Profiles in Giving

Diane Dwyer '78: Supporting Diversity at DMS

Dr. Diane Dwyer, a medical epidemiologist with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygeine (DHMH), seems to have been destined to be an infectious disease investigator. "I've always had an interest in quantification - measuring things," she recalls. After earning her bachelor's degree in Biology at U.C. Berkeley and her master's degree in Biostatistics from the University of Vermont, Dwyer enrolled at DMS.

Following an internship and residency in Internal Medicine, Dwyer decided to combine her passions for science, statistics, and medicine by pursuing a career in epidemiology.

As a medical epidemiologist, Dr. Dwyer has dedicated her career to public health. After working for the Centers for Disease Control and the Baltimore City Health Department, she joined the Maryland DHMH where she served as the Maryland State Epidemiologist, focusing on communicable diseases. Since 2000, Dr. Dwyer has been the Medical Director of the Center for Cancer Surveillance and Control at the DHMH, where her work focuses on increasing Maryland's colorectal cancer screening rates and on providing colorectal cancer screening through local health departments for low income and uninsured individuals-a project funded by the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Fund.

Throughout the years, Dr. Dwyer has never forgotten her DMS roots. "I'm thankful to DMS for giving me the education that has allowed me to be a doctor," she says.

But she's more than thankful to her alma mater: she's also generous. "I believe in giving back," Dr. Dwyer notes. And while she supports numerous causes, she says, "Supporting Dartmouth for the education it gave me is the most important."

One of Diane Dwyer's motivations for contributing to the Fund for DMS is to support the School's ability to accept top students, regardless of their ability to pay for their education. Without "need-blind" admissions, many promising students would have to abandon their dreams of a life in medicine for fear of incurring-and not being able to pay off-the massive debt load of a quality medical education.

"I want DMS to continue to be able to accept good students who don't necessarily have the financial wherewithal to pay for medical school," she explains, adding, "Diversity, especially in medicine, is important." (359)

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