Friends, 

This week I visited the LCCAC and the RFU Medical Clinic at the CAC. I have written about this collaboration before and the important work this partnership does for child survivors of abuse. Reading and learning about this project is eye opening, and actually visiting the center and clinic is inspiring. I had a conversation with the RFU team, the mental health therapists, state’s attorney lawyers, law enforcement, and child advocates of the LCCAC.

That conversation focused on how the multi-disciplinary team, including the RFU providers, supports the children from their intake through on-going mental health support. We also talked about ACEs, , and how those can impact health in the long term. The experiences to bring kids to the CAC count as ACEs, and we discussed what that might mean for the future health needs of these survivors. There is reason to believe that ACEs lead to DNA changes like methylation and that some of those “epigenetic” DNA changes can be passed from one generation to the next. and probably specific to particular experiences and sections of DNA. There is data , and it is important to mitigate these experiences as best we can for their child’s future health. In the future it might be possible for RFU and our colleagues to look at interventions to help these children - that is the kind of work universities can do.

This update is shorter than some because much of the week was spent on prepping for the March meeting of the RFUMS Board of Trustees and the Health Clinics Board of Directors. Some of our meetings are virtual, but this week the meeting was in person, and it was the first time I shook hands with most of them since my final interview last fall. We had a good meeting, and I want to thank Johnna Purcell and Alex Henkel for handling all of the logistics, planning, and prep work. Each committee has an executive lead, and I want to thank Bruce Jefferson (Audit), Gavin Ferry (Finance), James Carlson (Academic Affairs), Jan Urban (Research), Jeff Espina (Clinics), and Lee Concha (Governance) for all of their work. In addition, Lee heads up all of our board work and did a great presentation on the strategic plan Wednesday evening. (She will do a Town Hall on the strategic plan this summer.) The Board clearly appreciates all of the work we have been doing to get to a break even budget, as well as the changes that have improved the finances of the clinics and the endowment. Our board members enjoyed having enjoyed having lunch with students after the meeting as well as the tour of the Virtual Health System we will open formally in the fall. This 22,000 square foot simulation facility has emergency, outpatient, operating room, ambulance, and labor and delivery spaces as well as flexible spaces and equipment we can use to create we could hope to simulate for learners. It will be a national example of how to use interprofessional education in health care profession curricula.

Because some meetings are virtual, the board does not always get a chance to meet people on campus and see what we do. The tour and lunch with students was a lovely way for them to close out their successful two days of meetings. Even in that short time, they got a sense of how dedicated our faculty and staff are to our students and how dedicated the students are to making the world a better place.

Improving the wellness of all people with you, 

Aron