New institute tackles health care

The university will open the Institute of Health Sciences and Technology this fall, which will consist of three facets of health care and position the RIT–Rochester General Health System Alliance as a contributing player in the reform of the nation’s health care system.

The College of Health Sciences and Technology—becoming RIT’s ninth college—will educate the next generation of health care providers and related researchers. Two additional components of the institute—the Health Sciences Research Center and the Health Sciences Outreach Center—will meet work force and community needs and apply innovative technologies to health care delivery.

The new institute will channel the strengths and expertise of the partnership to produce technological solutions to health care delivery. RIT’s hands-on education complements Rochester General Hospital’s applied clinical approach. Combining these approaches gives the alliance the potential to affect health care and improve the efficiency of the “smart hospital,” says RIT Provost Jeremy Haefner.

A vice president/dean will be hired by July to lead the institute and will report directly to Haefner. The vice president will facilitate interactions with colleagues and CEOs at other institutions and will, initially, direct the outreach and research centers until those positions are filled.

RIT President Bill Destler and RGHS CEO Mark Clement will co-chair the institute’s advisory board, consisting of faculty, physicians, staff, trustees and students.

Existing programs that will likely move to the institute include diagnostic medical sonography, nutrition/dietetics, biomedical sciences/medical technology, health systems administration, physician assistant, clinical research management and medical illustration.

The Health Sciences Research Center will focus on infectious disease and immunology, cancer, cancer vaccines and blood disorders, cardiovascular disease, health systems engineering, biotechnology, bioengineering, imaging science, computing and information science, deaf technologies and medical devices.

The final component of the institute, the Health Sciences Outreach Center, will aid regional work force development programs by retraining displaced workers in Lean Six-Sigma for health care, an approach to streamlining and improving patient-care processes. The center will also partner with regional work force development agencies and develop and support community health initiatives.

For more information about the alliance, go to www.rit.edu/rghs.


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