Physician brings skills, experience to DeWeese

Dr. Michael Grusenmeyer, the new University Physician, sits in his office in the DeWeese Health Center. Brittany Ankrom | Summer Kent Stater

Credit: DKS Editors

This summer, patients at the DeWeese Health Center have seen a new doctor on staff.

Dr. Michael Grusenmeyer replaced interim director Angela Dejulius and joined the center’s board-certified physicians and nurse practitioners earlier this summer. His duties are half clinical and half administrative.

Kent State welcomed the new chief university physician May 11 after a six-month application process. Grusenmeyer brings with him 11 years of schooling and 27 years of clinical experience.

“I chose to come to Kent because I worked student health before at Michigan State for a little over two years, and I enjoyed the campus atmosphere,” Grusenmeyer said. “Being on campus is nice because I get to do more administrative work.”

John Gosky, executive director of administrative services for the Division of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, headed the search committee that hired Grusenmeyer. Gosky said five individuals applied for the position, but Grusenmeyer exhibited a number of strengths that outweighed the others.

“Dr. Grusenmeyer (has) strong clinical skills, previous college health care experience, he’s board-certified, interested in mental health issues, able to administer clinical policies and procedures, has strong leadership and communication skills and the ability to maintain good, working relationships with other on-campus departments,” Gosky said.

Grusenmeyer earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology and chemistry from Michigan State University. He earned his doctorate degree in 1979 from Wayne State University in Detroit and completed his residency at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn, Mich., in 1982.

“Residency was intense,” he said. “If we were on-call, we would be there almost 36 hours straight. If you were lucky, you got some sleep.”

Grusenmeyer said he definitely likes the hours at Kent State better than the all-nighters he used to work in the past. He described his schooling as hard, long and intense, but said it has paid off.

He has worked in both emergency and family medicine, but said he likes to focus more on family medicine because of the stability. He said he has seen everything from sore throats and breathing problems to broken bones and chest pain. His previous job was in emergency at Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights, Ohio. There, he worked 12-hour shifts, including weekends and holidays.

Grusenmeyer said lately he has seen more and more people without health insurance. He said, because of government mandates, hospitals must see patients with or without insurance, so many people who walk into emergency rooms would have been better served seeing a family doctor.

He said he is impressed with Kent State’s medical center. It offers counseling, health education, a women’s clinic, physical therapy, a pharmacy, X-ray and student accessibility services where 1,000 students with different disabilities are registered. It also serves uninsured students by not charging for office visits.

“We have probably more things offered here than almost any other college health center in the country,” Grusenmeyer said. “The ease and convenience is almost unmatched in college health centers.”

Grusenmeyer’s secretary, Carol Piscura, has been working at the health center for 10 years. She schedules Grusenmeyer’s clinical work and arranges all of his appointments.

“Dr. Grusenmeyer is very easy to work with and has a great sense of humor,” Piscura said. “We get along very well.”

While Grusenmeyer does enjoy his job as a medical practitioner, he said he is also very interested in counseling and teaching. One day he might pursue a high school teaching career with a focus in either science or biology. In addition to those subjects, he said it would be fascinating to develop and teach a life skills course that focuses on decision-making and everyday tasks.

“We look forward to Dr. Grusenmeyer directing the medical services of the department, serving as a student health care advocate,” Gosky said, “and advancing the mission and goals of University Health Services at Kent State University.”

Contact medicine reporter Rebekah Maple at [email protected].