Medical College of Wisconsin Central Wisconsin Campus Announces Dean Transition

Wausau, WI, Nov. 14, 2024 – This week, the Central Wisconsin campus of the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) informed faculty, staff, and students that MCW-Central Wisconsin Sentry Dean and Founding Dean Lisa Grill Dodson, MD, has made the decision to step down from her executive leadership role effective June 30, 2025.

Dr. Dodson is a Professor with Tenure in the MCW Department of Family and Community Medicine and will continue to serve in this and her Dean capacity during the search for her successor. At the time of that transition, with the approval of the MCW Board of Trustees, Dr. Dodson will be named Founding Dean Emerita of MCW-Central Wisconsin.

Dr. Dodson joined MCW as Founding Dean for MCW-Central Wisconsin in August 2014. Since that time, she has provided overall leadership and management of MCW’s regional medical school campus in Central Wisconsin and has served as the primary liaison for the health system, academic and community partners in that locale, as well as with MCW’s Milwaukee campus. Dr. Dodson was instrumental in the development and launch of MCW-Central Wisconsin, including welcoming the first class of students in 2016 and celebrating their graduation in 2019. That year also marked MCW’s first endowed Deanship; Dr. Dodson was named Sentry Dean in honor of the Sentry Foundation’s generous investment in the campus. In total, Dr. Dodson has supported six medical school graduating classes and 113 graduates from MCW-Central Wisconsin.

“During her tenure, Dr. Dodson has been a tireless advocate for innovation in both medical education and care delivery to ensure the availability of high-quality care to rural and other non-urban populations,” said Joseph E. Kerschner, MD, provost, executive vice president and The Julia A. Uihlein, MA, Dean of MCW’s School of Medicine, about Dr. Dodson’s leadership and tenure at MCW. “Beginning in 2022, more than 80 percent of MCW-Central Wisconsin graduates from the earlier classes have returned to practice in rural and non-urban areas of the state, fulfilling the regional campus’s mission and filling a crucial need in northern and central Wisconsin.”