Eric Ayers, M.D., has not only committed to healing his patients one at a time, he also has taken on the task of healing Detroit and the southeast Michigan region.

Dr. Ayers, assistant professor of internal medicine/pediatrics and associate program director of internal medicine/pediatrics with the Wayne State University School of Medicine, has joined the 29^th Leadership Detroit class. The program, directed by the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, seeks to educate and dedicate community leaders to work toward the revitalization of Detroit. Class members are committed to the project for a year, but “hopefully also for a lifetime,” noted Dr. Ayers.

“We can effect change in a positive way,” said Dr. Ayers, a 1989 graduate of the School of Medicine. “Detroit is the hub. It doesn’t matter if you’re from Detroit or the suburbs, it all hinges on the fate of Detroit. Everything revolves around Detroit. We are all Detroiters. The suburbs can’t exist without Detroit.”

Dr. Ayers and his 62 classmates began their work in September, and will continue studying the issues of economic prosperity, education preparedness, race relations, regional transit and quality of life through June. Their findings and recommendations will be forwarded to the One D: Transforming the Detroit Region initiative.

Leadership Detroit members are examining methods to restore and expand the vitality of Detroit. Dr. Ayers noted that education and a region’s prosperity are intertwined. “College graduates want to live in a city with vitality. The difference between college graduates of yesteryear and today is that they travel in packs. The pack decides where it wants to live – in an area with ‘grit and dirt’ – and then the members look for employment. We need to continue the development of lofts and condos in the heart of the city to retain and attract college graduates. We have to keep them here to revitalize, and we have to attract them from outside the region.”

To study the issue of homelessness, class members had a choice of receiving a food basket from a charity, working in a kitchen serving the homeless, driving a van to deliver homeless to a shelter or live on a homeless person’s menu allowance of $1.09 per meal for five days. Dr. Ayers chose the latter, living off of chicken bullion cubes and Ramen noodles. “You get pretty hungry,” he said. He also spent two nights living in a shelter for the homeless.

“We need to see what we can do for the least of us,” said Dr. Ayres. “It gave me a definite insight. While I don’t live a privileged life, it showed me that I do indeed live a privileged life compared to the homeless. It also helped me to realize what some of my patients go through on a daily basis to struggle to stay alive. They need to be included in the solution.”

Because of the region’s history of plentiful factory and manufacturing jobs, it was easy to make a fairly good living with only a high school education. Perhaps due to that heritage, Dr. Ayers pointed out, one poll shows that in Michigan only 26 percent of people think a college education is important. “In the city of Detroit itself, only 11 percent of people have a college education. The education process is crucial. We need to change that concept not just in the minds of students, but in the minds of their parents,” he said.

The class visited two charter schools and one public school, looking for best practices in education. Some class members “adopted” those schools, either financially or by mentoring students.

Dr. Ayers, who was nominated for the project by several colleagues and a graduate of an earlier class, said the experience has developed additional leadership skills that he is now honing in the workplace.

“People always assume that when you are a physician you have leadership skills. I decided that if I am going to be a leader in the area of healthcare, I need to mingle with leaders in the community outside of healthcare,” Dr. Ayers said. “We need to create partnerships with the business community. Businesses and government are creating partnerships, and the School of Medicine needs to be a part of that.”

While Dr. Ayers committed to an additional three hours a week and a monthly meeting in his already-busy schedule, he credited School of Medicine Dean Robert Mentzer Jr. with facilitating his participation in Leadership Detroit. “It’s a great experience, and I have to thank Dean Mentzer for investing in the program and investing in me.”