William Crossland, Ph.D., was recently honored with the prestigious Wayne State University President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Dr. Crossland, an associate professor in the department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, is being recognized for his outstanding contributions to teaching at the School of Medicine with a $2,500 award and a citation from President Irvin D. Reid.

 “Teaching was always something I was proud of,” said Dr. Crossland. “Receiving this award is a tremendous source of satisfaction. It’s nice to be recognized by your colleagues, but the real source of satisfaction is the lectures, the labs and the interactions with students. In the labs, you really get an opportunity to interact with the students. The more I talk with them, the more I seem to like them.”

Dr. Crossland joined the department of Anatomy & Cell Biology in 1975 and has served as an associate professor since 1980.

“Every year is different. They each have their own characteristics,” he said. “Over time, ideas can change and interpretations can change but the basic goal is always certain. The bedrock of information must be provided so that students have what they need to become clinicians.”

Dr. Crossland’s research interests focus on the formation and maintenance of neuronal connections in the visual system. Over the years, he has seen his obligations shift and evolve between researcher and educator. “In research, it is exciting to look over something and see what no one has seen before. I feel a spirit of adventure, and I see that in teaching too.

“As a teacher, it’s important to never let yourself be fooled. I’ve always liked the analogy that educators are only gardeners. It is the students who must learn and grow on their own.”

John M. Flack, M.D., M.P.H., was appointed Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine for the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

“Dr. John Flack is well qualified to serve as a leader in such a key department,” said Robert M. Mentzer Jr., M.D., dean of the School of Medicine and senior advisor to the President for Medical Affairs. Dr. Mentzer announced Flack’s appointment March 14. “Dr. Flack’s appointment is the culmination of an intense national search process that resulted in the identification of outstanding candidates. Those who have worked with and for Dr. Flack know of his dedication to medicine, his love for the city of Detroit and his strong commitment to the School of Medicine’s missions of education and clinical care for the uninsured and underinsured of the Detroit region. Dr. Flack’s vision for the department is one that is expansive and involves reaching out to the metropolitan community and engaging healthcare partners who are committed to revitalization of our city and region. He is truly a visionary who wishes to make a difference; he thinks of the future, not the past. ”

“I am honored to have been appointed the permanent chair of the Wayne State University Department of Medicine,” said Dr. Flack, 51, who has been serving as interim chair. “This appointment comes with significant challenges as well as opportunities that I am excited to undertake. The greatest opportunities have a habit of arising from the most challenging situations. I am very optimistic about our future because of the ingenuity, creativity and perseverance of our faculty and staff in their pursuit of our major mission areas.”

Dr. Flack is a widely recognized specialist in clinical hypertension and principal investigator of the Center for Urban and African American Health at Wayne State University.

Repeatedly named one of the “Best Doctors in America,” Dr. Flack has received the Pillar of Excellence Award from the Michigan Peer Review Organization and the Health Care Hero Award from Crain’s Detroit Business in 2005 for health disparities-related research.

Dr. Flack received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Langston University in 1978 and his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (UOHSC) in 1982. He served as chief medicine resident at UOHSC from 1982 to 1986. He received his master’s of public health degree in epidemiology and completed a National Institutes of Health fellowship in cardiovascular epidemiology at the University of Minnesota in 1990. He joined the Wayne State University School of Medicine as associate chair of the Department of Medicine in 1997.

“I have several priorities that I wish to accomplish with a sense of urgency,” Dr. Flack said. “One is to upgrade every aspect of our ambulatory clinic operations. Accordingly, a priority is to implement strategies to ensure high-quality, patient-friendly services for patients cared for in our clinics. An important step toward strengthening the Department of Medicine will be to successfully recruit outstanding leaders for several of our clinical divisions, including cardiology, hematology-oncology and rheumatology. And, finally, we will continue our pursuit of outstanding faculty to lead new and innovative trans-disciplinary clinical and research programs within the department.”

The School of Medicine, said Dr. Flack, is home to a collection of outstanding physicians who provide irreplaceable, accessible, high-quality medical care to the residents of Detroit, the metropolitan area and beyond. “The expertise amongst faculty in the various specialties is highly impressive,” he said. “Many faculty are regional, national and internationally recognized leaders in their respective fields. These highly accomplished faculty provide tremendous visibility and recognition to our medical center while providing excellent medical care to our patients as well as exemplary teaching and role modeling for WSU trainees at all levels.”

Flack and his wife live in Orchard Lake. They have five daughters.

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.”

Barry Rosen, Ph.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Wayne State University School of Medicine, has been elected president of the Association of Medical and Graduate Departments of Biochemistry (AMGDB), the national organization of biochemistry departments. The association represents medical school and graduate departments in addressing key issues related to biomedical science, health research and education.

Dr. Rosen is a world-renowned scientist at the School of Medicine whose research has been continuously funded for 35 years, and he is presently the holder of three major grants from the National Institutes of Health, with nearly $1 million per year in funding. Dr. Rosen’s research in the area of arsenic detoxification is at the forefront of his field, and he is one of the leading experts in this field worldwide.

As AMGDB president, Dr. Rosen will speak on many important topics regarding biomedical science and education with key members of the House and Senate at the National Caucus of Basic Biomedical Science Chairs’ visit to Congress later this year. The Caucus emphasizes the need to maintain our nation's leadership in scientific discovery and improvements in the quality of life.

Professor of surgery Allen Silbergleit, M.D., Ph.D., was among residency program directors recently awarded the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s (ACGME) 2007 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award.

The award is named after Parker J. Palmer, Ph.D., a sociologist and educator who wrote “The Courage to Teach,” a book of reflections on the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual aspects of teaching. Each year the ACGME chooses recipients from among numerous nominees submitted to the council. The award honors program directors for their exemplary teaching of residents and leadership of innovative and effective residency programs.

“For a person who believes that the greatest calling in life is teaching and who believes in his work with every fiber of his being, the Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award might as well be the Nobel Prize,” said Dr. Silbergleit. “What could be more important than the advancement of civilization by the young men and women we imbue with the spirit of humanism and inquiry?”

Winners were honored at a dinner during the ACGME’s winter Board of Directors meeting.

Vijay Mittal, MD, Chair of the Southeast Michigan Center for Medical Education (SEMCME) Surgery Committee, member of the SEMCME Board of Directors, and clinical associate professor of surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine was recently elected President of the International College of Surgeons (U.S. Section).