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MSU West Michigan Medical School Q & A (PDF Version)
Q: Doesn't the move of the dean constitute a move of the College of Human Medicine ?
A: No. The College of Human Medicine will remain one college with one dean. Eventually the dean will be located in Grand Rapids. The medical school at Michigan State University in East Lansing will remain a full four-year school with its current faculty and a robust faculty practice plan. The College of Human Medicine will build a new four-year program in Grand Rapids.
Q: Why not increase the enrollment in East Lansing?
A: The enrollment actually will increase by 50 first-year students during the two- to three-year phase one period. Lansing area hospitals have indicated they cannot accommodate increased enrollment in third- and fourth-year students; therefore, the increased growth in class will be distributed to those community campuses desiring more students.
Q: Will the East Lansing program have the facilities and faculty to accommodate these extra students during the transition period?
A: Ensuring the resources to meet the capacity is built into the plan.
Q: How much money will be diverted from MSU's College of Human Medicine in East Lansing to establish a medical school in Grand Rapids ?
A: The MSU West Michigan Medical School will be established with new funding. When a four-year school is in place, funds supporting the dean will follow the dean to Grand Rapids.
Q: Where is this new money coming from?
A: Tuition, contracts with community organizations, West Michigan practice plan income, and fundraising.
Q: How does this new school benefit the Lansing area?
A: Community-based medical schools must grow to thrive and prosper in the future. CHM will be a larger, stronger college by developing a four-year school in Grand Rapids and that will increase research opportunities in Lansing for CHM and other MSU colleges. In the long-term, it will improve patient care by speeding the translation of the cutting-edge medical research into patient care in all of CHM's campuses. In fact, this will benefit patients across Michigan.
Q: Will I lose my MSU doctor to Grand Rapids ?
A: Most MSU physicians on faculty today will choose to remain in Lansing to practice and teach there. New faculty physicians will be recruited for West Michigan. As is always the case in a university with multiple community options, individual faculty members may elect to transfer from Lansing to Grand Rapids or from Grand Rapids to Lansing .
Q: What are some examples of the types of synergy that have happened through the presence of MSU's College of Human Medicine?
A: A new collaboration has been formed between MSU, the Sparrow Health System and the Ingham Regional Medical Center that will improve education for medical residents. Among other things, the collaboration will take advantage of MSU's Learning and Assessment Center , which is scheduled to open in January.
- MSU is a major contributor to a new project that will provide Lansing-area doctors the ability to access vital patient information regardless of where they are located. This regional health information organization, or RHIO, is being developed by MSU and other partners who are part of the Capital Area Health Alliance.
- MSU recently announced the development of a new center that will help everyone from first responders to legislators deal with infectious diseases as well as bioterrorism threats. The Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment is funded by a $10 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
- The MSU College of Veterinary Medicine recently opened two new centers that will have an impact on human health. The Animal Cancer Care Clinic is part of the Center for Comparative Oncology, where leading-edge research on cancers that affect animals and humans will be conducted. Also opened recently was the Pegasus Center , a futuristic facility that treats and researches infectious diseases.
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In addition, the College of Veterinary Medicine 's Laboratory for Comparative Orthopedic Research collaborates with physicians, engineers and other MSU scientists, looking at orthopedic problems that affect animals and humans. One of their recent projects: Developing a new knee brace for football players that carries in it a tiny sensing device that can measure the forces on a knee that can occur in game situations.
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College of Human Medicine physicians are teaming with the College of Engineering to develop a robotic arm capable of conducting breast health exams. This project - which will check for abnormalities and collect an ultrasound from the patient - will allow women in remote areas access to the latest in medical technology.
- Professor John Frost, an MSU chemist, has developed a technique for making something called shikimic acid, which is the starting material needed for the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu. That material occurs naturally in a Chinese spice known as star anise. Unfortunately, not enough of that is created naturally to meet the expected Tamiflu needs.
- MSU has been a driving force in the creation of the Mid-Michigan Children's Initiative, a partnership that is benefiting the health of children by focusing on research, education and clinical care.
- Growth continues in all of MSU's health-professions schools - the College of Osteopathic Medicine has experienced a recent increase in enrollment; the College of Nursing has introduced new programs designed to get more nurses into the workforce, increasing its enrollment numbers; and both of MSU's medical colleges have filed a certificate of need to the state of Michigan for the construction of a new ambulatory surgery center.
- MSU physicians continue to make significant strides in health-related research. For example, George Abela, head of our cardiology unit, had a paper published in "Clinical Cardiology" that sheds new light on the role cholesterol plays in cardiovascular disease. Also, just last week MSU physicians released a study that found very few of this nation's medical residents receive enough training in end-of-life care.
- MSU continues to recruit some of the nation's finest physicians. Earlier this year Andrea Amalfitano, a graduate of our College of Osteopathic Medicine , came here from Duke University to assume the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation Endowed Chair. Dr. Amalfitano is one of the nation's top experts in genetic pediatric diseases. Also this past year, Barbara Conley, one of the nation's top hematologists, returned to her alma mater - the College of Human Medicine - to serve as chief of the Department of Medicine's hematology/oncology unit.
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