Dr. Robert Sokol announced today that he is resigning his position as dean of the WSU School of Medicine. After completing several assignments, he will have a one-year administrative leave of absence, after which he will return to his tenured faculty position and continue his research and clinical practice.

WSU President Irvin D. Reid announced that the interim dean will be Dr. John Crissman, who has been serving as associate dean of research and graduate programs and chairman of the department of pathology. As dean, Dr. Crissman will also serve as senior vice president of The Detroit Medical Center, effective immediately.

Dean Sokol has been with the WSU School of Medicine since 1983 and has been dean since 1989. He joined WSU as chairman of the department of gynecology and obstetrics from Case Western Reserve University and helped Wayne State's rise as a nationally prominent research university. His personal research with the National Institutes of Health helped Sokol develop a well-earned reputation as the leading expert on the subject of fetal alcohol syndrome.

Dr. Sokol said, "I am grateful for the support I have received and the fine individuals I have worked with that have helped to build the school and the DMC during my tenure. I continue to be devoted to our continuing success and will contribute in any way that is required and requested."

Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid said, "Dean Sokol has made a lasting contribution to this university and he has personally helped to improve the quality of health care for the citizens of this region for decades to come. He recruited faculty from around the world and his success helped to establish WSU as one of the premier academic health centers in the nation." Arthur Porter, the newly appointed president and chief executive officer of the DMC, was one of those recruits.

University Provost Marilyn Williamson said, "I deeply regret Dean Sokol's decision to step down from the deanship because he has given outstanding leadership for the School of Medicine for more than a decade. We have had three accreditation visits about the academic programs of the school in that time and they have all been excellent. Dr. Sokol has provided superb direction in the research programs that have led the school to rank 25th among medical schools nationally, and the School of Medicine has been central to Wayne State's rise to Carnegie I status during that time. The university is grateful for all that Dean Sokol has contributed to its work and its stature."