Dr. Trevonne Thompson, dean of the College of Medicine Rockford, recently attended the Rural Medicine Education Program Hospital Student Networking event, where he spoke with several students.

“That engagement was a rewarding experience,” he said. “The future of medicine is bright, and we are part of training that next generation of physicians who will go out there, live our mission and do wonderful things.”

Thompson began his tenure at the Rockford campus on March 16, replacing Dr. Alex Stagnaro-Green, who stepped down after 12 years as the Rockford regional dean.

More than six months later, Thompson has built connections, trust and rapport with students, staff and faculty on campus.

“I took the time to meet with so many people on various levels to really get a good sense of what’s happening on campus, what’s going well and what the challenges are,” Thompson said. 

His main objective is to follow his vision for the Rockford campus to be a model for excellence in education, clinical care and community-rooted research, guided by transparency. He also wants the campus to be a place where students, staff and faculty thrive and work to advance medicine.

“That’s an overarching vision of an environment that I think we should be operating in to do the things that we will continue to do well in research, rural communities, local communities and what we do in a clinical care prospective,” he said.

Thompson also wants to ensure that the campus continues to remain a model of excellence that’s rooted in the community. 

“We are looking at our community engagement and defining what that means,” he says. “I do think we will see more coordinated community engagement, whether that’s working with city government, local charities or local medical delivery units. We are working towards expanding that in a way that makes sense.”

As he looks forward to the next six months and beyond, Thompson wants to continue building relationships and developing trust within the campus and Rockford community.

“I see greater alignment with some of our strategic partners in the community, and that seems to be forthcoming, and I see us making great strides in philanthropic endeavors,” he said. “There will be announcements of new graduate medical education programs that we will work through and bring online, and you’ll see some wonderful advancements in our education model, because we’ve made some key hires that’ll make that expand, and we’ll have some wonderful outcomes from the Rural Health Transformation Program.

“We will also see a more coordinated community engagement effort from across the campus, as it related to what we’re doing in our local community.”

Thompson said the future is bright on campus, and he’s excited to be along for the ride.

“I’m still enjoying coming to work every day,” he said. “I’m still smiling.”

 — Jermaine Pigee, College of Medicine Rockford