2017 Dean's Awards: Community Service Honorees (with video)

On Nov. 14, 2017, Dean Marschall S. Runge, M.D., Ph.D., and the executive vice deans for the University of Michigan Medical School presented Dean's Awards to 23 faculty and staff for exceptional accomplishment in the areas of teaching, research, clinical care, community service, innovation and administration.

This year's recipients, who received their awards during a dinner and ceremony in the Omenn Atrium of the A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Science Research Building, include Global Community Service Award recipients Vladimir M. Ognenovski, M.D., and Mark E.P. Prince, M.D.; and Local Community Service Award recipients Sheila M. Marcus, M.D., and Margaret A. Riley, M.D.

“Michigan Medicine is renowned for what we do here on the medical campus; however, this group of honorees has a vision to help those throughout the State of Michigan and around the world,” said Carl R. Bradford, M.D., executive vice dean for academic affairs and chief academic officer for Michigan Medicine. “They proudly carry the Michigan Medicine banner wherever they go, and extend our substantial reach beyond these walls.”

Vladimir M. Ognenovski, M.D., is an assistant professor of internal medicine in the Medical School. 

A 1977 graduate of the University of Michigan, he joined the Medical School faculty in 1998 as a clinical instructor in the Department of Internal Medicine. He was promoted to assistant professor in 2002.

He earned his medical degree from the Univerzitet Sv. Kiril I Metodij, Medicinski Fakultet in the Skopje Republic of Macedonia, and has spent the better part of a decade giving back to his home country. He has sustained a multi-year project to upgrade rheumatology care in Macedonia, which has included educational exchanges among faculty and medical students, the establishment of a rheumatology clinic in an underserved area, and patient education.

He initially set up visits every six months to Macedonia to improve education and patient care. He now spends approximately two weeks per year there conducting improvement activities.

Mark E.P. Prince, M.D., is a professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery in the Medical School.

From 1996-98, he served as a lecturer in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and completed a fellowship in head and neck oncology. He returned to the Medical School in 2000 as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor in 2008, and full professor in 2014.

Over the past five years, he has organized and helped lead a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, nurses and trainees who have established a unique outreach collaboration with the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana, Africa. The team includes Prince, Jeffrey Moyer, M.D., Greg Basura, M.D., David Brown, M.D., Bruce Edwards, Au.D., and Bianca Waller, R.N.

The group has made numerous trips to Ghana to improve the educational and clinical care specialty of otolaryngology in that country.

Sheila M. Marcus, M.D., is a professor of psychiatry in the Medical School.

A graduate of the University of Michigan (1979) and Medical School (1983), who also completed internship, residency and fellowship here, she joined the U-M faculty in 1991 as a lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry. She was promoted to assistant professor of psychiatry in 1996, associate professor in 2004, and full professor in 2009. She also became a research professor in the Center for Human Growth and Development in 2010.

She specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of young children, particularly those impacted by trauma, abuse and neglect. She has led efforts to improve the delivery of behavioral health care to youth and families across the state of Michigan through the Michigan Child Collaborative Care Program (MC3), which has leveraged scarce child and perinatal psychiatry resources by providing just-in-time consultative support to primary care providers throughout Michigan, and telepsychiatry services to patients and families.

Established in 2012, MC3 has enrolled 1,536 primary care providers from 344 clinics and 53 Michigan counties. The group has worked closely with community partners to provide resources for more-effective child and adolescent mental health services.

Margaret A. Riley, M.D., is an associate professor of family medicine in the Medical School.

After completing her internship, residency and fellowship at Michigan, she joined the Medical School faculty in 2008 as a clinical lecturer in the Department of Family Medicine. She was promoted to assistant professor in 2011, and associate professor in 2017.

She has emerged as a local, regional and national leader in adolescent care and the care of underserved persons. She serves as medical director of the statewide Adolescent Health Initiative and the Regional Alliance for Healthy Schools. Within these roles, she interacts regularly with others from around the state to improve medical care for Michigan’s adolescents, regardless of where they receive care. At the Corner Health Center she provides prenatal care, contraception and other sexual health services, mental health care, and primary care for a diverse group of children, adolescents and young adults, most with low socioeconomic status.

She recently served as medical director of the Ypsilanti Health Center, and partnered with Food Gatherers to establish an on-site food pantry. The staff named it “Maggie’s Marketplace.”

In 2015, she was inducted into the Medical School’s League of Educational Excellence.