Dr. Michael Fleming Elected to Institute of Medicine
| July 24, 2006 | |
Dr. Michael Francis Fleming
UNC alumnus Michael Francis Fleming, MD, MPH, professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has been elected to the National Academy of Science Institute of Medicine (IOM). He has been on the UW faculty since 1986. The IOM, one of four major groups of the National Academies of Science, annually elects 50-60 lifetime members after a rigorous peer nomination and screening process that may last several years. About 1400 members have been elected since 1970. Fleming is the eighth faculty member and first physician to be admitted to IOM from UW-Madison. Fleming was a faculty member in the UNC School of Medicine from 1981 to 1986 and completed an MPH in Epidemiology at the School of Public Health in 1985. He and wife, Susan Skochelak, MD (UNC MPH, 1986), have three children — two of whom are in training to become physicians — and two grandchildren. They maintain ties with North Carolina by vacationing at their home in Topsail Beach. Fleming’s research focuses on the prevention and treatment of alcohol and drug use disorders, and he counts among his career highlights his work with people who have substance abuse problems. He has served as principal investigator on 14 NIH grants and contracts and published a number of seminal articles on primary care-based treatment of alcohol abuse. “The most amazing aspect of being elected (to the IOM) is the opportunity to work with other members of the National Academies to improve the health of the US population,” Fleming said. He modestly suggests that his first professors in Carolina’s MPH program might not have imagined that he could someday receive this honor. “I will never forget the first exam I took,” he recalls. “It was in biostatistics, and having been out in private practice, I hadn’t taken an exam in 10 years. I think I got the lowest grade in the class. But one of my strengths is persistence: on the next test, I got a 100%.”
For further information please contact Ramona DuBose either by phone at 919-966-7467 or by email at ramona_dubose@unc.edu |
