The first woman to head a clinical department at the School of Medicine, Maryjean Schenk, MD,’83, has been appointed by Dean John Crissman to chair the Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Schenk attributes the personal qualities that define her professional life to her traditional upbringing. Raised on a farm in western New York, she begins her days at 4 a.m. and demonstrates a work ethic enabling her to meet challenges with resourcefulness and perseverance.

One of five siblings, Dr. Schenk was determined to secure her education without financially burdening her family. A tuition scholarship coupled with a living stipend funded her undergraduate education at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich. Similarly, participating in the National Service Health Corps allowed Dr. Schenk to finance her WSU medical education and living costs. Repaying a year of service for each year of education, she served four years as medical director of a rural Virginia community health system, where she grappled with the limitations of meager health care resources. She credits the School of Medicine’s clinical excellence with training her well. “There was nothing I couldn’t handle as a rural practitioner,” she said. In approaching her current responsibilities, including those as specialist-in-chief at the Detroit Medical Center, Dr. Schenk demonstrates similar composure and quiet self-confidence.

Dr Schenk’s training included an internship at WSU, residency in Grand Rapids, and fellowships at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She has also earned University of Michigan masters degrees in health planning and administration and industrial health. She believes her dual board certifications in family practice and in preventive, occupational and environmental medicine have allowed her to combine her personality and professional interests: interaction with others and toxicology.  Her research focus is cancer epidemiology with emphasis on etiology of cancers.

A member of the School of Medicine faculty since 1991, Dr. Schenk distinguished herself as director of the clinical curricular self-study carried out in preparation for the 1998 LCME accreditation and earned a Wayne State University presidential award for her service. 

With a faculty of just over 30, the department’s mission, according to Dr. Schenk, “is teaching and delivering patient-centered care as well as improving patients’ lives through scientific advancement.” As chair, she is determined that the department fully engage the challenges presented by modern health care. With characteristic resourcefulness, she is committed to obtaining grant support to promote excellence in teaching and research productivity, including collaborations with other School of Medicine departments and with Michigan State University and the University of Michigan in a consortium supporting practice-based research. 

Recognized by her peers for her service during her student days at WSU, and for her leadership throughout her career, Dr. Schenk remains committed to strengthening the profession.  Past president of the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics, she is presently a fellow in the American Medical Association’s Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women.