Robert Folberg, M.D., has been appointed vice dean of Medical Education for the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

The appointment is effective Dec. 1.

“Dr. Folberg’s wealth of experience both clinically and educationally will serve our School of Medicine well as we continue to develop the medical education of the future,” said Mark E. Schweitzer, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine and vice president of WSU Health Affairs.

Dr. Folberg served as the Stephan Sharf Founding Dean of the William Beaumont School of Medicine from 2008 to 2019, and is now a professor of Ophthalmology and Pathology.

He served as associate dean for Faculty Affairs and director of Community Engaged Scholarship in Southeast Michigan at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine from 2019 to 2020.

After graduating from LaSalle College in Philadelphia with a bachelor’s degree maxima cum laude in Biology in 1971, he received his medical degree with honors from the Temple University School of Medicine in 1975, followed by residencies in anatomic pathology at Temple and ophthalmology at Wills Eye Hospital, respectively. He completed a fellowship in ophthalmic pathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in 1982.

Dr. Folberg joined the faculty of Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine as an assistant professor of Ophthalmology and Pathology in 1987. He then joined the University of Iowa, where he started as assistant professor of Ophthalmology and then was promoted to professor of Ophthalmology and of Pathology in 1990. He was named the Frederick C. Blodi Professor of Ophthalmology and Professor of Pathology in 1991 before joining the University of Illinois College of Medicine as the Frances B. Geever Professor of Pathology and Head of Pathology, a position he held from 2000 until he was named founding dean of the William Beaumont School of Medicine in 2008.

In 2019, he received the Zimmerman Medal from the American Academy of Ophthalmology  in recognition of his contribution to ocular melanoma research. Dr. Folberg also received recognition for research in medical education, especially in the area of self-directed learning and distributed education. He began utilizing the internet for medical education in 1998, and has delivered education in universities in the United States and throughout the world.

His lab was funded by the National Institutes of Health for 20 years, and he supervised numerous Ophthalmic Pathology fellows, both in the United States and abroad.

Dr. Folberg directed the Eye Pathology Laboratory at Wills Eye Hospital and the FC Blodi Eye Pathology Laboratory at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He also was chief of Pathology Services at University of Illinois Hospital, deputy director of the University of Illinois Cancer Center, chief academic officer of the Beaumont Health System and William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, and interim director of the Beaumont Research Institute.

A member of the American Society for Clinical Pathology Commission on Science, Technology and Policy, and the Wayne Health Board of Directors, Dr. Folberg has served on the Board of Trustees of the American Association of Ophthalmic Pathologists, the Graduate Education Committee of the Association of Pathology Chairs and the Elsevier Medical Education Advisory Board.

A widely published researcher and invited speaker, Dr. Folberg was deputy editor in chief of the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine for nearly a decade and now serves as a member of the Executive Editorial Board of the American Journal of Ophthalmology. He also was a member of the editorial boards of Ophthalmology, and Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.