Donovan Roy, Ed.D., has been named vice dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Wayne State University School of Medicine. He began in the office Nov. 1.
Mark E. Schweitzer, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine and vice president of WSU Health Affairs, announced Donovan’s appointment on Oct. 25.
“With more than 18 years of professional experience developing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on college campuses, Dr. Roy’s strength of background in this area and his initiative make him ideal to lead the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as we work to make our campus more diverse and accepting,” Dean Schweitzer said.
Dr. Roy joins WSU from the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker, M.D., School of Medicine, where he served as assistant dean for Diversity and Inclusiveness. In that role, he was directly accountable for advancing diversity and inclusion initiatives. He consistently evaluated and safeguarded progressive impact on a number of that school’s divisions, including curriculum with the Office of Medical Education, faculty development and recruiting with the Office of Faculty Affairs and the Office of Graduate Medical Education.
He led a team of leaders to create and introduce a strategic three-year plan dedicated to expanding diversity and inclusion, served as chair of the WMed Diversity and Inclusiveness Subcommittee, partnered with the Office of Health Equity and Community Affairs to establish monthly implicit and explicit bias training and designed and implemented a recruitment database designed to guarantee diversity among staff, faculty and physicians.
He also has served as a learning consultant for Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, director of Academic Support Services for the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, a principal learning skills counselor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, and director of Multicultural Affairs at Wayne State College in Nebraska.
He has led bias and structural racism training, incorporated technology to expand diversity, equity and inclusion, and led training surrounding the traumas impacting underrepresented students. At Western Michigan University, he developed an Interprofessional Primary Care elective for third- and fourth-year medical students that support underserved communities.
At Keck School of Medicine, Dr. Roy developed tutorial programs to support students and improve student success, extending supplemental instruction to promote student engagement and success during their third and fourth years of medical training.
In addition to creating LGBTQIA-friendly environments and gender bias-free and religious expression spaces for students, Dr. Roy chaired the WMed and Association of American Medical Colleges Virtual High School and College Student-Athlete National Conference, advancing how medical schools recruit underrepresented populations in medicine. He was the co-principal investigator for two funds that created pathway programs for ethnically diverse students. He also secured a grant to develop the documentary, “The Role of Social Capital and Social Networks that support Black Males Matriculation into Michigan Medical Schools.”
Dr. Roy graduated from Wayne State College in Nebraska with a bachelor’s degree in Human Services Counseling and a master’s degree in Higher Education Counseling. He received his doctoral degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, with the dissertation “The Role of Social Capital and Networks in Supporting Black Males’ Matriculation into Medical School.
