Joycelyn Dorscher, M.D., Receives University of Minnesota Outstanding Service Award

The President's award recognizes exceptional service to the University, its schools, colleges, departments and service units that must have gone well beyond the regular duties of a faculty or a staff member, and demonstrate unusual commitment to the University community. In his congratulatory letter to Dorscher, University President Bruininks wrote: "I am delighted to give you this well-deserved recognition for your remarkable work.  With this award you become a member of an elite group of faculty and staff members of the University community."

"Dr. Dorscher's passion for attracting and supporting Native American medical students contributes greatly to the diversity of our student population and to the health of Native Americans in our state. This award is well-deserved," commented Deborah Powell, dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Announcing the award on the Medical School Duluth campus, Gary Davis, Ph.D., interim senior associate dean of the UM Medical School--Duluth campus invited students and staff to "join me in congratulating Dr. Dorscher on this wonderful achievement.  As the director of the Center of American Indian and Minority Health (CAIMH), she has established a world-class academic center of excellence for Native American medical students." 

Dorscher, Turtle Mountain Band, has been a faculty member at the University since 1997. In addition to her position as director of CAIMH, she is a professor in the Department of Family Medicine on the Duluth campus.  She is also the immediate past president of the Association of American Indian Physicians and the Co-Chair of the Duluth American Indian Commission, an advisory board to mayor of Duluth.

In his letter of nomination, George Trachte, Ph.D., associate dean of research and faculty affairs at the Medical School--Duluth Campus wrote: "Her contributions to the development of programs to attract and retain Native American minorities in medical school represent her greatest achievement and make up the chief rationale for this nomination letter.  The best indicator of success of her mission is that the University of Minnesota Medical School now has the second largest contingent of Native American Medical Students in the entire nation.  This is a remarkable achievement considering that Minnesota's population is only 1.2 % Native American."

Other letters of support for the Dorscher nomination came from: Susan Sloan,M.D., president of the Association of American Indian Physicians and a graduate of the CAIMH programs; Lawrence Wittmers,Ph.D., Associate Professor and head of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology on the Duluth Campus and among the medical school leaders who, 35 years ago, created programs that would attract and educate Native Americans; Robert Powless, Ph.D., professor emeritus of Indian studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth; and Gary Davis, Ph.D., interim senior associate dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School--Duluth Campus.

PHOTO:  Dr. Joycelyn Dorscher instructs medical student, Jean Howell, as they examine American Indian community elder Warner Wirta.  Wirta volunteers as a patient as Native American medical students learn how to integrate cultural knowledge into classic western medicine.