Dr. Richard A. Wansley received his Ph.D. in Biological Psychology from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Dr. Wansley also completed a Senior Fellowship in Public Health Policy Leadership at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.

As the Vice President for Sponsored Programs, Research, and Institutional Advancement at the OSU Center for Health Sciences, he oversees the Office of Rural Health, the Center for Telemedicine and Distance Learning, and the Office of Research. Wansley also oversees several health related grant programs at the CHS campus, and serves as the primary liaison with the federal government.

Wansley previously served as the Executive Director for the Illinois Health Education Consortium/AHEC, faculty administrator at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine – Midwestern University, Chair of the Illinois Primary Care Medical Education Advisory Committee and the Chicago Primary Care Consortium; and he was appointed by the Governor to be a member of the Illinois Family Practice Residency Act Advisory Committee, the Tobacco Advisory Committee, and other public advisory boards. Wansley was Chair of the National Advisory Committee on Community-based, Interdisciplinary Linkages, a group created by the US Congress to consult on national health workforce policy. He was also Co-Director of a major National Institutes of Health research and policy project.

Wansley held a position at Oklahoma State University from 1976-1991as a faculty member, and served as Associate Dean for the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery from 1987 to 1991.