2008 Abraham Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical Education
Donald E. Wilson, M.D.
Howard University
University of Maryland School of Medicine
If Donald Wilson were a Broadway show, he'd be "standing room only"
with a very brief intermission. He'd also be one of Broadway's longest-running
productions, having "retired" in 2006 from the University of Maryland
School of Medicine ("Maryland") as the nation's second-longest-serving
medical school dean.
"An innovator in medical education both at the graduate and undergraduate
levels," said Maryland School of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece,
M.D., and Department of Medicine Chair Frank M. Calia, M.D., "Donald
Wilson, M.D. is the quintessential academician."
Currently, Dr. Wilson is reprising his lifelong role as a medical
educator in several capacities. He is senior vice president for
health sciences at Howard University and also John Z. and Akiko
K. Bowers Distinguished Professor at Maryland, where he also is
dean emeritus. Additionally, Dr. Wilson directs the medical school's
Program in Minority Health and Health Disparities Education and
Research.
As Maryland's dean for 15 years, Dr. Wilson was the first African
American to hold that title at an accredited nonminority medical
school and also was the medical school's first vice president for
medical affairs. Prior to coming to Maryland, Dr. Wilson chaired
the department of medicine at the State University of New York,
Downstate Medical Center, College of Medicine in Brooklyn.
As an educator, it may be said that Dr. Wilson regards medical
school as a full dress rehearsal for what students will encounter
in the real-world of medicine. An early advocate of curriculum reform,
he generated greater awareness of problem-based learning and advocated
better integration of basic and clinical education. He also was
an early adopter of new technology, requiring all first-year medical
students to have laptops and making informatics part of the first-year
curriculum.
Dr. Wilson's leadership was also key to Maryland's emergence as
a leading national research institution. In the words of AAMC President
Emeritus Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., "The school underwent a veritable
transformation to become a true educational and research powerhouse."
During Dr. Wilson's tenure, research grants quadrupled, pressing
health issues, such as AIDS and schizophrenia, were tackled and
the school's research capacity was strengthened with the construction
of two biomedical research buildings.
In the policy world, Dr. Wilson has served in numerous national
and state positions, including chair of the National Advisory Council
for Health Care Research and Quality. The National Institutes of
Health also appointed Dr. Wilson several times to serve on agency
committees, including a post on the Advisory Committee to the Director.
His expertise in fiscal and political trends impacting medicine
is widely sought and, when the state of Maryland Health Care Access
and Cost Commission, which he chaired for nine years, merged with
the Health Resources Planning Commission to become the Maryland
Health Care Commission, legislation was passed specifically naming
Dr. Wilson as chair.
His leadership has also touched the stage of academic medicine,
as he peer-reviews post-M.D. training programs for the Accreditation
Council for Graduate Medical Education on its Residency Review Committee
for Internal Medicine. He also served on the Liaison Committee on
Medical Education for 14 years. Within the AAMC, as a member of
the Council of Deans, and later as its chair, Dr. Wilson helped
the council achieve its mission of improving the nation's medical
schools. In 2003, Dr. Wilson was chair of the AAMC Executive Council,
and today serves on the Health Care Advisory Panel.
A native of Worcester, Mass., Dr. Wilson earned his B.A.
degree at Harvard Medical School and his M.D. degree at Tufts University
School of Medicine, completing his internship and residency in Boston
at St. Elizabeth's Hospital and the Veterans Administration Hospital,
respectively. Dr. Wilson's lifelong commitment to diversity in medicine
has been honored numerous times, including his receipt of the first
AAMC Herbert W. Nickens Award for diversity in medicine in 2000.
About the Abraham
Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical Education
The Abraham Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical
Education was established by the AAMC in 1958 to recognize extraordinary
individual contributions to medical schools and to the medical education
community as a whole.
Find out more about the Abraham
Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical Education.
|
