Maryjean Schenk, MD, MPH is the 2009 President-elect of the Association of Departments of Family Medicine. She is a 1983 graduate of the Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM). She then completed a residency in Family Medicine and practiced in rural Virginia on the Delmarva Peninsula as a NHSC scholar. Dr.Schenk then completed a fellowship in Preventive Medicine and joined the WSUSOM faculty in 1991 as a clinician educator in the Department of Family Medicine’s family medicine and occupational medicine residency programs and as a research scientist at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in the Division of Epidemiology. Dr. Schenk is board certified in Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine (Occupational and Environmental Medicine). Dr. Schenk then became Director of Clinical Curriculum Development for the School of Medicine in 1997. In this role, she chaired the LCME institutional self-study for the clinical education program. Dr. Schenk then provided leadership for the2007 LCME accreditation process as Interim Associate Dean of Academic and Student Programs and member of the LCME steering committee. Dr. Schenk has been a teacher of and , advisor and mentor to medical students and family medicine residents for over 17 years.
Dr. Schenk was asked to provide leadership for the faculty as interim Chair of the DFMPHS in 1998 and in 2000 was appointed Chair. The 2005 internal review of the department resulted in her reappointment as Chair. In 2006, the WSUSOM requested merging the faculty of the Department of Community Medicine and the Center for Health Effectiveness into the Department of Family Medicine and the new Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences was established with Dr. Schenk appointed as the inaugural Chair. The Department is also the academic home to a Masters of Public Health Program and Dr. Schenk is the Director of the MD/MPH joint degree program.
In 2007, the DFMPHS received accreditation of a WSU sponsored family medicine residency program with Crittenton Hospital Medical Center as our primary hospital partner. Dr. Schenk is also the Chair of the WSU Physician Group (WSUPG-non-profit faculty practice plan) Department of Family Medicine and was elected Secretary of WSUUPG in 2007. The UPG is a multidisciplinary physician group and represents a merger of 15 practice plans.
Dr. Schenk’s research interests include cancer epidemiology with a focus in occupational and environmental exposures and cancer outcomes, the role of family physicians in the care of cancer survivors, and medical education research. She has published numerous articles in these areas of interest. Dr. Schenk is also committed to the important role of the specialty of family medicine in the United States in providing high quality comprehensive health and wellness care to individuals, families, and communities. To accomplish this it is critical that Departments of Family Medicine remain strong and visible in our medical schools. Dr. Schenk is on many committees serving in this family medicine advocacy role.
Education
Grand Valley State University, Chemistry, BS, 1977
Wayne State University School of Medicine, MD, 1983
University of Michigan School of Public Health, M.P.H., Health Planning and Administration, 1985
University of Michigan Rackam School of Graduate Studies, Industrial Health , MS, 1993
Training and Experience
Internship, Wayne State University Department of Family Practice, 1984
Residency, St. Mary’s Family Practice Residency, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984-86
Fellowship, Academic Family Medicine, Occupational Health, Department of Family Practice State University of New York at Buffalo, 1991
Fellowship, Medical Education Research, Association of American Medical Colleges, 1997-98
Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women, MCP Hahnemann University, 2000-01