The Mission, Vision, Essential Values, and Guiding Principles of Wake Forest University Health Sciences*

MISSION: To improve the health and well-being of all people by cultivating the discovery, teaching, and applications of biomedical knowledge

VISION: To create a premier, dynamic academic environment that attracts and nurtures outstanding faculty, staff, and students who are dedicated to our mission to promote health and cure disease

ESSENTIAL VALUES:

Collegiality - Promoting an environment that fosters mutual respect and rewards collaboration

Compassion - Being aware of and responsive to the physical, emotional, spiritual, and  intellectual needs of others

Diversity - Supporting and fostering an environment that enhances cross-cultural awareness and protects the dignity of all, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or physical ability

Excellence - Being committed to provide superior education, patient care, and research

Innovation - Discovering cutting-edge knowledge and developing new ideas for enhancing quality, efficiency, and the most effective prevention, treatment, and cure of disease

Integrity - Demonstrating fairness, honesty, sincerity, and a commitment to consistent adherence to our mission, vision, and values

Mentorship - Encouraging the open exchange of ideas and facilitating the growth and advancement of individuals

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

We are committed to excellence, innovation, and the creation of synergy among the key components of our mission in education, research, and clinical care, placing preeminence upon the well-being of our patients in our decision making.

We are committed to the creation, discovery, delivery, and dissemination of new biomedical knowledge, and we measure our excellence against other outstanding academic medical centers with a similar tripartite mission.

We hold ourselves accountable for incorporating our mission, vision, and values into all operational processes, decision making, partnerships, and actions of the institution, especially acknowledging our major partnerships with North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest University.

We are committed to enhancing the health, economic, and overall well-being of our community. We exercise continuous and vigilant self-evaluation to assess our goals and our progress towards achieving those goals.

We are accountable for ensuring positive operating results in order to recruit and retain exceptional and innovative people, thereby securing our long-term success.

We recognize that it is outstanding, dedicated people, working as a team, who make our mission, vision, and principles a reality.

We hold that sustaining the institutional mission and vision supersedes the self-interest or self-promotion of any individual organizational unit.

*Adopted in 2004