not implemented, and to consider other ideas for curriculum revision, including ideas emerging from other medical schools. MFA President Kaslow is a member of this working group.
The Educational Policy Committee (EPC). The recently approved governance document states that appointments to the EPC from departments are to be by department chairs, normally in accord with the recommendation of departmental faculty. This requirement for consultation with faculty was not in the previous governance document. The process by which the department chairs obtain the recommendation from department faculty has not been defined. Dr. Taylor stated that the MFA might wish to provide input on this issue.
President Kaslow commented on the importance of faculty acceptance of curriculum revision if the revision is to succeed. He indicated that the EPC is the appropriate body to approve plans for curriculum revision, and that by making the EPC an entity representing faculty, the new governance document provides a mechanism to assess faculty acceptance of a curriculum revision proposal.
Dr. Taylor stressed that because of the concerns of the LCME, the School
must thoroughly evaluate its curriculum, and seriously consider making
changes to improve it. Dr. Taylor stressed that the LCME will most likely
focus attention on our process of curriculum assessment, revision, and
development. He further indicated that the LCME holds that student input
must be seriously considered. The School must respond to problems identified
by students, such as what students perceive to be an excessively large
number of classroom hours in our curriculum.
President Kaslow proposed a motion regarding selection of alternate
senators. The proposed motion stated:
"The selection of a proxy with notification of the Secretary shall make valid the selection only for a single meeting of the Academic Senate. In the event an elected Senator is unable to attend more than one meeting of the Academic Senate, then the elected Senator shall notify the Secretary of the selection of the proxy for each meeting of the Academic Senate, and the Secretary shall so inform the Medical Faculty Assembly."
Discussion followed concerning other approaches to choose alternates.
Some members expressed the view that elected alternates were preferable
to those chosen by individual senators as proxies. A call for MFA representatives
willing to serve as alternates drew few responses. The issue was tabled
for further discussion at the next meeting.
President Kaslow reviewed issues related to faculty salary increases and MFA Recommendation 1998-99-002, which recommends that the Dean provide to the Finance Committee and the Treasurer of the Medical Faculty Assembly a consolidated budget document that summarizes all income and expenditures of the School of Medicine for the previous and current fiscal years. Such a document could indicate the funds allocated to faculty salaries.
President Kaslow indicated that Recommendation 1998-99-002 was delivered to the Dean, and presented to the Executive Committee at its meeting of November 25. The Dean has not yet had time to respond, and the recommendation will be on the agenda of the next EC meeting scheduled for December 16. It was suggested that the annual financial statement of the University should be reviewed to determine if it might satisfy the recommendation.
There was considerable discussion of faculty salary issues and possible
approaches to obtaining data that might help in the formulation of a specific
recommendation about salary increases. President Kaslow indicated that
the faculty need not rely on the administration to obtain some of the data,
as each faculty member has information about his or her own salary and
could provide this information to the MFA. Dr. Laine expressed the concern
that information faculty might provide regarding their own salaries might
not be reliable. The complexities of faculty salaries due to multiple sources,
such as the HRA, was discussed further. Dr. Kaufman expressed the view
that a statement of principle from the MFA regarding the use of additional
revenue from increases in tuition would be of value to the Finance Committee.
President Kaslow urged representatives to communicate any specific recommendations
to the MFA Executive Board.
Department-specific listservers. President Kaslow stated that MFA representatives will eventually be designated as owners of their departmental listservers so that they can post messages. Those who want this capability sooner should contact him or Sandra Mosteller.
Joint Task Force Regarding Governance. Sandra Mosteller is arranging for meetings which are expected to start in January.
CPSA LAC-USC issues. Ron Kaufman announced that there is a new chief executive officer at the County who is Roberto Rodriguez.
Revision of University intellectual property policy. Interested faculty should contact President Kaslow or Dr. Roger Jelliffe. Changes are in process.
Standing Committees. Dr. Landolph reported that the Provost recently
addressed the School of Medicine Appointments and Promotions Committee.
Dr. Landolph will share his notes with the MFA at a later time.