Dr. William Alfred Mcdade, MD

William A. McDade, MD, PhD, specializes in obstetrical anesthesiology, as well as the treatment of sickle cell disease. He works extensively to reduce cultural disparities in medicine and to help patients who have limited access to health services. Dedicated to increasing opportunities for underrepresented minorities in higher education, Dr. McDade serves as the director of three Pritzker Pipeline Programs designed to introduce local high school and undergraduate students to research and clinical medicine with the aim of helping them develop careers in the biomedical sciences. He also leads two additional pipeline programs for the University that are designed to increase diversity in the professoriate. In 2005, Dr. McDade founded the James E. Bowman Society -- an academic medicine mentoring society that provides support for the advancement of minority individuals. He now serves as a Deputy Provost for the University where he focuses on enhancing campus diversity among the faculty. Dr. …McDade has mentored students in his lab, where his work focuses on the biochemistry of sickle cell disease. Early in his career, he established a relationship between the use of nitric oxide and its ability to break down sickle fibers within red blood cells. He currently is the primary investigator of a National Health Lung Blood Institute research training grant that brings students into the lab while simultaneously teaching ethics and scientific literature skills. An active member of the sickle cell community, Dr. McDade serves on the National Institutes of Health Sickle Cell Disease Advisory Committee. Dr. McDade is also a leader in medical education where he is a member of the American Medical Association's Council on Medical Education. He is also a director for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Dr. McDade has held many leadership roles at the University of Chicago, previously serving as Associate Dean for Multicultural Affairs in the Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. McDade has been a past president for the Chicago Medical Society, the Cook County Physicians Association, the Prairie State Medical Society, and the Chicago Society of Anesthesiologists. He represents the American Society of Anesthesiologists in the AMA House of Delegates and currently serves as the Vice-President of the Illinois State Medical Society.