Mats Larhed: A strategy is only as good as its implementation

The 2020–2021 academic year has been greatly shaped by not only the continuing all-encompassing COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced us to operate under severe constraints and difficulties, but also the work to finalise our goals and strategies, which we call Vision: Medfarm.

When the reality of the pandemic quickly became a university-wide concern last autumn, the Vice-Chancellor decided to adapt activities to minimise any possible spread of infection. Since then, the absolute majority of our teaching has been conducted online, while practical elements and placements that could not be done in digital form were handled on site. Writing something positive about this horrible pandemic that the world is suffering feels a bit distasteful. But one thing is crystal clear – the pandemic has further highlighted the importance and the very great need for the Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy’s programmes, research and other activities.

I am extremely proud of how we have collectively managed this trying time. By continuing in the same vein, we can eventually emerge from this even stronger. The natural Medfarm spirit, your responsibility, your commitment and your talent are what make this disciplinary domain special and successful, both today and in the future. I would like to extend a big thank you to all staff and all students!

Thanks to well-structured work, it has been possible to not only keep the most urgent things going during the year but also to complete the work with Vision: Medfarm. To enable the broadest possible collegial participation, planned workshops, off-campus professional development, seminars and work meetings were reorganised into digital exercises. It was very pleasing to see that attendance remained good and a high level of creativity could be maintained. Our new goals and strategies have now been reported to the Vice-Chancellor.

However, a strategy is only as good as its implementation, and implementing a strategy is about getting people to all pull in the same direction to achieve a result together. I hope that the clear milestones in Vision: Medfarm will enable us to realise our ambitions step by step. The next stage will therefore be to begin making the objectives of Vision: Medfarm more concrete. The implementation work will already begin during activity planning for 2022, even though it will not be possible to allocate resources to large parts of the efforts until the period 2023–2025.

In the continuing work to realise Vision: Medfarm, more valuable insights and new proposals will certainly be discussed. An important part of the process going forward will therefore be to focus on developing a plan for how these insights will be captured, structured and followed up in a useful way to improve and revise the strategy. Let’s continue to meet and discuss!

It is my hope that Vision: Medfarm will provide both inspiration and guidance for all staff members, students and partners for the next five years so that by the end of 2026 we can look back together on another positive period of development for the Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy.

As we look back on the 2020–2021 academic year, we have many reasons to be proud of what we have achieved together. We have worked on a bigger mission than ever before, and done so under extraordinary circumstances. And we did it with flying colours! I want to thank you once again and wish you all a very well-deserved and enjoyable summer.

Mats Larhed
Vice-Rector
The Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy.