December 5, 2014March 21, 2016 by William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP

We make lives better.

The 2014 President’s Gala, called An Evening of Promise, honored Patricia and Tom Frost (middle), longtime supporters of the Health Science Center. Standing with the Frosts are William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, president of the Health Science Center (left), and honorary gala chair Bartell Zachry and his wife, Mollie (right).

Those words are more than just our institutional tag line. They are the job description of everyone at our institution who, through transformational research, education, clinical care and community service, seeks to make a difference in the world.

The cover story of this Mission illustrates that and honors our faculty and what they bring to their jobs, from the occupational therapist who moonlights as a clown and occasionally taps into her bag of whimsical props to help make patients’ hands stronger, to the surgeon who burrows in fields of wildflowers to take photographs and embraces the beauty, silence and peace that may elude him in the operating room. He does this so that he can bring that same concentration to his job.

There is also the story of a brave group of Latina breast cancer survivors who, working through our Institute for Health Promotion Research, share their stories of courage and vitality so that cancer survivors everywhere can remember why they fight and, most importantly, that they don’t fight alone.

We highlight our School of Nursing researchers who are working steadfastly to address the critical issue of nursing shortages by ferreting out the root causes of nursing stress. Someday, thanks to their work, those stressors can be reduced, or even eliminated, and retention rates will rise.

You’ll also read about the remarkable work of ourCancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) faculty, as well as those donors who help make it possible, as we celebrate an important milestone—40 years of working to annihilate cancer.

We believe in doing whatever it takes to make lives better every day. And we recognize a critical fact: We don’t do it alone. It is through your help and your belief in our commitment to the health of the world that we continue onward toward our ultimate goal.

Thank you for supporting the Health Science Center and thank you for working with us to make those four simple, yet vital, words ring true.