Dean's Message: Communications Strategy
The digital age has changed everything about the way we communicate. More of us are getting our news online, on our smart phones and from sources other than traditional news outlets. For the Faculty of Medicine, this means that the way we communicate about the impact of our research and education innovations has changed, too. We can no longer simply fax a news release to a health reporter at a major paper and expect news coverage.
That is why, in 2011, we established the Office of Strategy, Communications and External Relations (OSCER). Through our strategic planning process we had identified the need to radically overhaul the way the Faculty communicates, and OSCER was the result of that process.
Under the direction of the Deputy Dean, OSCER leads strategic communications for the Faculty of Medicine, and manages its communications, marketing, strategic planning, international relations and public affairs activities. The unit works closely with Advancement to make sure communications priorities are aligned with fundraising goals.
OSCER is a “three legged stool” made up of a Communications Team, a Strategic Planning Office and an Office of Global Health and International Relations. The Strategic Planning Office is responsible for the overall management of the Faculty of Medicine’s Strategic Academic Plan 2011-2016. This includes developing goals and objectives and facilitating the implementation of milestones for all components of the Faculty of Medicine’s Strategic Plan.
OSCER’s Office of Global Health and International Relations helps the Faculty of Medicine make a real, positive difference in global health and well-being. It helps to implement the Faculty’s global health strategic gaols by supporting faculty and students who are engaged in scholarship, shared learning and sustainable collaborations across the globe. The Office manages international delegations and communicates about our global health accomplishments.
The Communications Team promotes the Faculty of Medicine by sharing knowledge and awareness of our achievements, both internally and externally. Working with the Faculty of Medicine community, it develops targeted communications strategies to showcase the teaching and research that take place on campus and at our clinical teaching sites. To do this, the unit has added capacity in Global Health, Videography and Writing, Web and Social Media Strategy and Graphic Design and Production.
With the addition of these new skills, the communications team has realized the goals set out when the unit was created in 2011. OSCER is now a fully functioning, self-contained “newsroom” for the Faculty, able to pitch stories to traditional media, produce unique content for the web and for the University’s central communications and reach out over social media — all informed by our strategic plan.
OSCER’s work has led to the complete overhaul of our award-winning Medicine Magazine, which now better reflects the interests of readers and has additional online content. OSCER has also re-launched the Faculty of Medicine website. The design includes uniform branding of our academic units and a new user-friendly interactive interface that enables searching and helpful links to commonly accessed information.
Finally, OSCER has also refined internal communications. The newsletter you’re reading now was redesigned earlier in the year, and is constantly being refined to better serve our subscribers.
All of this has been done to make sure that our students, faculty, alumni, supporters, donors and the general public continue to be well informed about the world-leading work we are doing at the Faculty of Medicine. Thanks to the efforts of OSCER, we’re breaking through the clutter of the digital age in new and creative ways.
To learn more, I invite you to follow the Faculty on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
Catharine Whiteside
Dean, Faculty of Medicine
Vice-Provost, Relations with Health Care Institutions
