During “2022: Year in the Rearview,” Dean Colleen Koch, M.D., M.S., M.B.A., and several other leaders from across the college updated faculty, students, trainees and staff on key milestones related to the college’s initiatives and achievements over the past year related to the strategic plan. The speakers also provided a road map on how the College of Medicine is gearing up for the future.

“It is fair to say that for all our technical advantages, the greatest asset we have at the College of Medicine is our people,” Koch said during the event, which was simultaneously livestreamed. “Each one of you is a key driver of our progress. Each one of you is responsible for our success.”

Various departments also held watch parties throughout campus to view the hourlong event and listen to updates on the strategic plan’s seven pillars of education, research, patient care, people, diversity, equity and inclusion, system integration and value. To date, there are more than 41 projects that support the strategic plan, with 51 project champions and 143 accountability team members involved in their execution.

By completing the Well-Being Index questionnaire, a project under the people pillar of the UF College of Medicine strategic plan, residents and fellows can better understand stressors in their lives and gain access to resources to help manage their mental health.

The short, confidential web-based questionnaire, developed for health care professionals and based on research from the Mayo Clinic, will allow residency and fellowship programs across the college to gather anonymized data that can be used to address specific areas of concern regarding the well-being of their trainees.

“Oftentimes, health care professionals in particular feel like they just have to push through, or they downplay their symptoms or their level of distress,” said Lisa Merlo, Ph.D., M.P.E., the project champion and director of wellness programs for the College of Medicine. “The Well-Being Index is a good, objective way of getting feedback on how residents and fellows are doing, which they can track over time to see changes at different stages of their training or careers.”

Each year, the U.S. recognizes Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month, paying tribute to generations of Americans with Spanish or Latino ancestry and celebrating the cultural contributions of Hispanic Americans. The recognition is especially important in medical schools across the country, where Hispanic and Latino student enrollment has been increasing but students are still underrepresented.

According to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges, students of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin accounted for 12.7% of U.S. medical school matriculants in the 2021-22 school year — up from 12% the year prior and 10.7% in 2018-19. While not equivalent yet, the number is rising closer to the percentage of Hispanic and Latino Americans estimated in the country’s 2021 population: 18.9%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In honoring our Hispanic students and their heritage, the UF College of Medicine spoke with two first-year medical students about their cultural identities and experiences as Hispanic Americans in medical school so far.