MEET THE NEW DEANS
Meet the New Deans is a new monthly feature introducing recently appointed Deans to the broader ASAHP community. Through a series of questions, we explore their professional journeys, leadership philosophies, and priorities for the future. Read on to get to know this month's featured Dean.
Mark Merrick, PhD, ATC, FNATA, FNAP, FASAHP
Dean, School of Health Professions
University of Alabama at Birmingham
ASAHP: Are there new strategies you’re hoping to implement at your institution in your new role as Dean?
Dean Merrick: Two years ago, I led an ASAHP webinar and then a related session at the ASAHP Annual Conference on upheaval in higher education. We were trying to envision what the future might look like, but we were well-short of predicting the turmoil we are currently experiencing. In his 2023 work, “Whatever it is I’m Against It: Resistance to Change in Higher Education”, Brian Rosenberg points out that higher education is built for incremental change (and then only begrudgingly) and not transformative change. Yet, we are in an era of transformation and we must adapt or perish. I’m hoping to help our faculty understand the magnitude and direction of the changes we must make and create the culture of trust we will need in order to make them. We need to rethink our audience(s), aspirations, and approach and adapt both our provider education programs and research enterprise to meet the needs of tomorrow, not yesterday. That will require thinking and acting across our disciplines and less focus within them.
ASAHP: What do you think is most valuable about being part of a network of Deans within ASAHP?
Dean Merrick: It provides a group of peers who not only understand what it means to be a Dean, but to be a Dean specifically in the Health Professions space. It is a sounding board of people with considerable experience and nuanced understanding of the unique aspects of leading in the health professions. It allows me to triangulate the things I am seeing, discuss potential strategies, and learn from each other’s collective successes and lessons. It is absolutely invaluable for both my school’s success and my own personal development. The relationships I’ve made are an essential part of my toolbox as a Dean.
ASAHP: Why do you think Interprofessional Collaboration is so critical to advancing the mission of health professions?
Dean Merrick: Interprofessional education and practice are not the future of health care. They are the “now” of health care. Health care is a team sport and none of our professions can meet the needs of our patients and clients in isolation. We must learn from each other, adapt alongside each other, and navigate to the future with each other. We are seeing IPCP grow and IPE become more deeply entrenched. I think the next piece is weaning ourselves off our discipline specific worldviews and academic organizational structures and adopting more interwoven and interdependent approaches to organizing our programs and departments. The world has complex problems and we need multiple viewpoints and approaches to solve them.
ASAHP: What’s a little known fact about you?
Dean Merrick: I grew up in Akron Ohio and was involved in Soap Box Derby racing throughout my childhood, building my cars alongside my dad. I learned a lot of valuable lessons about building and fixing things that have shaped my perspectives about my role as a Dean.
ASAHP: If you didn’t work in health professions, what other career path might you have taken?
Dean Merrick: When I graduated high school, I was offered the chance to be the frontman in a band that was going to tour as an opening act for another well-known band. Their lead singer had left for another band and they almost talked me into going on the road instead of going to college!