Dr. Robert Frank, who graduated from the Wayne State University School of Medicine in 1968 and then spent more than four decades as a faculty member and administrator at the school, will deliver the keynote address at the School of Medicine commencement ceremony at 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 24, 2011, at the Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward Ave. His retirement party is planned for June 10.
At the ceremony, 317 candidates will receive degrees, the largest graduating class in WSU School of Medicine history.
In caring for the ill and serving in several key leadership positions over the past 43 years, Dr. Frank has played an integral role in cementing the school's reputation for producing the nation's finest physicians and researchers.
As interim dean, executive vice dean, and associate dean for academic and student programs, Dr. Frank is largely responsible for shaping the current comprehensive medical curriculum. He made social responsibility an intrinsic component of medical education, bringing an important and appropriate balance to the medical student experience. He incorporated subjects such as doctor-patient communication, end-of-life care, geriatric medicine, palliative care, environmental health exposures and understanding cultural differences into the curriculum.
Earlier this year, students honored Dr. Frank's passion and dedication to these issues by opening and dedicating the Robert R. Frank Student Run Free Clinic. The clinic offers a high quality, non-emergent, primary care resource to the medically uninsured in Detroit and provides an opportunity for medical students to gain experience in cultural, competent medicine in an atmosphere of mutual respect and dignity. The naming is a fitting legacy for Dr. Frank, who as a medical student was the student manager of the Jeffries Housing Project Health Clinic.
Dr. Frank will also be remembered and celebrated for spearheading the fund drive for construction of the Richard J. Mazurek, M.D., Medical Education Commons, which has enhanced the medical school's ability to recruit top-caliber students and ensure them an unparalleled education. His portrait hangs in the commons outside the Student Organization Suite; its plaque reads, "A resolute advocate for making medical school a humane experience enriched by extracurricular experiences."
He has twice been a finalist for the Association of American Medical Colleges Humanism in Medicine Award and Crain's Detroit Business has named him a "Health Care Hero." Dr. Frank and his wife, former assistant professor of family medicine Sharon Popp, M.D., and family and friends revived a depleted endowment from the Physicians for Social Responsibility in honor of his father, Edward Frank. Like his son, Edward Frank held a deep commitment to education and the social values of tolerance, diversity and equality.
Dr. Frank's major clinical interests are geriatrics and end-of-life care. He was the chief of medicine at Detroit Receiving Hospital and co-founded the Palliative Care Service there. He is a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility and a strong advocate for often-forgotten patient groups like the elderly and the indigent. He was the geriatrician in charge of the St. Patrick Senior Center Health Care Clinic in Detroit for nearly 20 years.
Dr. Frank's long list of honors and awards includes the School of Medicine's Distinguished Service Award in 2006 and its Ambassador Award in 2009, which honors individuals who, through their acts and deeds, epitomize the spirit of Wayne State University and the School of Medicine.