Herbert Smitherman Jr., M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P., has been appointed vice dean of Diversity and Community Affairs for the Wayne State University School of Medicine.
The new title and position combines Dr. Smitherman's former duties as assistant dean of Community and Urban Health with his current role as interim vice dean of Diversity and Inclusion. He has been serving as interim vice dean of Diversity and Inclusion since July 1, 2015.
The role of a vice dean of Diversity was initially recommended by the Wayne State University School of Medicine Diversity and Inclusion Task Force in 2015. Dr. Smitherman co-chaired that task force, which Dean Jack D. Sobel, M.D., established to address a decline in under-represented minorities in medicine in the student body.
"In the short period he has overseen the area of diversity and inclusion, Dr. Smitherman has made substantial strides on behalf of our school, increasing dramatically the diversity of the student body," Dean Sobel said. "While we have more progress yet to achieve in this area, and in the area of faculty diversity, I am convinced he is the leader to expand our role in this vital sphere."
A member of the faculty for 25 years, Dr. Smitherman is an associate professor of Internal Medicine for the School of Medicine and for the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute. He serves as president and chief executive officer of Health Centers Detroit Foundation Inc., a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike that operates three health centers in Detroit as Health Centers Detroit Medical Group.
He has engaged with diverse communities to develop urban-based primary-care delivery systems that integrate the health, social goals and concerns of the community, and has committed more than two decades to providing quality medical care to underserved populations. In 2007, he and four co-authors published "Taking Care of the Uninsured: A Path to Reform," which detailed the 10-year path of the Voices of Detroit Initiative. The project, launched in 1998 with a $5 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, sought to ease the strain on emergency rooms relied upon by the uninsured as primary care facilities by providing access to true primary care. Originally tasked with addressing the primary care needs of 27,500 patients, the initiative surpassed that goal by assisting 33,093 uninsured Detroit residents in receiving access to basic primary care services.
He also served as co-chair of the $16.2 million U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Southeast Michigan Beacon initiative launched in 2012. That program used mobile phone text messaging and IT Healthcare Exchanges to engage diabetic patients to take better control of the self-management of their condition.
He has spoken nationally on health care disparities and has been invited to the White House to speak on that issue and others.
In 2008, the WSU Center for Peace and Conflict Studies honored Dr. Smitherman with its annual Peacemaker Award, recognizing him for "monumental achievements and contributions to multicultural awareness and constructive conflict resolution." The Michigan State Medical Society, in 2009, presented him with its Community Service Award for his efforts to battle health care disparities.
Dr. Smitherman received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University in Evanston Ill., and his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1987. He completed an internal medicine internship and residency in 1990 at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, and was selected to be chief medical resident of the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Allen Park in 1990. In 1994, he received his master's of public health degree in health service administration from the University of Michigan. He also completed the National Health Care Forum Creating Healthy Communities Fellowship and is an International Salzburg Healthcare Fellow, where he was invited to spend time in Salzburg, Austria, to participate with more than 80 health care experts from around the world in 2002 at the Salzburg Center. Dr. Smitherman has completed special course work in international economics and U.S. macroeconomics at Amherst College, in Amherst, Mass., and health care economics and conflict resolution at Harvard University.