M. Roy Wilson

Affiliation

Wayne State University

Biography

M. Roy Wilson, M.D., M.S., became president of Wayne State University in 2013. His 18-year history as leader of universities with budgets of $550 million to $1.8 billion is hallmarked by his successful efforts to expand access for underrepresented minorities, improve graduation rates, increase extramural funding, and execute ambitious fundraising campaigns. Highlights of his Wayne State tenure include doubling (to over $320 million) extramural research funding awards from FY13 to FY21; early completion of a $750 million campaign; achieving the most-improved graduation rate in the country (21-point improvement from 2012 to 2018); two awards from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (Degree Completion Award in 2018 and the Innovation and Economic Prosperity University Award in 2019); and a tenfold increase in underrepresented minority students in the med school. Dr. Wilson became dean of the Creighton University School of Medicine in 1998 and later was appointed vice president for health sciences. He was appointed president of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in 2003. In 2006 he became chancellor of the University of Colorado Denver and Anschutz Medical Campus and chair of the Board of Directors of University of Colorado Hospital. In 2010, he chaired the Board of Directors at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science; he was acting president for part of that time. He became deputy director for strategic scientific planning and program coordination of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities in 2011. Dr. Wilson began his academic career as an ophthalmologist and glaucoma specialist at both the Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, where he advanced from assistant professor in 1986 to full professor eight years later in 1994. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and is past board chair of the AAMC. Dr. Wilson served on the advisory council to the NIH director and was chair of the Data Monitoring and Oversight Committee of both the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study III and the African American Eye Disease Study. He currently serves on the governing boards of Research!America, Alliance for Health Policy, the Association for Public and Land-grant Universities, the University of Miami Health System, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He was honored with the President’s Award from the American Glaucoma Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology's Senior Achievement Award, the Herbert W. Nickens Award from the AAMC, the NIH Director’s Award, the Lifetime Research Award from the W. Montague Cobb Institute, and the National Medical Foundation Excellence in Education Award. Dr. Wilson received his undergraduate degree from Allegheny College and an M.S. in epidemiology from UCLA. He completed med school, postgraduate residency, and a glaucoma fellowship from Harvard Medical School.