May 31, 2001
Contact:  Jennifer Day (313) 577-1058, jday@med.wayne.edu

Wayne State School of Medicine honors DeWeese as distinguished alumnus

Rep. Paul DeWeese, MD, (R-Williamston) has been awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the Wayne State University School of Medicine. Dr. DeWeese has an exemplary record as a physician and legislator dedicated to providing quality and accessible health care to Michigan citizens.

A 1981 graduate of the School of Medicine, Dr. DeWeese was class president as well as president of the student council. A board certified physician in internal medicine, Dr. DeWeese serves on the emergency medicine staff at Eaton Rapids Community Hospital and Owosso Medical Center. In 1989, he spearheaded the creation of the Medical Access Project, administered by the Capitol Area Red Cross, to provide basic medical care to the indigent. He is past vice chair of the Ingham County Board of Health.

Now in his second term in the Michigan House of Representatives, Dr. DeWeese has served as vice chair of the House Committee on Health Policy and currently serves as chair of a special task force investigating access to health care for the working uninsured.

School of Medicine Dean John Crissman, MD, feels that Dr. DeWeese’s contributions as a public official cannot be distinguished from those he has made as a practicing physician.

“Paul DeWeese has maintained a career-long commitment to excellence and accessibility in health care,” Dr. Crissman said. “It’s impossible to say that he does one thing because he is a doctor and another because he is a member of the House of Representatives. A good doctor always has the best interests of the patient in mind, and Paul DeWeese is a good doctor.”

Dr. DeWeese was presented his award at WSU’s annual Medical Alumni Reunion and Clinic Day held last weekend at Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. Also receiving Distinguished Alumni Awards for 2001 were Harvey L. Neiman, MD, ’68, chair of the Department of Radiology at the University of Pittsburgh, and Richard Stack, MD, ’76, serving as president of Atlanta Cardiovascular Research Institute while on sabbatical from the Duke University Medical Center.

The WSU Medical Association initiated the Distinguished Alumni Awards to be presented annually to alumni who have made outstanding contributions to humanitarian causes; whose contributions to the health field in the broader sense are outstanding; or for service to the School of Medicine.

With more than 1,000 medical students, WSU is among the nation’s largest medical schools. Together with the Detroit Medical Center, the school is a leader in patient care and medical research in a number of areas including cancer, genetics, pediatrics and the neurosciences.