Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has appointed Kimberlydawn Wisdom (M.D. 1982), assistant professor of medical education in the University of Michigan Medical School, to be the state’s first surgeon general. Wisdom, who has been a member of the faculty since 1988, will focus on disease prevention and health risks for the nearly 10 million residents of Michigan.

In addition to her U-M medical degree, Wisdom holds a master’s degree from the School of Public Health in clinical research design and statistical analysis. An emergency room physician, she is also an associate research scientist in the Center for Medical Treatment Effectiveness Programs in Diverse Populations at Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital. Wisdom is heavily involved in prevention and minority health care issues, with particular interest in diabetes. She serves on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Diabetes Translation Advisory Committee, and is the founder and director of the African-American Initiative for Male Health Improvement, a community-based health-screening program in Detroit.