Dear Students, Colleagues and Friends of AUC,
Happy Holidays! As 2017 comes to a close, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to our entire AUC community. It has been a (very) eventful year, and I continue to be inspired and proud of how AUC unites to tackle adversity head on. After witnessing the extraordinary outpouring of support from family, colleagues, friends and alumni in the wake of Hurricane Irma, I remain convinced there is something incredibly special about AUC.
As a community, we stand steadfast with the people of Sint Maarten, whose holiday spirit is stronger than any category 5 hurricane. Our hearts and thoughts continue to be with them.
The approaching New Year also gives us an opportunity to reflect on the many high notes from 2017. I want to take this opportunity to personally thank and acknowledge the incredible efforts from the entire AUC family to relocate and keep training the world’s future physicians—it was truly a team effort. While many worked tirelessly to relocate classes to Preston, AUC’s clinical department and registrar kept rotations running smoothly and even notched some impressive wins. Our clinical partnerships grew and strengthened and our simulation and education resources expanded. March brought another successful Match season and in May we celebrated the graduation of more than 300 students.
In short, as we temporarily moved our medical sciences campus 4,000 miles northeast, we also continued to move forward.
To our AUC family near and far, I wish you happy and healthy holidays and a wonderful New Year.
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Sincerely,
Heidi Chumley, MD, MBA
Executive Dean
Professor, Behavioral and Clinical Medicine
American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine