James Woolliscroft Named Executive Associate Dean

James O. Woolliscroft, M.D., professor of internal medicine, the Josiah Macy, Jr. Professor of Medical Education, and associate dean for graduate medical education, has been appointed executive associate dean of the Medical School.

“Jim’s expertise and vision have been invaluable to me during my first year as dean, and I look forward to his help as we continue to position the University of Michigan Medical School to be the best in the country,” said Dean Allen Lichter upon Woolliscroft’s appointment. “We are thrilled to have Jim increase his role in Medical School administration.”

Woolliscroft’s responsibilities as executive associate dean include assisting in the management of day-to-day operations of the Medical School. He has direct responsibility for working with the associate deans for clinical affairs, student programs, medical education, faculty affairs, and research and graduate studies. “Jim will be integral to the School’s strategic planning and priority setting and the development and implementation of new initiatives,” said Lichter. Woolliscroft continues to oversee graduate medical education and the new school-based initiatives in telemedicine, tele-education and international health.

Woolliscroft received his M.D. degree from the University of Minnesota in 1976. He completed his internship and residency training in internal medicine at the University of Michigan in 1980. He was appointed to the U-M Medical School faculty in 1980 as an instructor in the Department of Internal Medicine, and achieved the rank of professor in 1993. Woolliscroft was selected as the nation’s first Josiah Macy, Jr. Professor of Medical Education, an endowed professorship awarded by the 70-year-old New York-based Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, in 1996. Since the mid-1960s the Foundation has focused on the education of health professionals, particularly physicians.

In addition to his clinical activities as a general internist, Woolliscroft is a nationally prominent researcher and has published extensively in the field of medical education. Throughout his academic career at Michigan, Woolliscroft has been an institutional leader in the application of educational theory to physician education. He served as course director for clinical skills, introduction to clinical sciences, and the internal medicine clerkship.

He served on the Dean’s Committee on Curriculum Improvement, the committee that laid the groundwork for the revision of the Medical School’s curriculum. He was associate chair of undergraduate education in the Department of Internal Medicine from 1987-1994. In 1995 he was elected to a two-year tenure as chief of clinical affairs of the University of Michigan Hospitals. In conjunction with his role as chief of clinical affairs, he also served as assistant dean for clinical affairs in the U-M Medical School. In 1998 he was appointed associate dean and director of graduate medical education.