Fourteen years ago, H. David Wilson, MD, became dean of the medical school at the University of North Dakota and was determined to make changes.  The biggest of these changes, the school’s innovative patient-centered learning curriculum, put him and North Dakota on the map of medical education and has become his legacy.  

“I said soon after I arrived [at UND] that the goals for the school should be an outstanding curriculum, to be the rural health medical school and to recruit terrific [faculty] to North Dakota,” said Wilson.

Nation’s leader in rural health
“One of the first thoughts I had when I came here was to focus on rural health because we are the most rural state in the nation to have a medical school,” said Wilson. 

“I believe our Center for Rural Health is one of the top one or two in the country.  We have the only Rural Assistance Center sponsored by the United States government, and now the focus of health care workforce information is at the University of North Dakota.”   

“[David] brought the very clear perspective of the needs of a state like North Dakota,” said Darrell Kirch, MD, president and CEO of The Association of American Medical Colleges, who witnessed Wilson’s work on several national medical boards and committees.  

To encourage students to look at rural medicine, the Rural Opportunities in Medical Education (ROME) program was established, allowing students to better experience life as a rural physician.  More recently, it was made mandatory that every medical student do at least one rural rotation during their third and fourth years.  

“This past year we were the number one medical school in the entire country in the percentage of our students going into family medicine,” said Wilson.  “I don’t know how you can top that!” 

Research expansion
When Wilson arrived at UND in 1995, the medical school had a little over $8 million in research dollars.

“One of the priorities that David brought to the medical school was a need to emphasize scholarship broadly and in particular to develop the research infrastructure,” said James E. Mitchell, MD, Christoferson Professor and chair of the clinical neuroscience department at the medical school. 

Research dollars under Wilson grew to $24 million in 2005 and has hovered at $20 million for the past several years.  He also recruited some of the best researchers to the school.

But those researchers need somewhere to work.  During his tenure, Wilson secured funding for and dedicated the Biomedical Research Facility and - with the instrumental assistance of Dr. Manuchair Ebadi - the Neurosciences Research Facility.  

“David fostered a culture at UND which clearly valued research as a priority,” said Mitchell, “a characteristic of great importance in environments that train physicians and other health care professionals.”