John Crissman, MD, dean of the Wayne State University School of Medicine, has announced the appointment of Helene Lycaki, PhD, to the newly created position of assistant dean for Health Affairs.

After earning a master's degree from the University of Athens, Dr. Lycaki left her native Greece for WSU, where she earned a PhD in Clinical Psychology and has been a respected member of the School of Medicine faculty and the Michigan mental health community for the past 30 years.

Through a long history of leadership positions in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences that stretch throughout much of her career, Dr. Lycaki has learned the importance of building relationships and of finding and cultivating necessary resources. In her new position, she will use this experience to identify networking opportunities that link outside resources to clinical, research and educational programs within the School of Medicine.

A great deal of Dr. Lycaki's time in this position will be devoted to articulating the school's mission in a way that it is clear to government officials how the school positively impacts their constituencies.

"There has to be a close relationship between academia and government because our missions are so similar," she said. "This is especially true in medicine where we try to improve the health of our patients through research, education and clinical care and they try through effective public policy and efficient delivery of service."

Dean Crissman noted that, while the School of Medicine relies upon WSU's governmental and community affairs office to provide its primary voice in Lansing and Washington, Dr. Lycaki can provide another set of eyes and ears on its behalf.

"Helene Lycaki's years of experience in dealing with all sorts of programmatic and other tough issues uniquely suits her for this position," Dr. Crissman said. "Plus, she has an incredible memory for both people and figures and is as persistent as they come. She will be a great asset to the School of Medicine ¾ to all of WSU, for that matter ¾ in this position."