Medical College of Wisconsin Honorary Degree Recipients
An honorary degree is one of higher education’s most significant accolades. It is the guiding principle of MCW to award honorary degrees on a selective basis to distinguished individuals who merit special recognition for genuine achievement and distinction in a field or activity consonant with the mission of the institution. Only the MCW Board of Trustees may authorize the award of an honorary degree.
2025 Recipients
Donald E. Arnold, MD, FACHE, FASA, is Immediate Past President of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). He is also Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology, Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, a member of the Board of Directors of Mercy Health East Communities and sits on the Board of Directors of Western Anesthesiology Associates, Inc., in Ballwin, Missouri.
Dr. Arnold has served ASA in numerous roles, including President, President-elect, First Vice President, Treasurer, and Assistant Treasurer. He is chair of the Budget Committee and vice chair of Committee on Representation to World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists.
He has also chaired ASA’s Section on Fiscal Affairs, Committee on Quality Management and Departmental Administration, Ad Hoc Committee on Deep Sedation and Education, and Ad Hoc Committee on Payment and Care Delivery Models. He has served on ASA’s Board of Directors, Budget Committee, and several other ad hoc and standing committees. Dr. Arnold was also a director and officer of the Anesthesia Quality Institute, and a director and officer of the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research.
In addition to his commitments to ASA, Dr. Arnold has served as a full examiner and senior editor for the Standardized Oral Exam for the American Board of Anesthesiology, guest reviewer for Anesthesia & Analgesia, and ASA liaison to The Joint Commission. He served as president of the Missouri Society of Anesthesiologists (MSA) and St. Louis Society of Anesthesiologists. Dr. Arnold serves on the Board of Directors for the Mercy East Communities. He has been recognized by the MSA with its Distinguished Service Award and by Mercy with the Charles E. Thoele Physician Leadership Award.
Dr. Arnold received his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin. He completed his transitional internship at Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Connecticut, and his residency in anesthesiology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Hanover, New Hampshire. He is board-certified in anesthesiology.
He resides in St. Louis with his wife, Tamara K. Ehlert, MD; they have three adult children.
William E. Finlayson, MD, who turned 100 years old in September 2024, has had a long and distinguished history of service in Milwaukee that dates back to his arrival in the city in 1958. He practiced obstetrics and gynecology for nearly 40 years, and was the first Black OB-GYN at what was then St. Joseph’s Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital – during which time he delivered approximately 10,000 babies. A street between West Capitol Drive and West Walnut Street – formerly North 5th Street – bears his name in honor of his service to Milwaukee.
Dr. Finlayson served in the Army for three years during WWII, achieving the rank of First Lieutenant. He received his BS degree from Morehouse College in 1948, where he was a classmate and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brother of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Finlayson earned his MD degree in 1953 from Meharry Medical College and completed his residency at the University of Minnesota in 1958 – after which he settled in Milwaukee with his wife and young sons.
Dr. Finlayson quickly became aware of the more subtle forms of segregation in Milwaukee and made it his business to break down barriers and open doors for those less fortunate than himself. He was most interested in the city’s institutions, particularly those with little to no Black representation. Dr. Finlayson served on the Board of the Medical College of Wisconsin and as a member of its Admissions Committee, was instrumental in increasing the diversity of the student body.
Dr. Finlayson is a Past President of the Milwaukee Gynecological Society and the Past National Chair of the section of Obstetricians-Gynecologists for the National Medical Association. He earned Fellowships in both the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American College of Surgery, and as a member of the American Medical Association, served as a delegate to the state and county Medical Societies and lobbied for the passage of Medicare.
Medicine was far from Dr. Finlayson’s only interest, however. He also was concerned for the economic health of his community. Noting that it was underserved by financial institutions, he was instrumental in the founding in 1971 of North Milwaukee State Bank – the first Black-owned bank in Wisconsin – and served as it Chairman of the Board for 26 of the more than 40 years of the bank’s existence. Dr. Finlayson’s social conscience prompted him to push for the establishment of a state-of-the-art YMCA facility on Milwaukee’s near northside in the mid-1960s, and served as its President of the Board of Directors through groundbreaking and construction. In 1964, as President of the local alumni chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Dr. Finlayson successfully led the effort to bring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Milwaukee.
Dr. Finlayson is a Golden Heritage life member of the NAACP and was a founding member of the Milwaukee African American Council. More recently, he organized the W.E.B. DuBois Club, which provides mentoring and guidance to young African American high school males. He also received Milwaukee’s 2019 Living Legend Award.
Joseph J. Fins, MD, is The E. William Davis, Jr. M.D. Professor of Medical Ethics and Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College, where he also serves as a Tenured Professor of Medicine, Professor of Medicine in Psychiatry, Professor of Medical Ethics in Neurology, Professor of Medical Ethics in Rehabilitation Medicine, and Professor of Health Care Policy and Research. He is the Founding Chair of the Ethics Committee of New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he is an Attending Physician and Director of Medical Ethics.
A member of the Adjunct Faculty of Rockefeller University and Senior Attending Physician at The Rockefeller University Hospital, Dr. Fins co-directs, the Consortium for the Advanced Study of Brain Injury (CASBI) at Weill Cornell Medicine and Rockefeller. He also is the Solomon Center Distinguished Scholar in Medicine, Bioethics and the Law at Yale Law School and a Visiting Professor of Law. Dr. Fins has held visiting professorships at Princeton, Johns Hopkins, and Wesleyan University. Dr. Fins is the immediate Past President of the International Neuroethics Society, Past President of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, and current Chair of the Hastings Center Board of Trustees.
Dr. Fins graduated from Wesleyan in 1982 and received his MD degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1986. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine and his Fellowship in General Internal Medicine at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, and has served as Associate for Medicine at The Hastings Center. Dr. Fins is a Diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine.
The author of more than 500 papers, chapters, essays, and books, Dr. Fins’ most recent volume is Rights Come to Mind: Brain Injury, Ethics and The Struggle for Consciousness (Cambridge University Press, 2015). He also is the author of A Palliative Ethic of Care: Clinical Wisdom at Life’s End and was co-author of the 2007 Nature paper describing the first use of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the minimally conscious state. Dr. Fins served as a co-investigator on an NIH BRAIN Initiative grant studying DBS in severe to moderate traumatic brain injury and was principal investigator on a BRAIN Initiative grant entitled, "Cognitive Restoration: Neuroethics and Disability Rights." He is currently MPI on a R01 entitled, “Post-trial Access, Clinical Care, Psychosocial Support, and Scientific Progress in Experimental Deep Brain Stimulation Research.”
Dr. Fins is an elected Member of the National Academy of Medicine, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Association of American Physicians, and, by Royal Appointment, is an Academico de Honor (Honored Academic) of the Royal National Academy of Medicine of Spain. In 2022, Dr. Fins was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, from Wesleyan University, and he received the Weill Cornell Medical College Alumni Association Award of Distinction in 2024. Dr. Fins is currently working on a biography of the physician-humanist, Dr. Lewis Thomas.
Ellen M. Gilligan, a champion for strong communities and racial equity, has dedicated her entire career to driving resources to underserved communities and advancing equitable outcomes in education, housing, and economic development.
As President and Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation (GMF) – a role she held from 2010 to 2024 – Gilligan joined Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) President and CEO Dr. John R. Raymond, Sr., in a groundbreaking collaboration focused on the social determinants of health, and bringing to life GMF’s generational commitment to advance racial equity in the region. Both GMF and MCW had historic ties to the Brewers Hill, Halyard Park, and Harambe neighborhoods. This was an opportunity for them to invest deeply while embedding their institutions to catalyze long-term change.
With a shared vision for a Milwaukee that is equitable, healthy, and thriving for all, the CEOs of GMF and MCW assembled a visionary and collaborative team that homed in on the former Schuster’s Department store building in Milwaukee’s Bronzeville neighborhood to create a national model called ThriveOn King – a unique partnership of a private health sciences university, a community foundation, and an innovative, visionary African-American developer. The team steered deep involvement and engagement across multiple partners and throughout the community, bringing the vision to life. Most importantly, the collaboration was guided at every step by the vision, voices, and priorities of the area’s residents.
ThriveOn King launched as a comprehensive community hub in June 2024, bringing together early childhood education, health and wellness, new housing and economic opportunity, and new business under one roof. Fulfilling residents’ vision, ThriveOn King is a community gathering place and showcase celebrating the history and culture of Bronzeville and renewing a long-dormant, iconic community asset for positive change.
Gilligan earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, and postgraduate certificates from Northwestern University (strategic leadership) and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy (major giving). She has held executive leadership roles spanning more than 30 years with national and local nonprofits that invest in community development, including the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, The Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation, and United Way Worldwide – all in the Washington, DC area. She held executive roles with United Way of Greater Cincinnati and The Greater Cincinnati Foundation prior to joining the GMF.
Gilligan has brought her leadership skills as a catalyst and convener of community around shared vision to national and community boards, including the Greater Milwaukee Committee, the City of Milwaukee’s Black Male Achievement Advisory Council; and United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County, and recently joined the board of Wisconsin Watch.
One of Gilligan’s proudest career accomplishments was overseeing the GMF’s growth in assets from $458 million in 2010 to more than $1 billion in 2024. During her tenure, GMF also completed one of the nation’s first community foundation campaigns, generating $726 million to support GMF’s vision of a Milwaukee for All. The campaign engaged thousands of donors in support of the “building blocks of a better life” – educational opportunity, health equity, economic inclusion, and housing security.
Robert N. Golden, MD, is Dean Emeritus of the School of Medicine and Public Health, Vice Chancellor Emeritus for Medical Affairs, the Robert Turell Professor in Medical Leadership, and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also Past Chair of the Board of UW Health, the university’s academic health system.
Dr. Golden received his BA cum laude with honors in psychology from Yale University, and his MD degree from the Boston University School of Medicine. He completed an internship, residency, and chief residency in psychiatry at the University of North Carolina (UNC), followed by a fellowship in pharmacology research at the National Institute of Mental Health. He returned to UNC in 1985 and over time, served as the Associate Director of both the General Clinical Research Center and the Mental Health Clinical Research Center, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, and Vice Dean for the School of Medicine.
In July 2006, Dr. Golden became the 9th Dean of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. Upon stepping down as Dean in May 2025, he was the longest serving dean at UW-Madison and the second-longest serving medical school dean in the United States. He remains on the faculty as a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry.
During his leadership tenure at UW-Madison, Dr. Golden led the transformation of the medical school into the nation’s first School of Medicine and Public Health, which included the integration of public and population health principles into its education, research, and service missions. He also played a critical leadership role in the integration of the academic group practice and the academic health system into a single physician-led organization, UW Health. Over the course of his service as Dean, National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding grew from $135 million to more than $315 million; specialized training tracks in rural and urban medicine were created for medical students; multiple new centers were launched, including the Native American Center for Health Professions and the Institute for Clinical and Translation Science; and greater diversity was achieved among students, faculty, and institutional leaders.
Dr. Golden has published more than 250 academic papers and has served on several editorial boards, review panels, and advisory committees. His national appointments have included Chair of the Board of the Association of Academic Health Centers; President of the American College of Psychiatrists; Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology; and Associate Editor for Psychosomatic Medicine and Neuropsychopharmacology.
His honors include the Eugene Hargrove Mental Health Research Award and the American College of Psychiatrists Mood Disorders Research Award; appointment as the inaugural Stuart Bondurant Distinguished Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill; recipient of the Distinguished Medical Alumnus Award from the UNC School of Medicine and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Boston University School of Medicine; and the UW Slesinger Award for Excellence in Mentoring of women faculty.
2024 Recipients
Dr. Christine K. Cassel is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine, and Senior Advisor for Strategy and Policy, where she is working on biomedical ethics and the role of technology in healthcare. She leads an ethics and governance core for the UCSF Clinical Translational Science Institute, co-chairs a working group for the University of California Health System task force on health data governance, and serves on the standing AI Council for the President of the University of California.
In March of 2018, Dr. Cassel completed her term as Planning Dean for the new Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, based in Pasadena, California. From 2013-2016, she was the President and CEO of the National Quality Forum, and prior to that served as President and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the ABIM Foundation.
Dr. Cassel was one of 20 scientists – and the only physician – chosen by President Obama to serve on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). She chaired or co-chaired PCAST reports on health information technology, scientific innovation in drug development and evaluation, systems engineering in healthcare, technology to foster independence and quality of life in an aging population, and safe drinking water systems.
Dr. Cassel is a leading expert in geriatrics and policy for an aging society, bioethics, and professional standards and quality of care. In her academic career she has served as Dean of the School of Medicine at Oregon Health and Sciences University, as Chair of the Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and as Chief of General Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago. Among her many professional achievements and honors, Dr. Cassel was elected to membership of the National Academy of Medicine in 1992, and has served on or chaired influential reports such as To Err is Human, Crossing the Quality Chasm, Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life, and Addressing Burnout: A Systems Approach to Improving Care by Enhancing Clinician Wellbeing.
Dr. Cassel was the first woman President of the American College of Physicians and, subsequently, first woman Chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine. She has served as Chair of the Board of the Greenwall Foundation (a national foundation for bioethics), and President of the American Federation for Aging Research, and was a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Cassel’s other board service includes the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, Premier, Inc, and the Russell Sage Foundation.
Dr. Cassel currently advises a number of start-up companies using information science to advance healthcare quality. She has received numerous honorary degrees and is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Medicine of England and Canada. She also is author of more than 200 articles and author or editor of 11 books, including one of the leading textbooks in geriatric medicine, and Medicare Matters: What Geriatric Medicine Can Teach American Health Care.
For the last 15 years, Ms. Dalvery Blackwell has served as a Co-Founder and Executive Director of the African American Breastfeeding Network (AABN). Her career is dedicated to improving maternal-child health outcomes, championing breastfeeding equity by advocating for system/policy changes, and partnering with community-based, family-centered, culturally tailored health education and support services. Before founding AABN, she worked in different capacities in public health. As a program coordinator for the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin, Ms. Blackwell was instrumental in leading the efforts to make Wisconsin one of the first states in the country to create legislation banning smoking in public places. Soon after marrying and having her first child, Ms. Blackwell committed her work to addressing breastfeeding disparities. Her first stop on her public health journey was a job with the Milwaukee County’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children as a breastfeeding peer counselor. Soon after, in 2011, she became an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant.
Under Ms. Blackwell’s direction, AABN has worked to enhance and improve maternal and infant health by providing breastfeeding education, support, and services, especially for families at risk for prematurity and adverse birth outcomes. AABN was created to normalize breastfeeding by eradicating stigma, providing support, and increasing self-efficacy and knowledge of breastfeeding rights in public, professional, and educational settings. Culturally relevant programming from AABN begins with prenatal education and support and extends through the postpartum period for the entire family. In 2019, the Board of Directors led the mission change to include advocating for breastfeeding equity and championing maternal-child health.
The many accomplishments of AABN as a reproductive justice community-based organization has enabled it to receive consistent funding from local and national foundations, donors, organizations, and government sources. In 2020 and 2021, AABN received $500,000 in funding to form the WeRISE Doula program, intended to provide labor and delivery support and protection from COVID-19 to Black birthing families in southeastern Wisconsin. In 2022, AABN received another $500,000 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, which brought the nationally acclaimed, evidence-based, trauma-informed care doula training from HealthConnect One to the WeRISE Doula Initiative. In 2023, Ms. Blackwell joined Drs. Anna Palatnik (Contact PI), Jessica Olson, Joni Williams, and Julia Dickson-Gomez (MPIs) as a Co-Investigator on the ASCEND Wisconsin Initiative, a seven-year, $10 million NIH-funded proposal which aims to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in maternal morbidity in southeastern Wisconsin through equitable partnerships and commitment to policy-level change.
Through Ms. Blackwell’s leadership and vision, AABN has built eminent goodwill in the community. The organization has been recognized and highlighted in local, state, and national media, including Essence Magazine's “Top Ten Things People Are Talking About,” and the CDC “Breastfeeding Report Card.” Ms. Blackwell is a recipient of the Wisconsin Public Health Association’s Award for Excellence in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health’s Women of Commitment Award, and the Milwaukee Community Journal’s Year of the Child: A Game Changer Honoree.
Kathy Kelsey Foley and her husband, Ernie, have made Wausau their home since 1997, having previously lived in the community for five years beginning in 1986. Kathy has the distinction of serving as director of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum twice, her tenures separated by her family’s time away from the community. She returned to the helm of the Woodson in March 1998, retiring in December 2022. In recognition of Kathy’s service, the Museum’s Board of Director’s awarded her the title of Director Emerita and renamed the Rooftop Sculpture Garden in her honor.
Kathy received her undergraduate degree in art history with departmental and general honors from Vassar College and a Masters degree also in art history from The Johns Hopkins University. Her museum training and professional and corporate experience include stints in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; curator at The Dayton Art Institute; founding director of Northwestern University’s Block Museum of Art; and the Gap, where she served as manager of corporate internal communication.
During Kathy’s Woodson tenure, the Museum was one of only ten 2017 recipients of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation’s highest honor, awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a Federal agency. Kathy was inducted as a Fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in April 2014, and received the Association of Midwest Museums’ Distinguished Career Award in November 2020.
Since 2009, Kathy has served Aspirus Health in a variety of capacities. She is currently Vice Chair of the Aspirus, Inc. Board of Directors and Chair of the system Quality Committee. She is passionate about ensuring the accessibility of high-quality healthcare for the community and broader region and educating and nurturing the next generation of physicians and advanced practice providers to support healthy outcomes and robust quality of life for all who call north central Wisconsin home.
Kathy and Ernie are the parents of two daughters, who reside in Colorado with their families, which include two grandsons and a granddaughter.
Howard Fuller’s career includes many years in both public service positions and the field of education. Dr. Fuller recently retired from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he now is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus.
Immediately before his appointment at Marquette University, Dr. Fuller served as the Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools.
Dr. Fuller received his BS degree in Sociology from Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin; his MSA. degree in Social Administration from Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio; and his PhD in Sociological Foundations of Education from Marquette University.
Dr. Fuller has received numerous awards and recognitions over the years, including four Honorary Doctorate Degrees: Doctorate of Humane Letters from Carroll College; Doctorate of Laws from Marian College, Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin; Doctorate of Business and Economics from the Milwaukee School of Engineering; and Doctorate of Humane Letters from Edgewood College, Madison, Wisconsin.
Dr. Fuller also is a member of the Charter School Hall of Fame of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools; the Athletic Hall of Fame at North Division High School and Carroll University; and the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Dr. Fuller was honored as the Distinguished Alumnus of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in 2020, and was the recipient of the Marquette University 2023 Service Award.
He serves on the Board of Directors of the Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy.
His memoir, No Struggle No Progress, was published in 2014.
David C. Leach, MD, was born in Elmira, New York. He received his undergraduate degree from St. Michael’s College of the University of Toronto, his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, and his training in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He received additional training in Pediatric Endocrinology at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
For nearly thirty years. Dr. Leach practiced endocrinology at Henry Ford Hospital, taught University of Michigan medical students, and was a teaching hospitalist. In the early 1980s he became the Director of Medical Education and Transitional Residency program director at Henry Ford. He also became seriously interested in how resident physicians acquire competence, and in 1997 was recruited to lead the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) as it shifted toward a competency-based model of accreditation. At that time, the ACGME accredited more than 6,000 residency programs in 120 different specialties that in aggregate housed more than 110,000 residents. The Competency Initiative was designed to use the leverage afforded by accreditation, the assessment tools developed by the community, and partnership with the certifying boards to ensure that programs were producing graduates competent in the practice of their discipline. During Dr. Leach’s tenure duty, hour restrictions also were addressed when it became evident that changes in the practice of medicine had negatively impacted both patient safety and resident well-being.
Dr. Leach has served on the boards of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement; the National Center for Healthcare Leadership; the Picker Institute; the Rosalind Franklin University; and the Mercy Health System (now Bon Secours Mercy Health). In 2007, he received the Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC) Award for Excellence in Medical Education (formerly called the Flexner Award). He also was given the Good Samaritan Award by Michigan’s Governor John Engler for 25 years of volunteer service at the Cabrini Clinic, a free clinic in downtown Detroit.
Dr. Leach now lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, with Jackie, his wife of almost fifty years, and spends his time noticing beauty, practicing gratitude, and embracing patience.
A passionate service-driven leader who is committed to creating and supporting a trauma-responsive community, Ms. Amy Lovell co-founded two of southeastern Wisconsin’s preeminent organizations that address mental health and wellness.
Ms. Lovell co-founded REDgen (Resilience EDucation for a new generation), a nonprofit organization that works to bridge systems to promote resiliency in the lives of our youth and families. She currently serves on the organization’s board of directors.
REDgen is a peer-to-peer resiliency program that builds a foundation for all youth to move from surviving to thriving at school, home, and within their communities. There are approximately 30 REDgen chapters in participating middle and high schools in the greater Milwaukee area. The program has developed more than 400 student leaders and impacted more than 17,000 youth.
Ms. Lovell also co-founded Scaling Wellness in Milwaukee (SWIM) with her husband, Marquette University President, Dr. Michael R. Lovell. SWIM is an organization that drives community-based collaboration to help prevent and respond to trauma and create a resilient Milwaukee. Through education, training, and wellness and resilience services, the organization equips community members with the tools they need to understand their own trauma, heal, and build resilience.
SWIM programs provide wellness and resilience services and teach SWIM’s workplace training program, which helps organizations build awareness of the role of trauma in the workplace and develop policies and procedures that respond to trauma.
In recognition of the Lovells’ tremendous leadership to address mental health at Marquette and across Milwaukee and the region, the third and fourth floors of the wellness tower within the Marquette University’s new Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility will be named the Lovell Center for Student Well-Being. The Lovells were named the 2018 Community Leaders of the Year by BizTimes Milwaukee for their commitment to building a healthier, more productive Milwaukee.
In 2020, Ms. Lovell was honored by the Milwaukee Business Journal as a Woman of Influence.
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy from the University of Pittsburgh and worked as a licensed pharmacist in New York, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania prior to moving to Milwaukee in 2008. She and Dr. Lovell are the parents of four adult children.
Dr. Michael R. Lovell was named Marquette University’s 24th President in March 2014. Under his visionary leadership, Marquette focuses on innovation, entrepreneurship, and community renewal and development – all consistent with the university’s Catholic, Jesuit mission. Marquette delivers students a transformative education and prepares them for fulfilling carers and purposeful lives, and to be men and women for others.
Working with business and community leaders in Marquette’s neighborhood, Dr. Lovell helped create the Near West Side Partners, a nonprofit focused on strengthening economic development, housing, neighborhood identity, and safety. He also played a key role in launching several other important initiatives in Milwaukee, including the Midwest Energy Research Consortium, The Commons, Scale-Up Milwaukee, The Water Council and the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute.
Dr. Lovell and his wife, Amy, founded Scaling Wellness in Milwaukee (SWIM), an organization that drives community-based collaboration to help prevent and respond to trauma and create a resilient Milwaukee. They were named the 2018 Community Leaders of the Year by BizTimes Milwaukee for their commitment to building a healthier, more productive Milwaukee.
Since being diagnosed with sarcoma in August 2021, Dr. Lovell has been very active in raising funds for cancer research and support programs. He presently serves as the Co-chair of the Wisconsin chapter of CEOs Against Cancer, a program of the American Cancer Society. The Lovells co-chaired the 2023 Stronger than Sarcoma Soiree for Research. Dr. Lovell was featured in the October 2023 Rare Storytellers program presented by Harmony 4 Hope in partnership with the Linda T. and John A. Mellowes Center for Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
The fourth-longest serving president in Marquette’s 143-year history, Dr. Lovell serves on the boards of The Water Council; the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities; the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities; and the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars. He is a member of the executive committees of the Higher Education Regional Alliance; the Greater Milwaukee Committee; and the Big East Conference; and co-chairs the Council on Competitiveness’s University Leadership Forum.
Prior to joining Marquette, Dr. Lovell served the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee as Chancellor and, earlier, Dean of its engineering college. He previously held academic and research leadership positions at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Kentucky.
Dr. Lovell holds three mechanical engineering degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. He has received awards from the National Science Foundation, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and numerous other organizations; is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and National Academy of Inventors; and holds U.S. and global patents.
The Lovells are the parents of four adult children.
Dr. Michael Lovell passed away on June 9, 2024, after a three-year battle with sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. He was 57.
Catherine R. Lucey, MD, MACP, leads the robust research enterprise and highly ranked academic programs at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), as Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. Dr. Lucey works in close collaboration with the Chancellor and the leadership team to develop and implement campus priorities and vision, maintain the University’s status as an international leader in health sciences education and research, and oversee external partnerships representing UCSF’s best interests across the University of California system, at the UC Office of the President, and beyond. Renowned for her leadership, Dr. Lucey was Vice Dean for Education and Executive Vice Dean for the School of Medicine, reporting to Dean Talmadge E. King, Jr. In these roles, she directed the undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education programs of the School of Medicine and the Office of Medical Education.
A champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Dr. Lucey also was on the executive management team for the School of Medicine’s Differences Matters Initiative and oversaw other strategic projects across the campus.
Her national portfolio of work has included membership on the National Academy of Medicine, the Board of Directors of the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the American Board of Medical Specialties. Additionally, she served as Chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine. In these roles, she has worked to influence the direction of academic medicine and the continuum of medical education in ways aligned with UCSF’s approach to education, culture, and community.
Dr. Lucey joined UCSF in 2011 from The Ohio State University, where she was Vice Dean for Education for the College of Medicine and Associate Vice President for Health Sciences Education for the Office of Health Sciences. She completed her residency in internal medicine at UCSF, including service as Chief Resident at the UCSF-affiliated San Francisco General Hospital (now named Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center).
Dr. Lucey earned her medical degree from Northwestern University School of Medicine.
Dr. William and Mrs. Sandra Schneider have been pillars of the Green Bay, Wisconsin, community for nearly 60 years. For over a decade, the Schneiders have been valuable friends of and partners with the Medical College of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Their support and dedication to the school have been unwavering.
Dr. Schneider completed his undergraduate work at Marquette University and received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1960 from the Marquette University School of Medicine – MCW’s predecessor institution. Mrs. Schneider received her Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology from Marquette University in 1959. The Schneiders were married on October 3, 1959, in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and Mrs. Schneider interned at the Milwaukee County Hospital. Together, Bill and Sandy raised the couple’s six children.
Dr. Schneider interned at the United States Air Force Hospital Lackland in San Antonio, Texas, from 1960-1961 and the Brooks Air Force Base School of Aerospace Medicine in 1961. Dr. Schneider served as a flight surgeon with Strategic Air Command, Loring Air Force Base in Maine, from 1961-1963. The family then returned to Milwaukee, where Dr. Schneider completed an Orthopaedic Surgical Residency at Children’s Hospital, County Hospital, Woods Veterans’ Hospital, and Columbia Hospital from 1963-1967. In 1967, Dr. Schneider began a solo practice in orthopaedic surgery and founded the Orthopaedic Associates of Green Bay. He continued to practice orthopaedic surgery until 1995 at St. Vincent’s, St. Mary’s, and Bellin Hospitals. Dr. Schneider also founded and co-owner of Geneva Capital Management in Milwaukee from 1988 to 2011.
Dr. Schneider’s memberships in professional organizations have included the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Society of Hip and Knee Surgeons, Midwest Orthopaedic Surgical Society, Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Diseases; Milwaukee Orthopaedic Society; Wisconsin Orthopaedic Society; State of Wisconsin Medical Society; and Brown County Medical Society. He also served as Chief of Surgery at St. Mary’s and St. Vincent’s Hospitals and on the Regional Planning Board for Fairview Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis. Dr. Schneider’s service to MCW-Green Bay has included membership on the MCW Regional Campus Location Search Committee and the Regional Application Advisory Committee. He also taught physical examination classes to the MCW-Green Bay medical students in the early years of the campus.
The Schneiders have been involved in a multitude of community activities in Green Bay over the decades. A few examples of Dr. Schneider’s significant community service have included membership in the Bishop’s Crosier Society, Weidner Center, Botanical Garden, Abbot Pennings Foundation, St. Joseph Academy, Heritage Hill Foundation, Peninsula Art School, and Unity Hospice Community Development Board. He also has been a Walter Zeit Fellow at the Medical College of Wisconsin since 2000.
Mrs. Schneider’s many community activities have included being a Brownie leader, Parent’s Club Officer at St. Francis Grade School, aide in the Library and Learning Center at Notre Dame Lower School, Docent and member at Neville Museum for Early Wisconsin History and Art; English as a Second Language Teacher for Vietnam Families sponsored by St. Francis Parish; and memberships on the Service League of Green Bay, St. Joseph’s Academy, Brown County Medical Auxiliary, Bishop’s Crosier Society, Weidner Center, Green Bay Botanical Garden, New Rose Society, Antiquarian Society, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Brown County Medical Society Alliance, and President’s Councils at Marquette University and St. Norbert College.
The Schneiders live in De Pere. In addition to their six children, they have 19 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
M. Tracy Zundel, MD, FASA, is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Zundel graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s in chemistry and completed medical school, Anesthesiology residency, and his Critical Care Anesthesiology fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin and has been on faculty at MCW since 2014.
He currently serves as an Associate Program Director for the Core Anesthesiology Residency Program, and an MD Program Director for MCW’s Critical Care APP Fellowship.
Dr. Zundel is passionate about anesthesiology education and is actively involved in teaching residents, medical students, and the Anesthesiology Assistant students. He is the recipient of multiple departmental teaching awards.