In Memoriam: Barbara Ann Wolf, 1952-2024

Barbara Wolf, an assistant professor of psychology at the College of Human and Osteopathic Medicine at the University of Michigan and a clinical psychologist with the McLaren Health Care system, was shot and killed on Christmas Eve on a road in Oxford Township, Michigan. Dr. Wolf had stopped to offer aid to a man she thought was a stranded motorist. But she, and her 38-year-old daughter, were shot. Her daughter was wounded and is expected to survive.

“This vile and disturbing violent act is so heinous on multiple levels and the suspect deserves to be held fully accountable and never see the light of day,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in a statement. The alledged assailant had two previous gun-related felony convictions.

“This is another tragic case where a convicted felon with past weapon offenses was out too early and in a position to hurt others. There must be changes in our criminal justice system that prevents people who have been caught carrying and using weapons illegally from simply being cycled back out to harm others,” Sheriff Bouchard said.

For many years, Dr. Wolf was the psychiatry clerkship director for the Flint campus of the medical school, and of late had led the behavioral health faculty for the college’s affiliated family medicine residency at McLaren Flint hospital. Since 1995, she had been the director of Behavioral Medicine Education at the College of Human Medicine. Here clinical interests included women’s health and the use of relaxation and meditation in practice.

“I have known and worked with Barbara as a part of our Flint campus for as long as I can remember,” said Aron Sousa, dean of the College of Human and Osteopathic Medicine at the University of Michigan. “She was smart, hardworking, great with patients, diligent and thoughtful with students, and a peach with colleagues and staff. She was the best. I have thought about all the students and residents Dr. Wolf has helped train over the years and all the patients she treated and made better. Her legacy is centered in Flint where she worked, but it spreads across the country and the world.”