{"id":3942,"date":"2020-02-10T11:38:26","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T15:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/?p=3942"},"modified":"2020-04-03T10:52:12","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T14:52:12","slug":"dr-donald-e-wilson-first-african-american-dean-of-the-school-of-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/?p=3942","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Donald E. Wilson, first African-American Dean of the School of Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Health Sciences and Human Services Library Historical Collections\u2019 strives to provide broad access to our diverse collections both in person and digitally. Materials in our collections appear as they originally were published or created and may contain offensive or inappropriate language or images and may be offensive to users. The University of Maryland, Baltimore does not endorse the views expressed in these materials. Materials should be viewed in the context within they were created.<\/em><\/sup><\/p>\n

\"Photograph<\/a>

Dr. Donald E. Wilson, Dean of School of Medicine, 1991-2006 from Centuries of Leadership: Deans of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1991, the University of Maryland School of Medicine named Dr. Donald E. Wilson the thirtieth dean of the school.\u00a0 At this time, Dr. Wilson was the first and only African-American dean at a traditionally white medical school.<\/p>\n

Dr. Wilson earned his Bachelor\u2019s Degree in 1954 from Harvard College (now University) and graduated from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1962.\u00a0 He was a first-generation college graduate.\u00a0 Prior to coming to UMB, Dr. Wilson became the youngest person to achieve full professor status at the University of Illinois Medical School, and then served as physician at University Hospital and Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn New York, while serving as chair of Medicine at SUNY Health Science Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After arriving at UMB, Dr. Wilson faced many challenges, the most pressing was state-mandated budget cuts; in 1992 Maryland state funding for the school was down to ten percent.\u00a0 Yet, Dr. Wilson managed to increase staff,<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Table<\/a>

Increase in full-time faculty members during Dr. Wilson’s tenure. Shows strong growth of women and minority faculty during that time as well.<\/p><\/div>\n

faculty, and enrollment numbers during his tenure.\u00a0 Dr. Wilson also increased the number of woman faculty in the school of medicine by 75 percent and tripled the number of minority faculty members.\u00a0 He was an advocate for diversity in health care providers and research as well as sought to better reach underserved populations.\u00a0 In 2004, he established the Center for Health Disparities.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to diversity concerns, Dr. Wilson introduced curriculum changes, introducing more practical, hands-on instruction with less emphasis on theory and book instruction.\u00a0 He wanted his faculty to work more closely with the students.\u00a0 He also grew research funding for the school from $77 million to $341 million, leading the school to the upper-levels of American medical intuitions. He also oversaw the construction of two new medical buildings: Health Sciences Facility I and II.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to serving as Dean, Dr. Wilson held several leadership positions in medical and academic organizations including, chairing the Association of American Medical Colleges in 2004, chairing the Maryland Health Care Commission from 1994 to 2004, and founding the Association for Academic Minority Physicians.\u00a0 Dr. Wilson retired in 2006, citing health concerns from kidney disease as well as the desire to spend more time with family.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

References:<\/sub><\/p>\n

Centuries of Leadership: Deans of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.<\/em> (2006) Retrieved from: http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/10713\/4797<\/a><\/sub><\/p>\n

Hill, Michael. (Aug. 11, 1992) \u201cDean\u2019s Vision for UMAB medical school stays focused despite year of budget woes.\u201d The Sun<\/em>. Retrieved from Wilson, Donald E. Vertical File Historical Collections, Health Sciences and Human Services Library.<\/sub><\/p>\n

Meisol, Patricia. (1991) \u201cUM medical school gets reform-minded new dean.\u201d Retrieved from Wilson, Donald E. Vertical File Historical Collections, Health Sciences and Human Services Library.<\/sub><\/p>\n

Ramsay, David J. (2005) \u201cUniversity of Maryland School of Medicine Dean Donald Wilson Set to Retire in 2006 After 15 Years of Leadership.\u201d Retrieved from Wilson, Donald E. Vertical File Historical Collections, Health Sciences and Human Services Library.<\/sub><\/p>\n

Wilson, Donald E. (2006) University of Maryland School of Medicine State of the School Address, 2006. <\/em>Retrieved from: http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/10713\/4302<\/a><\/sub><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1991, the University of Maryland School of Medicine named Dr. Donald E. Wilson the thirtieth dean of the school.\u00a0 At this time, Dr. Wilson was the first and only African-American dean at a traditionally white medical school. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3944,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,11],"tags":[200,185],"class_list":["post-3942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historical-collections","category-medicine","tag-black-history-month","tag-umbsom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3942"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3942"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3947,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3942\/revisions\/3947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.hshsl.umaryland.edu\/hslupdates\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}