Message sent on behalf of Vikas P. Sukhatme, MD, ScD; J. William Eley, MD, MPH; Heather H. Hamby, MPH; Ira Horowitz, MD; Allan Levey, MD, PhD; Carolyn C. Meltzer, MD, FACR; Carlos del Rio, MD; and Farah Chapes, CPA
Dear SOM leaders,
We appreciate the extraordinary efforts of our department leaders during the COVID-19 outbreak. This continues to be an unprecedented and rapidly evolving situation that requires our continued collaboration to ensure the safety of our providers, patients, learners and colleagues, while we work to ensure continuity of our clinical, research and education missions. The School of Medicine is committed to providing ongoing guidance and support to our leaders. Below, please find updates on a few important topics:
Telecommuting
Given the accelerated Emory University announcement about telecommuting, the closures of schools and child care facilities across our region, and the increasing risks to our employees both on and off campus, we believe it is necessary to accelerate telecommuting for SOM employees who can perform their job duties remotely.
We are confident that our department chairs and administrators will make appropriate decisions about telecommuting arrangements. At the same time, we need to ensure that system-level decisions and operations are driven by data and details that only you can provide. We appreciate your partnership as we face this significant challenge together.
Research
The COVID-19 outbreak has only highlighted the critical importance of maintaining our research enterprise. We know there is uncertainty around how best to identify essential activities, and how to plan for future needs. A team of research leaders across Emory University, Woodruff Health Sciences Center and the School of Medicine has convened to develop more specific guidance related to identifying critical work and managing its impacts on basic and clinical research, labs and core facilities, and clinical trials.
A series of discussions are planned on Monday, March 16, after which we plan to send another update. In the meantime, the following resources provided by the NIH may be useful:
Information Technology
The School of Medicine is set to transition its classroom learning to online offerings beginning tomorrow, March 16. With that in mind, our IT team is working directly with LITS leaders to monitor networking and system performance. Below are a few things to keep in mind and share with your teams during this time:
Also note that broadband service providers are making all Wifi hotspots free to use.
Please continue to call us at 404-727-6648 with any urgent problem and report issues.
We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available. Thank you for all you’re doing and for your commitment to our patients, our learners and each other.
Dear SOM leaders,
We appreciate the extraordinary efforts of our department leaders during the COVID-19 outbreak. This continues to be an unprecedented and rapidly evolving situation that requires our continued collaboration to ensure the safety of our providers, patients, learners and colleagues, while we work to ensure continuity of our clinical, research and education missions. The School of Medicine is committed to providing ongoing guidance and support to our leaders. Below, please find updates on a few important topics:
Telecommuting
Given the accelerated Emory University announcement about telecommuting, the closures of schools and child care facilities across our region, and the increasing risks to our employees both on and off campus, we believe it is necessary to accelerate telecommuting for SOM employees who can perform their job duties remotely.
- Initiation of remote work arrangements for non-clinical faculty and staff remains at the discretion of the department chair. Leaders can immediately authorize remote work arrangements as you deem appropriate.
- If you anticipate that a broad group of employees will need to telecommute, whether beginning on Monday or on a later date, we ask that department administrators use the spreadsheet provided Friday as a tool to assess and track impacts to your teams, and submit your spreadsheet to the School of Medicine by the end of March.
- The spreadsheets will provide the dean’s office with a broad view of workforce impacts and technology needs that we otherwise would not be able to determine. We view this information as critical to being able to adequately support our departments and plan effectively for similar events in the future. At the same time, we recognize the administrative time commitment this will require. If you do not find that fields in columns K through N are useful in making telecommuting decisions for your team, please consider those columns optional.
- To help leaders clarify and document expectations, we are also providing you with a telecommuting agreement form to be completed by School of Medicine employees and submitted to their department leaders. (Note that Emory Healthcare is providing a separate agreement for EHC employees.) We are exploring digital form options to help streamline the signature process and will share an update by EOD Tuesday. Given that many employees will begin telecommuting on Monday, this agreement can be completed and submitted to local leadership retroactively.
We are confident that our department chairs and administrators will make appropriate decisions about telecommuting arrangements. At the same time, we need to ensure that system-level decisions and operations are driven by data and details that only you can provide. We appreciate your partnership as we face this significant challenge together.
Research
The COVID-19 outbreak has only highlighted the critical importance of maintaining our research enterprise. We know there is uncertainty around how best to identify essential activities, and how to plan for future needs. A team of research leaders across Emory University, Woodruff Health Sciences Center and the School of Medicine has convened to develop more specific guidance related to identifying critical work and managing its impacts on basic and clinical research, labs and core facilities, and clinical trials.
A series of discussions are planned on Monday, March 16, after which we plan to send another update. In the meantime, the following resources provided by the NIH may be useful:
- Flexibilities Available to Applicants and Recipients of Federal Financial Assistance Affected by COVID-19: describes short-term administrative flexibilities to assist applicants with managing administrative, financial management and audit requirements
- NIH LATE APPLICATION POLICY Due to Public Health Emergency for United States for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19): describes circumstances in which the NIH will accept late applications
- General Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - Proposal Submission and Award Management Related to COVID-19: addresses general questions associated with proposal submission and award management
Information Technology
The School of Medicine is set to transition its classroom learning to online offerings beginning tomorrow, March 16. With that in mind, our IT team is working directly with LITS leaders to monitor networking and system performance. Below are a few things to keep in mind and share with your teams during this time:
- Continue using the regular channels to access IT support. SOM and University service desks remain available.
- We encourage you to only connect through VPN when necessary (for example, when accessing the G drive or financial systems).
- If using a home computer, ensure it is updated with all the latest security patches.
- Contact IT with any unique needs and we will work to find an optimal solution.
Also note that broadband service providers are making all Wifi hotspots free to use.
Please continue to call us at 404-727-6648 with any urgent problem and report issues.
We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available. Thank you for all you’re doing and for your commitment to our patients, our learners and each other.