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Dr. Gallagher Recognized for Service as Academic Senate President

Dr. Gallagher has served WSU for 33 years.

When Richard Gallagher, PhD, joined the School of Medicine faculty in 1968, he planned to stay for two years. Thirty-three years later, not only is Dr. Gallagher still here, he has helped define the school’s current medical curriculum. In addition to the many accolades he has received as a respected member of the family medicine faculty, the university community also recently recognized him for his outstanding service as president of the WSU academic senate.

After earning degrees from Michigan State University and Ohio State University, Dr. Gallagher found himself in a unique situation when he arrived on the WSU campus. “Although I was hired onto the medical school faculty, I had a background in education,” Dr. Gallagher said. “While that’s more common today, I really had to define my role here – the role of the educational professional in a medical setting.”

Despite whatever challenges he may have faced in carving out his niche, Dr. Gallagher could not have arrived on the scene at a more opportune time. The late 1960s and early 1970s were a period of massive reform in the American medical education system. This was especially true at WSU, where the School of Medicine was not only changing from discipline-based to organ system- based education, but also was doubling in size.

According to Associate Dean for Education Robert Frank, MD, Dr. Gallagher has been vital in keeping WSU at the academic forefront.

“He’s the consummate medical educator,” Dr. Frank said. “He played a very important role in making Wayne State a national leader in medical education.”

Dr. Frank went on to note that Dr. Gallagher, who also serves as an adjunct scientist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Institute, is a pioneer in the area of cancer education. The National Cancer Institute recognized him for his outstanding contribution to programs of the Division of Extramural Activities and he serves as president of the American Association for Cancer Education.

While still highly involved in the advancement of medical education as professor and director of the Department of Family Medicine’s Education Division, Dr. Gallagher recently has spent a great deal of his time in campus-wide pursuits. First becoming involved with the WSU faculty senate in 1976, he served two consecutive terms as the organization’s president beginning in September 1999. In doing so, he became only the third School of Medicine faculty member elected to the post.

While he enjoyed many successes as academic senate president, Dr. Gallagher remains especially proud of a number of specific achievements. Primary among these, according to Charles Bantz, PhD, WSU provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, were Dr. Gallagher’s efforts to update the university’s undergraduate education curriculum.

“Bringing substantive expertise in learning, Dr. Gallagher played a major role in the discussion and review of general education requirements at Wayne and is very active in our discussions of distance education,” Dr. Bantz said. “These student-centered initiatives are critical to the future of our students and academic programming at Wayne State. Dick’s counsel has done much to enhance our efforts.”

Although his two years in office (not to mention his 33 years of service to the School of Medicine) may seem to have earned him a bit of a break, don’t expect Richard Gallagher to disappear from view. His colleagues won’t let him. Dr. Gallagher simply has too much valuable information regarding the art of teaching that they need.

“We are depending on Dr. Gallagher to continue building exemplary teachers and education programs to provide medical students with the knowledge and skills for practice in the 21st century,” said Maryjean Schenk, MD, chair of the WSU Department of Family Medicine.

“He’s just a wonderful repository of knowledge; a mentor’s mentor,” added Dr. Frank. “All of us who take pride in medical education go to him with the tough questions.”

Notes

Honors

Rounds

Continuing Medical Education

Women's Health Lecture Series