January/February 2010

Michigan’s Surgeon General
Dr. Kimberlydawn Wisdom: Heeding the Call to Lead

By Barbara Blum in collaboration with Linda Hasley

In 2007, I started working for Dr. Wisdom.  It’s been a privilege and honor to work for this remarkable, dedicated person who tirelessly works for the health of Michigan’s citizens.

Kimberlydawn Wisdom, MD, MS is Michigan’s State Surgeon General, the first State Surgeon General in the nation.  In 2003, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm tapped Dr. Wisdom for the post, a position that was created recognizing the importance of the health of Michigan’s citizens and its relationship to the overall strength of the state.  Similar to the US Surgeon General, Dr. Wisdom is charged with promoting a health agenda throughout Michigan.  Even with her tremendous responsibilities and position, her warmth and generosity of spirit shines through and she serves as a beacon of inspiration and hope for the future health of Michigan.

Since 2007, Dr. Wisdom has had a dualrole – Surgeon General and Vice President of Community Health, Education and Wellness at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.  Dr. Wisdom’s successful career spans several decades.  When asked about her work, she credits her parents, “I have two highly motivated, talented parents who were instrumental in my love, support and exposure and that undoubtedly helped me to achieve my results.” 

Dr. Wisdom grew up in Mystic, Connecticut.  Her father was an architectural engineer at General Dynamics.  In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the United States faced challenges of segregation and racism, prior to the passage of Civil Rights legislation.  Dr. Wisdom remembers growing up in a predominately white community, one of a small number of families of color in town.  “I became a leader and faced head-on many challenges regarding race and discrimination with encouragement and support from both my mother and father.”  Her parents, according to Dr. Wisdom, were never bitter or resentful.  They explained that “people just don’t understand, and therefore it is your job to help them understand.”  Dr. Wisdom’s parents armed her with the confidence to respond to adversity actively and constructively.  She believes that the work she began then continues to this day, but with different audiences and in different venues. 

“My parents were pioneers.  They were leaders and expected me to be a leader too,” said Dr. Wisdom.  At 14, she was selected to be on a national YWCA board where she spoke out against racism with a prestigious panel, including Dr. Dorothy Height, at the National Cathedral in Washington.  In high school, she was accepted into the National Honor Society and was elected sophomore class president by the same people who had discriminated against her in the past.

Another seed was planted in her youth.  As early as seven years old, Dr. Wisdom knew that she wanted to become a doctor, due to her mother suffering from migraine headaches.  She shared that she was exposed to the concept of hospitals and patients at the age of five, when she had her tonsils out.  “I had the privilege of seeing a hospital from the inside” which she feels inspired her to follow her life’s calling.  Dr. Wisdom remembers fondly collecting shoeboxes that she would line with blankets, inserting dolls as patients.  She called these shoeboxes her hospital ward! 

Dr. Wisdom attended the University of Pennsylvania for her undergraduate education.  She and her husband of over 30 years moved to Michigan where she attended the University of Michigan Medical School.  She completed her training at Henry Ford Health System in Emergency Medicine (she has been with Henry Ford for nearly 30 years!).  While on faculty at UM Medical School, she completed her MS degree in Public Health. 

In 2005, Dr. Wisdom authored the Prescription for a Healthier Michigan, the template for her health policy agenda.  The number one strategic priority within this document is to promote healthy lifestyles among adults and youth.  As a result, that same year Michigan Steps Up was created, a statewide healthy lifestyles initiative and associated website.  To date 30,219 Michigan citizens have developed personal plans through the website. 

One example of the many organizations that utilized the Michigan Steps Up framework for its initiatives was Get Moving U.P., based in the Upper Peninsula.  On April 9, 2005, Get Moving U.P. held a walk across the Houghton-Hancock Bridge.  Dr. Wisdom was greeted by huge banners throughout the small northern town that said “Walk With Wisdom.”

From Michigan Steps Up, the Generation With Promise (GWP) project was launched in 2007 with a $5 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.  This student-driven project works to create healthier youth through policy, environmental and behavioral change in 27 urban schools in Michigan.  Schools are building tracks, weight rooms, installing salad bars, holding taste-testing and family fitness events, and implementing 24/7 tobacco-free policies.  The youth leadership development component of the project is one of Dr. Wisdom’s proudest accomplishments.  According to Dr. Wisdom, “The vision for Michigan in terms of GWP taps into the talents of one of our hidden natural resources – our youth.  They are not just leaders of the future, but are potential untapped leaders of today.  If we equip them, guide them, and let them loose as change agents, they will drive the health-related policy, environmental and behavioral agenda in schools and communities.”  It’s been said that this generation of youth could be the first to NOT outlive their parents.  With projects like this, this trend can be reversed.  Changing the direction of schools, staff, students and their families means a healthier, more optimistic outlook for Michigan. 

Another strategic priority area from the Prescription for a HealthierMichigan is healthcare reform, which includes the need for access to care and health insurance for all Michigan residents.  Dr. Wisdom remains committed to this vision for Michigan, a Michigan where everyone has access to quality healthcare.  She states, “Throughpreventive services, people can find better ways to care for themselves outside of prescriptions and surgery.  People without health insurance feel disenfranchised.  Having access ties them to a plethora of health-related resources, connecting them to support and services that can improve their health.”

Dr. Wisdom believes that the physical health of the people of the state of Michigan impacts our fiscal health.  “When we have an unhealthy population, this greatly impacts our healthcare costs.  When we have an unhealthy workforce, it impacts the employers’ bottom-line.  Regardless of your healthcare coverage, being unhealthy impacts absenteeism rates and overall productivity.  Furthermore, unhealthy people cannot fully express their creativity or innovation which impacts our ability to be a competitive state.  ‘Our health is our greatest wealth’, as it’s been said,” stated Dr. Wisdom.

Also in the Prescription for a Healthier Michigan, another strategic priority area is the elimination of health disparities.  “We are such a diverse state in terms of our composition of African American, Latino and Arab Americans, to name a few.  While we celebrate a diverse representation of races and ethnicities, we need to mitigate the differences in opportunity and health-related outcomes.  Whether you represent one of these groups or not, the health of all citizens affects the health of Michigan.  In other words, a rising tide lifts all boats.”  In a national presentation in 1998, Dr. Wisdom was quoted as saying, “If a society is not healed until all of its members have equal opportunities, then we must see that our fates are inextricably linked.”

When asked why she does this work, Dr. Wisdom stated,“I feel blessed because this type of work is a ‘calling.’  I feel fulfilled personally and professionally because the work that I do each and every day is part of my life’s mission.  I feel privileged to wake up each morning feeling that I am fulfilling the purpose for which I was created.  I’m just one part of an overall much greater plan.”

Look for health tips from Dr. Wisdom in the March/April issue and throughout the year.