A return to normalcy didn’t quite happen in 2021 as the heartbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to fade ever so slowly – and then resurge, time and again. Despite it all, UT Southwestern’s faculty, staff, students, and trainees charged onward, embracing a new reality and remaining positive and mission-focused.

Our charge as an academic medical center is really quite simple: We are unstoppable in our quest to improve the health of the public, whatever that takes. It means staying compassionate, confident, focused, and strong, even in the face of life-or-death and complex medical procedures. It involves spending hours poring over datasets and using artificial intelligence to pinpoint skin cancer risk. It entails embracing new fields such as clinical informatics to arm the next generation of caregivers with new tools to improve patient care. And it sometimes requires taking a hard look at ourselves, improving where needed to achieve a culture of diversity and inclusiveness.

In this Year in Review, take a look back at 2021 to learn how UT Southwestern kept pushing forward, accelerating on all fronts, to advance the future of medicine and meet the health care needs of the community.