CAMBRIDGE — On Nov. 7, 2018 the Medical Alumni Association Board of Directors sponsored an intimate room dedication and sign unveiling ceremony for Milford M. “Mickey” Foxwell Jr., who recently retired (March 31, 2019) as associate dean for admissions, a position he has held since 1989.

The ceremony followed a MAA Board of Directors action to earmark $500,000 toward naming the second-floor room in Davidge Hall the Dr. Milford M. Foxwell Jr. Dissecting Laboratory.

Dr. Foxwell who was born in Cambridge is the son of Patsy Foxwell and the late Milford Foxwell. He is the brother of Larry Foxwell and Patti Carol Smith and is married to the former Suzanne West and they live in the Neck District. His son, Louis, lives in Baltimore County.

Dr. Foxwell graduated from Cambridge High School, 1971; the University of Maryland, College Park, 1975; and the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1980.

His list of accomplishments include: Chief Resident University of Maryland Hospital Veterans’ Administration Medical Center; 1987 elected to Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society; 1988 Recipient of Golden Apple Award for Best Clinical Professor; 1989 Appointed Dean of Admissions University of Maryland School of Medicine; Instructor, Assistant Professor, Coursemaster University of Maryland School of Medicine 1983 - Present and 2013 elected to the Gold Humanism Honor Society.

During his tenure as Dean of Admissions, Dr. Foxwell was reponsible for admitting 4,300 students — now more than half of Maryland’s living alumni.

The Medical Alumni Association asked three colleagues to summarize the impact he has made on the school.

• Larry Pitrof, executive director, Medical Alumni Association said: “For 29 years, Mickey worked diligently to fill roughly 150 seats for the entering class. He was truly devoted to this appointment, reviewing virtually every application received in the office.
“ Before his appointment as associate dean — after completing residency training here and joining the faculty in 1984 — he began volunteering for our annual alumni phonathons in Davidge Hall. He served on his class reunion committees. He also accepted an invitation to join the board of the Trustees of the Endowment of the University of Maryland, Inc. He continues in this capacity today as treasurer, overseeing disbursements of the school and its many departments as well as scholarships to students.
“In 1998 he accepted an invitation to serve as chair of the Davidge Hall Restoration Committee of the alumni association.
“Selfless, humble and generous are three words which best describe him. It gives us great pleasure to honor Mickey with a room in historic Davidge Hall named in his honor.”

• Frank M. Calia, MACP, professor emeritus of medicine, chairman emeritus of medicine: “Mickey was honored by his selection to serve as chief medical resident. On completion of his residency we were fortunate to have him join our faculty as a clinician-educator, and shortly thereafter he joined the staff of our admissons office. Within a year he became director of admissions. Our institutions were fortunate as he continued to teach (at bedside and the lecture hall), care for patients (outpatient and in-hospital) and in so doing impacted the lives of thousands of patients, students, residents and colleagues. He was able to do all of this while supervising the critical process of selecting high quality substrate for our medical school.
“His support and nurturing has played no small roll in our students’ success. He is remarkable in being able to remember their names and directions of their careers years later. No wonder students have honored him in many ways on the occasion of their graduations with awards including the most prestigious Gold Apple Award.
“Mickey is by nature humble and many do not appreciate how multi-dimensional and scholarly he is. Mickey is easily described by his many friends as humane, kind, empathetic, charming, highly intelligent, passionate, and funny. He has touched our lives in so many ways.”

• Donna L. Parker, clinical associate professor of medicine, senior associate dean for undergraduate medical education: “I imagine that all the ways that Mickey Foxwell has touched my life mirror the experiences of the countless others who know and love him.
“He is a gifted and compassionate teacher. His passion for the complexities and nuances of internal medicine is boundless and that always translated into compassionate and thoughtful patient care on our inpatient wards and in the outpatient practice. Every Thursday morning, I had the privilege of working alongside him in the faculty practice office and witnessing the individual attention and warmth with which he approached every single patient.
“Mickey is a selfless mentor. He gave a brand-new faculty member the opportunity to sit on his recently expanded school of medicine admissions committee, and a year later, offered the opportunity for her to become an assistant dean in the office.
“Finally, Mickey’s finest role is that of friend. He is truly selfless in this regard. Even in challenging times, a wry smile would creep over his face, and you knew he was about to say something witty or funny or a tad risque.
“In his retirement, all of us who have had the great privilege to work with Mickey will be compelled to be more kind, more generous and more patient to honor him and all of the great work he did at the school of medicine.”

Most important, Mickey wanted to include that he owes his entire career to Dr. John Dennis. Dr. Dennis was Dean of the University of Maryland Medical School, a mentor and friend. Dr. Dennis died in 2015.

Davidge Hall, formerly known as the College of Medicine of Maryland, opened in Baltimore in November 1812 and survives as the oldest building in the Western Hemisphere continuously used for medical education.

Davidge Hall is the founding building of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and the University System of Maryland.