TENNESSEE HEALTH CARE HALL OF FAME NOMINEE WILSIE BISHOP

A lifelong educator, Dr. Wilsie Bishop’s career has focused on the expansion and delivery of exceptional education for health care professionals in northeast Tennessee. After 43 years of service at East Tennessee State University (ETSU), Dr. Bishop retired in 2021 as senior vice president for academics and interim provost and formerly served as vice president for health affairs. Her career as both a nurse leader and an institutional leader in charge of an academic health science center have enabled her to make her own impact and teach others how to become better mentors and role models in health care—in Tennessee, across the nation and internationally.

Dr. Bishop’s career impact has been the sustained growth and development of educational opportunities in the health professions for Tennesseans. The Academic Health Sciences Center at ETSU, with its national distinction, stands today as a testament to the hard work of Dr. Bishop and other visionary leaders to bring world-class health profession education to rural northeast Tennessee. Dr. Bishop maintained a vision and leadership role in the area of interdisciplinary health profession education throughout her career. She was one of the major health care educators to lead the introduction and implementation of the Kellogg Foundation funded interdisciplinary health care initiative at ETSU in 1992.

It was her vision and persistence that resulted in the renovation and opening of a building exclusively dedicated to interdisciplinary teaching and learning. In 2018 she led a reorganization and expansion of the Academic Health Sciences Center at ETSU, to be known now as ETSU Health. Dr. Bishop has been recognized nationally and internationally for her continued efforts in interprofessional education. In collaboration with her senior leadership team, Dr. Bishop created a vision where ETSU Health will dramatically transform the health of the region through education, research and team-based care.

Dr. Bishop also demonstrates a significant impact on health care through her leadership in accreditation, especially as it relates to the very complex environment of academic health science centers. With her active involvement and leadership roles with the regional accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), Dr. Bishop has demonstrated her commitment to excellence in higher education and the continued achievements of academic health science centers.

Her tenure with SACSCOC has included serving as a site reviewer since 1982 where she has conducted 41 site visits, including 27 as chair, with many of those visits occurring at institutions that educate in the health care sciences. She has served on committees that developed and later revised the Principles of Accreditation and the Resource Manual. She has served as a member of the board of trustees, chaired the Peer Review Advisory Committee to the SACSCOC President and acted as a special reader for the Compliance and Reports Committee of the SACSCOC.

In her most recent role, Dr. Bishop built upon the work that now-retired Provost Dr. Bert Bach established to bring together under one management umbrella the academic affairs and health affairs of the colleges of the university.

Dr. Bishop serves on numerous boards, and her accolades include: James T. Rogers Distinguished Leadership Award (2019) and the Demetria N. Gibbs Outstanding Chair Award (2018), Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges; Alumni Star Award, Virginia Commonwealth University (2015); Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame (2013); Visionary Leader, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing 120 Visionary Leaders (2013) and many others.