Dr. William McDade, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care and Associate Dean for Multicultural Affairs at the Pritzker School of Medicine, has been named to a three-year term as Deputy Provost for Research and Minority Issues, Provost Thomas F. Rosenbaum announced.
McDade, who is well known for recruiting and supporting young scholars at Pritzker, will work across the University to create a “diverse, vibrant, and welcoming environment for the most talented scholars,” Rosenbaum said. McDade’s work will address undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty.
He will serve as co-chair of the Diversity Leadership Council, which examines issues of diversity as they relate to University staff, alumni and surrounding communities. He also will continue to be active as a researcher and teacher.
“Bill is … devoted to recruiting underrepresented minorities to Chicago’s rich educational environment,” Rosenbaum wrote in a message to faculty.
Rosenbaum also thanked Kenneth Warren, the Fairfax Cone Distinguished Service Professor in English Language and Literature. Earlier this year Warren completed his second term in the position, which he helped define after its creation in 2005.
After earning a PhD in Biophysics and Theoretical Biology from the University of Chicago and an M.D. from the Pritzker School of Medicine, McDade was appointed an assistant professor on the Chicago faculty in 1994.
He focused on research early in his career, breaking new ground on the structure and polymerization of sickle cell hemoglobin. But his interest in medical education and advocacy for underrepresented communities soon took on new emphasis.
For more than 15 years, he has served on the admissions committee at Pritzker, helping to recruit and retain minority students. He was named Associate Dean for Multicultural Affairs in 2001.
McDade created the Bowman Society, an advising organization named for pioneering faculty member Dr. James E. Bowman. The Society prepares young minority scholars, from high school students through junior faculty, for academic medicine careers, through a bimonthly lecture series and other opportunities to learn from senior scholars from Chicago and other institutions.
He also has held leadership roles in many professional organizations, including President of the Chicago Medical Society, chairman of the American Medical Association, chairman of the Minority Affairs Consortium and a member of its Council on Medical Education; a Director of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and Secretary/Treasurer of the Illinois State Medical Society.
“I’ve been very interested in the development of human potential,” McDade said. “I’m a believer in pipeline programs that test the idea that you can alter the future of young scholars by putting them in a productive situation. We want to have them grow through our system.
“There are wonderful scholars out there, who will prosper in an environment that inspires interdisciplinary thinking like this. We need to be proactive in identifying them, but I can’t do it on my own,” McDade said. “This has to be a community effort.”
Holly Humphrey, Dean of Medical Education at Pritzker, said that as the school benefits from McDade’s work and leadership in his new position, it will undertake a national search to find his replacement as Associate Dean for Multicultural Affairs.
For more information on diversity initiatives at the University of Chicago, see http://www.uchicago.edu/diversity/.
—Prof. Jacqueline Stewart
