Dean's Update
June 13, 2025 - Aron Sousa, MD
Above (l-r): Aron, Adam Kapp, Samantha Shook, Olivia Gardiner, Faheed Shafau, and Andrew Dallas at the Remembrance Conference in Buffalo, NY.
Friends,
Last weekend, the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University at Buffalo and the Michigan State College of Human Medicine held the second annual Remembrance Conference this time in Buffalo. Dean Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, the team at Jacobs (shoutouts particularly to David Milling, MD, and Julie Szrama); and their remarkable community and academic partners were excellent hosts, and the conference continues to build on the strength of last year’s conference at MSU.
The Remembrance Conference comes out of a student and faculty exchange between the Jacobs School and our college as a response to mass shootings in our communities. In May 2023, we sent a group of students and faculty to Buffalo for the one-year remembrance of the Tops Supermarket shooting in Buffalo in which an avowed white supremist shot 13 people, killing ten African Americans. In February 2024, the Jacobs School sent students and faculty to East Lansing for our first conference at the time of the one-year remembrance of the shooting at MSU and were joined by faculty and students from ten other medical schools. The conference has continued to grow from there.
In addition to me, our college delegation included five students. I asked them each to provide a brief piece about their experience at the conference:
From Andrew Dallas (rising MS2):
The Remembrance Conference hosted by the Jacobs School of Medicine was a privilege to attend. Recently, I feel a sense of unity with my neighbors in the community has been missing from my life. I felt like this conference was a needed reminder of the good work people are doing every day that media companies gloss over. I found myself in classrooms with various deans representing programs of medicine, social work, and public health; in tandem with community leaders such as police chiefs, non-profit representatives, community advocates, district attorneys, physicians, and political representatives. All these people came together to present and discuss on the topic of the gun violence epidemic facing communities across the nation, and solutions being implemented to prevent gun violence that our country has grown accustomed to.
A line that stuck with me came from a community advocate, he stated "Advocacy comes when we cannot rest knowing the conditions of squalor some of our brothers and sisters live in." This conference reminded me of the universal notion that comes with community - it takes a village. It takes a village to make our neighborhoods safer, to care for society's children, to speak up for those that cannot, and to play a role in the pursuit of a more equitable and just society.
From Adam Kapp (rising MS4):
Having the privilege to attend the 2025 Remembrance Conference in Buffalo was one of the most impactful experiences of my time in medical school. Spending time with leaders in public health and members of the Buffalo community and hearing not only their grief, but also their resilience and urgent calls for justice and reform deeply reshaped my understanding of what it means to show up for a community as a physician. It helped me develop a stronger appreciation for the reality that medicine does not and cannot operate in a vacuum. Our responsibilities extend beyond the walls of the hospital and into the wounds of society. The stories and discussions shared throughout the conference emphasized firearm violence as a public health crisis that demands our attention, our voices, and our action. We heard directly from advocates and families who challenged us to think about prevention rather than just response, and who made it clear that clinical compassion must be connected to civic engagement. I left Buffalo reminded that compassion is not passive. It requires presence, discomfort, and action. I truly feel more empowered and committed than ever to becoming a physician who stands with, and not just for, my patients, my community, and the broader movement to address the root causes of firearm violence through advocacy, policy change, and public health leadership.
From Samantha Shook (rising MS4):
Attending the Remembrance Conference in Buffalo was a truly meaningful experience that not only reinforced my passion for firearm injury prevention but also affirmed the importance of this work within medical education. As president of Scrubs Addressing the Firearm Epidemic (SAFE) at the College of Human Medicine, it was so inspiring to be surrounded by both peers, as well as leaders from across the country, who all share a strong commitment to treating firearm violence as what it is: a public health crisis.
While reflecting on my journey back home, one realization that stood out most to me was how powerful advocacy can be when paired with community engagement. The opportunity to listen to those directly affected by gun violence, while also engaging in hands-on activities such as painting memorial pavers for a local remembrance garden and creating luminaries for those who have lost their lives to gun violence, tremendously deepened my understanding of the power of community healing and advocacy when combined. I left the conference feeling more inspired than ever to strengthen our local efforts, grow our SAFE chapter’s initiatives, and share what I have learned with others to uplift the voices of those most impacted.
From Olivia Gardiner (rising M2):
The Remembrance Conference at the University of Buffalo was a profoundly impactful weekend full of reflection and inspiration that left me with a renewed sense of purpose. It was especially moving hearing from the mother of a Tops Supermarket mass shooting victim, who shared how long-term disinvestment in her East Side neighborhood influenced her experience with gun violence. She highlighted her desire for more intervention when she first witnessed a shooting as a child or when families of victims are left to pick up the pieces without the support of a therapist or other crucial resources. I was reminded of how critical it is to listen directly to communities about what they actually need, rather than to assume solutions. Multiple speakers highlighted resource scarcity as a key structural issue in communities disproportionately affected by gun violence and underscored the fact that we can’t entirely address gun violence without addressing poverty. Through sessions on gun violence interruption and radical intervention, I saw how providing comprehensive support to individuals most at risk can have transformative effects. As a future physician, I gained practical tools for having meaningful, safety-centered conversations about firearms with patients. Most of all, I now see more clearly how I can be a part of the solution in the clinic and in my community.
From Faheed Shafau (rising M2):
Participating in the Remembrance Conference in Buffalo was an enlightening experience. When presented with the opportunity, I initially thought it would represent the symbolic collaboration between MSU and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Buffalo to remember the victims of each respective mass shooting. Upon the start of the conference, I quickly realized how much deeper the experience was and how impactful and informative it proved to be. As a student who was a Resident Assistant in a dormitory on campus during the MSU shooting, I made the connection that the conference was an opportunity to understand better how we, as future physicians, can help prevent gun violence. What I experienced far exceeded my expectations. I listened to physicians who routinely saw gunshot victims, to local pastors and social workers deeply ingrained in healing within their communities, and to people from Buffalo impacted by gun violence. An unavoidable reality is that gun violence impacts virtually everyone in America in some capacity. The root causes of gun violence are complex and multifaceted, from radicalization through hateful rhetoric to environments of poverty, neglect, and abuse. What I now know is that it is a collective issue that requires a collective effort. As future health care providers and as members of our communities, we must come to know gun violence as the public health crisis that it is. Until we collectively take serious action to address the cycle of violence, we will not only allow it to continue, but we may ultimately become a part of it too.
I take great pride in our students and how they engage in society’s challenges wherever they are. We should all be proud of these five students and their dedication to caring for the people around them.
And, now for something completely different. Last week, the college submitted its proposed 6% general funding cuts to the university. The university will review these cuts and get back to us by July 1 at which point we will begin the real work. Most of the reductions come from open positions and some service line cuts that were already in the works. These cuts are difficult, to be sure, but we are doing our best to preserve people’s jobs while we keep doing the work of the college. My thanks to all the units for their thoughtful approach and to Brad Kline and his team for all the meetings, analysis, and support. It is so important to have a banker who believes in the mission.
And this week, we are looking for nominations for college committees. We depend on faculty to join these committees so we can admit students, manage the curriculum, promote people, etc. Service in academic governance is required for the college to run, and many of us in administration got our first leadership opportunities through academic governance. You can serve by nominating yourself or a buddy through the nomination survey. Don’t miss it if you can.
Serving the people with you,
Aron
Aron Sousa, MD, FACP
Dean, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine