On July 31, 2023, Dr. M. Roy Wilson stepped down from his decade-long tenure as president of Wayne State University – a decision he first announced in August 2022, stating he would not extend or renew his contract.
“Wayne State today is strong and has a promising future,” said Wilson, now President Emeritus of Wayne State. “Together we have made great strides, and I am proud to have served this institution and privileged to be a part of this community. Wayne State’s values and mission aligned closely with my personal values, and I am deeply grateful that this university gave me my voice as a leader.”
After leaving the President’s Office on Wayne State’s campus, Wilson left Detroit to go to Miami, but not for good.
“I think many people assumed that I moved to Florida permanently, but I want to make sure that people know, I’m back in Detroit,” Wilson, a medical doctor, told the Michigan Chronicle in an exclusive interview. “I took a one-year sabbatical in Miami, just to get back into the mode of clinical care and research.”
Since returning from sabbatical, Wilson has remained busy. He is a faculty member at Kresge Eye Institute in Detroit, where he holds the position of Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology. The Institute, founded in 1948 is one of the nation’s leading eye care facilities. At Kresge, Wilson also sees patients, performs eye surgeries, advises students in Kresge’s residency ophthalmology program, writes grants, and publishes articles based on his wide range of expertise.
Wilson said he’s waiting for approval of two grants written and submitted to the National Institute of Health. If approved, the grants will help underserved communities in Detroit. Since returning to Detroit in 2024, Wilson has also been busy as a board member and advisor to multiple national health organizations.
“I’m on the national board of Research! America,” Wilson said. “We advocate for better health for Americans and increased funding for research. I think at this time with the public health concerns across the country, Research! America is an important board to be on. Another is Alliance for Health Policy, which involves having bi-partisan discussions on the importance of making important health policy issues to help solve the nation’s health care issues.”
Wilson is also on the Board of Directors of the University of Miami Health System and the National Academy of Medicine, the latter of which Wilson is advocating for Wayne State faculty members to be elected to the independent, nonprofit organization.
Locally, Wilson is excited to join the advisory board of the Black United Fund of Michigan (BFU of MI), a storied youth organization birthed in Detroit amid the aftermath of the summer of 1967’s urban uprising. Wilson touts BUF’s mission and goals to empowering young people as important, adding that he looks forward to being influential in helping youth make wise decisions about life and education.
Born in Yokohama, Japan, to a Japanese mother and Black father, education wasn’t always important to young Wilson. In his 2023 memoir, The Plum Tree Blossoms Even in Winter, Wilson writes of his childhood in Japan, marked by parental absence, loneliness, want, and experiencing extended periods as a runaway. While attending high school in America, an English teacher mentored the teen, helping him to value the importance of education, and he discovered what he could become with focus and determination.
After graduating from high school, Wilson went on to receive an undergraduate degree from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania before earning a Master of Science in epidemiology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and ultimately an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.
Prior to coming to Detroit to serve as Wayne State’s 12th president, Wilson had already established an impressive portfolio of work, including serving as the deputy director for strategic scientific planning and program coordination at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health.
In Higher Education, Wilson’s background includes serving as dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for health sciences at Creighton University, president of the Texas Tech University Health Science Center, chancellor of the University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus, chair of the Board of Directors of the University of Colorado Hospital, and Board of Directors chair of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, an HBCU in Los Angeles, where he also was acting president.
Looking back over his tenure as Wayne State’s president, Wilson said his is proud of his numerous achievements and contributions to the growth of the university. While there were many achievements, Wilson was quick to point out his most cherished achievement at the helm of Wayne State.
“Without question, the increase of the graduation rate at Wayne State, particularly for African Americans, got to be at the top of my list of proud accomplishments,” Wilson said with a sense of pride. “To be recognized as No. 1 in the country for improvement in that area is really a big deal.”
Wilson recalled coming to Wayne State in 2013 and reading several articles published in 2012, about how dismal Wayne State was from the standpoint of its graduation rate.
“I think the intense focus that we had to improve the graduation rate and, to also improve community and employee – faculty and staff – relationships was incredibly important. However, the thing that really stood out for me was Wayne State being the No. 1 university in America in 2018 for increasing its graduation rate and receiving the Project Degree Completion Award from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.”
Wilson also reflected his time at Wayne State during the horrific times of the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Wilson said he immediately issued a statement from the Office of the President regarding Floyd that read in part:
“Yet again our nation is rising in anger and sorrow at another senseless death of a Black man, this time due to brutality exhibited during an arrest. I wish to share my thoughts with you about this terrible tragedy…No person in America – regardless of their race, creed, or religion – should ever fear for their life simply because of who they are or how they look…As a black man, I have felt personally the sting of racism. Instead of feeling defeated by it, I have sought ways to stand up to it: by mentoring minority students, opening people’s eyes to the benefits of diversity, and devoting my career to researching and addressing health inequities around the globe…It gives me hope that our country will find a way to reckon with the urgent need for change in how we treat and support one another.”
Soon after issuing the statement, Wilson furthered Wayne State’s institutional commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) by creating the Office of Multicultural Student Engagement, launching the Social Justice Action Committee, and hiring the university’s first chief diversity officer.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Wilson, in addition to rendering steady guidance and directives to students, faculty, and staff, Michigan Gov. Whitmer named him to the Michigan Cronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, where his expertise as a medical doctor was invaluable in examining and offering solutions to the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 had on communities of color across Michigan. The Task Force was chaired by Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist.
Wilson’s overall contributions to making Wayne State better have not gone with notice. Wilson’s name has been attached to many new or renovated development projects on campus, including State Hall – which opened in 1947 – and was renamed M. Roy Wilson State Hall after the storied building underwent a massive $90 million renovation. The M. Roy Wilson State Hall is one of less than a handful of structures on Wayne State’s campus named for a person from the African Diaspora.
“That was a great honor, I have to say,” said the dedication in October 2023. “To have State Hall named after me was incredible. However, I was very close to the students at Wayne State and over 80% of the students who have taken a class during their educational journey on campus have taken at least one class at the former State Hall.”
For Wilson, the beat goes on. In addition to his faculty position at Kresge Eye Institute, Wilson is a much sought-after keynote speaker on an array of topics centered on medical issues such as Glaucoma and race in medicine.
Last summer, Wilson, as part of the Robert Copeland Distinguished Lecture at the National Medical Association‘s annual conference in New York City, gave a provocative speech on the use of race in medicine.
“I think that most people, at least most scientists, acknowledge that racism is a social construct and not a biological one,” Wilson said in his keynote speech. “However, I think it’s very easy for people to forget that and start using race as a biological construct, so one of the things that has to be done is to continue to not use race as a biological construct because that leads into things like race-based medicine and other things that has deleterious effects on minoritized people.”
“The impact of President Wilson’s transformative leadership will be felt for years to come,” said Board of Governors Chair Mark Gaffney. “He has led our campus in putting student and their success above all else, furthering the University’s role in providing life-changing opportunities for all student to earn a college degree. We are grateful for his years of service and commitment.”
Following his decade tenure as president of Wayne State University, Wilson could have relocated anywhere in America permanently. However, Detroit, said Wilson, has made a deep impression on him and his wife, Jacqueline Wilson.
On moving from Detroit, Wilson responded.
“My wife and I thought about it but we agreed that we both have enjoyed the last 12 years in Detroit,” said Wayne State’s President Emeritus. “So we have made the city our home because in terms of having a home base, there’s no better place than Detroit. We love it here…and we love the people.”
Wilson’s nine years of leadership yielded momentous accomplishments, most notably in student success, fundraising, and diversity. As a leader deeply committed to student success, early in his tenure Wilson launched the Student Success Initiative, which is focused on improving graduation and retention rates. Its 2021 strategic plan 6-year graduation rate goal was easily surpassed, and in 2018, the university was recognized by the Association of Public-Land Grant Universities for having the most-improved graduation rate in the nation – a 21-point improvement from 2012 to 2018.
The campus footprint expanded, too, with additions and renovations to benefit the student experience and community engagement, including the WSU Fieldhouse in partnership with the Detroit Pistons, the state-of-the-art STEM Innovation and Learning Center, the Mike Ilitch School of Business, major renovations of the Student Center Building, additional campus housing, the ongoing renovation of State Hall and the soon-to-be-completed Hilberry Gateway Performance Arts Complex.
“The names on buildings across this campus represent people from Wayne State’s history that have had an impact,” Wilson said. “I am deeply honored to have my name among the others. In truth, I would have been honored to have my name on any building, but I am overjoyed that the board chose this particular building — arguably the building most closely identified with students on this campus.”
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