Dr. Brian Bear ’81 and Dr. Laurel Bear ’81

Dr. Brian J. Bear graduated from UWM with a BS in Medical Science and Health Information Administration in 1981. He received his Medical Degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1984. He was an active OB/GYN in the Milwaukee community, delivering over 10,000 babies until his retirement in 2014. He was named a “Top Doc” by Milwaukee Magazine five times over two decades, an honor bestowed by fellow physicians.

He now teaches at the Medical College of Wisconsin in the Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology and in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy. He has served on the Executive Committee of the UWM Alumni Association, on the Executive and Development Committees of the UWM Foundation Board of Directors, and on the Board of Directors of the UWM Research Foundation.

Dr. Laurel M. Bear received her BS from UWM in medical science in 1981, and her MD from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1984. She is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Medical College and has led the Neonatal Developmental Follow-up program at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin since 1998. She established the Herma Heart Center Developmental Follow-up program in 2006. This program was the first in the nation to follow the development of infants with complex congenital heart disease who have had surgery in the first year of life. Dr. Laurel Bear received the 2012 UWM Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus Award, and in 2013 was named one of the Milwaukee Business Journal’s Women of Influence in the area of Innovation/Medicine. Laurel was awarded a Humanitarian Award from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2014.

Drs. Brian and Laurel Bear met as undergraduate students participating in UWM’s Target MD Program, a cooperative arrangement between UWM and the Medical College of Wisconsin that prepared many of UWM’s highest-achieving students for careers in medicine.