Mark Juzych, M.D., M.H.S.A., of Bloomfield Township, has been appointed chair of the Wayne State University School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology and director of the Kresge Eye Institute.

Mark Juzych

The appointment is effective Aug. 1.

"Dr. Juzych has been deeply involved in all aspects of the ophthalmology department and has demonstrated tremendous commitment to our missions, especially in the area of medical education," said Valerie M. Parisi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., dean of the School of Medicine. "We can be confident that his experience with the school and with the Kresge Eye Institute ensures he is the ideal choice to lead the department and the institute into the future."

Juzych, a professor and associate chair of the department, succeeds Gary Abrams, M.D., who earlier announced his decision step down to concentrate on teaching and patient care.

A 1989 graduate of the Wayne State University School of Medicine, Juzych's dedication to education has been recognized nationally by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), which honored him with the Parker J. Palmer Courage to Lead Award in 2010 and the Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award in 2005. The Courage to Lead Award acknowledges the leadership and commitment of designated institutional officials who foster excellent environments for resident education. The Courage to Teach Award recognizes the nation's best program directors. Juzych is the only education leader in the United States to win both awards.

"Having spent most of my adult life at Wayne State University, the School of Medicine and the Kresge Eye Institute, I am indeed fortunate to continue to expand my leadership roles within these extraordinary institutions," Juzych said. "I look forward to building upon the success of my predecessors, Dr. Abrams and Dr. Robert Jampel, to continue making the Kresge Eye Institute a distinctive institution both clinically and in terms of research."

In addition to his ACGME awards, Juzych has received the WSU Board of Governors Recognition Award, the WSU Award for Leadership and Teaching in Continuing Medical Education, the WSU College Teaching Excellence Award, the WSU School of Medicine Recent Alumni Award, the American Academy of Ophthalmology Senior Achievement Award and the Straatsma Award for Excellence in Resident Education. He was named Teacher of the Year by Kresge Eye Institute residents in 2003.

After graduating from the WSU School of Medicine, he performed an ophthalmology residency at the Kresge Eye Institute, and served as chief resident from 1992 to 1993. He also served a glaucoma fellowship at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University. He earned credentials in medical administration from the University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The director of the residency program at the Kresge Eye Institute, he joined the School of Medicine faculty in 1995 after teaching at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Juzych holds many advisory positions at the Detroit Medical Center and Sinai-Grace Hospital, where he has been the chief of ophthalmology since 2001.

He was co-principal investigator for the National Institute of Health's Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study, and is a member of many national and regional medical associations.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 400 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 32,000 students. Its School of Medicine is the largest single-campus medical school in the nation with more than 1,200 medical students. In addition to undergraduate medical education, the school offers master's degree, Ph.D. and M.D.-Ph.D. programs in 14 areas of basic science to about 400 students annually.