The Next Journey Begins

In summer 2023, the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine and University of Utah Health Sciences said goodbye to two people whose dedication and passion significantly changed the institutions to which they dedicated their careers. Dean Wayne Samuelson leaves behind a transformed SFESOM as it advances with a new curriculum into exciting, uncharted medical educational territory. Meanwhile, former director of development Steve Warner, who worked on the fundraising for the new SOM building, also said farewell after decades of connecting donors to buildings, programs, and capital projects that have hugely benefitted U of U Health. They share their stories and top five memories of their time with the university.

THE QUIET WARRIOR

In 1995, Wayne Samuelson, MD ’80, returned to his alma mater, University of Utah Health, to set up an asthma clinic.

“Things cannot get any better,” he told his wife, Marianne. Minutes later, lifelong friend David Bjorkman, MD, then-senior associate dean at University of Utah Health, called. “Want to be dean of admissions?” Bjorkman asked.

Though Samuelson initially declined, Bjorkman knew he was the only person for the job, even if the humble pulmonologist didn’t recognize the breadth of his own skill set.

Samuelson went on to not only be the much- respected dean of admissions—and ultimately dean of medical education for the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine—but also someone who helped change the landscape of admissions policies across the nation. By the time he retired in July 2023, he and his team had just launched a brand-new curriculum positioning SFESOM at the cutting edge of medical education nationwide.

Front and center of the changes Samuelson wrought locally and nationally was championing a re-envisioning of how medical school candidates were assessed—from relying on only test-taking to embracing other skill sets and experiences.

Michigan State University’s Senior Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Wanda Lipscomb met Samuelson in the early 2010s when they worked together as part of the Association of American Medical Colleges’ holistic review advisory group.

Samuelson was “a national influencer and a very early thought leader” in holistic review, Lipscomb says. “Wayne always understood diversity was not about window dressing. Because people who brought in a diversity of life experiences and perspectives would go back and serve their communities in need. That’s what medicine needs.”

In the 2010s, Samuelson began working on an overhaul of the U’s medical education, which would later become known as MedEdMorphosis.

Part of that change was shifting from 2,000 parttime faculty to a core of several hundred physicians whom the SFESOM supports with professional educators. Samuelson wanted SFESOM’s faculty, he says, “to be founded in sound educational principles, on the cutting edge of educational development, and pioneers in education.”

Samuelson fought to change the way faculty and leadership saw the importance of clinical experience, driven in part by his own experience both as a student and as a volunteer co-founder and provider at a community clinic in Midvale (see cover story on page 20).

“I wanted a clinical practice experience where the students were actually invested in contributing to care, rather than just shadowing somebody,” he says. 

Of the many obstacles he had to navigate during his time at SFESOM, March 16, 2020, will remain among the toughest. That day, he told almost 300 students to return home from clinic postings for the foreseeable future after Intermountain Health’s decision to close their facilities to students due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the pandemic ushered in what before had been unimaginable: replacing the long-serving School of Medicine building with a new one comprising state of-the-art technology.

It wasn’t just a new building. Everything changed, from a curriculum built around required practice each year in low-income and indigent clinics to medical school governance to administration and faculty interaction.

“Wayne always understood diversity was not about window dressing.”

A. Lorris Betz Senior Vice President for Health Sciences and CEO of University of Utah Health Dr. Michael Good is particularly excited about the student-led clinics being integrated into the new curriculum and the U of U Health’s innovative approach to longitudinal clerkships—allowing students to become a part of the community in which they work. 

“The changes Dr. Samuelson has put in place will revolutionize medical education,” Good says.

I’ll never forget... 

Acceptance to medical school
“Because of my service in the National Guard and my mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints immediately following it, there was a three-year interval between high school and my first undergraduate course. I didn’t expect to be accepted on my first try. It was a wonderful surprise. I had to take a very heavy course load to finish my BA degree in time to start medical school. I did it in just over two years—an approach I do not recommend.”

Beginning a clinical program in asthma
“Being recruited back to my alma mater was a distinct honor, and I was provided with all the support and resources I needed. I met and had the opportunity to work with some incredible people.”

Serving as dean of medical education and the development of MedEdMorphosis
“There are no better scholars and educators anywhere than here at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine.

Leading the response to a legislative audit
“I learned about administration and the school’s relationship with the legislature and the people of Utah.

Receiving the Distinguished Service Award
“[I was] honored with an award from the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine Alumni Association.”

THE RELATIONSHIP BUILDER

In the early 2000s, University of Utah Health Sciences Development Director Steve Warner took a small group of philanthropists to see Clough Shelton, MD, a world-renowned expert on neuro-otological disorders. Shelton was working on cochlear implants at U of U Health. Shelton introduced his audience to a deaf child and proceeded to put the device on the child—and she was able to hear for the first time.

The donors were in tears.

“How can we participate?” they asked Steve. “How can we get this to more kids or adults who need hearing devices?”

“That’s the moment,” Warner says, “when you don’t have to ask the donor. They ask you.”

Fundraising isn’t about arm-twisting and reaching into a donor’s back pocket, says Warner, who retired— for the second time—in August 2023. Rather, it’s about that magical moment when the donor gets the vision.

For Warner, that story is also a personal example of how his 35 years advancing philanthropy for the university benefitted not only the institution, the community, and the region, but his own family.

“I’ve got a grandson who has cochlear implants,” he says, choking up. “I can talk to my grandson because of this technology that the University of Utah physicians helped develop.”

Warner started fundraising for the University of Utah in 1986 as its first major gifts officer. Those first years were challenging. He was “asking” for the entire campus, knocking on the doors of some of the university’s most successful and wealthy alumni, most of whom lived out of state.

By the end of his first five-year campaign, they had raised $62 million more than their $150 million target. And it didn’t stop there.

Each new building he helped fund was progress.

“Each of the buildings represents a step forward, either in research or in teaching, that allows the university to do its job better,” Steve says.

His lifetime best friend, Ron Larkin, MD ’75, a retired OB/GYN provider and current president of the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine Alumni Association, credits Warner’s success to many factors. There’s his well-honed ability as a conversationalist, his “super-enthusiasm,” and the sincerity he brings to building relationships.  

“You can’t just go ask for donations,” Larkin says. “He really is a friend. And he’s sincerely interested in people.”

That’s something A. Lorris Betz Senior Vice President for Health Sciences and CEO of University of Utah Health Dr. Michael Good noted when he joined the university in 2018.

“He had deep relationships with so many people in our community who had been supporters of the university not just for decades but for generations,” Good says. “He knew them; he knew their families. And he had a way of drawing on those relationships to understand what excited folks and where we needed private support—helping connect the dots between exciting programs at the university and the passion of our philanthropists.”

Over his time as a development director, one of the donors Warner grew close to was the late Ezekiel R. “Zeke” Dumke Jr., who gave and participated in many health science areas, bringing excellence to the practical application of medicine—whether it be education, cutting-edge medical equipment, or larger capital projects.

“Steve and Dad shared a lot of similar qualities,” says Zeke’s daughter Claire Ryberg. “I think Dad saw Steve as a guy that understood his big picture, 30,000-foot-view approach to things. Steve could help grab onto some of those bigger ideas and bring them into the realm of ‘How can we make this reality? Who are the people we need to gather?’”

In 2012, Warner retired, and he and his wife, Liz, moved to Hawaii. There, he became mission president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, responsible for 550 young missionaries and 200 senior couples.

In Warner’s third year in Hawaii, the university asked him if he would be interested in returning to help raise funds for a new School of Medicine building, which would eventually be the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine. That building will open in 2025 (read more about the SFESOM in the Fall 2023 UtahMed).

As he re-enters retirement, Warner says, at its heart, philanthropy is “a monument to donors’ goodness and generosity. That should be recognized.”

He concludes, “It’s not dollars. It’s about dreams that we’re going to make reality.”

I’ll never forget...  

The first building project
“I was assigned to work on the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Broadcast Center. It was part of the University of Utah’s first $150M campaign. I worked with Annette Cumming to raise the needed private funding to move KUED and KUER out of Gardner Hall into a new home.”

The William H. and Patricia W. Child Emergency Room in the Eccles Critical Care Pavilion
“Bill and Pat stepped up to fund this critical component of University Hospital’s expansion.”

The Moran Eye Center
“I worked with Dr. Randy Olson to close the gift from John Moran to help build the expanded eye institute at the U.”

Working with Clark Giles
“We brought about the Emma Eccles Jones Medical Research Building that houses pathology and biochemistry.”

The Eccles Health Sciences Education Building
“Spencer and Cleone Eccles saw the vision and need for this teaching facility—and became the main donors for it.”