CMED ribbon cutting ceremony draws crowd of more than 100

The Central Michigan University College of Medicine officially opened its doors to the public Friday morning.

After two years since the groundbreaking of this project — estimated to exceed $30 million in costs — founding Dean of CMED, Ernest Yoder, University President George Ross, the CMU Board of Trustees and more than 100 other attendees came together to witness the ribbon cutting and official opening of the building.

“This day marks one milestone toward the graduation of our first class in 2017,” Yoder said.

The building was constructed with the mission of the university in mind; to meet the needs of the state, Yoder said.

“With the decline in the numbers of doctors, physicians and health-care providers in the mid-Michigan area, a college like CMED is necessary. We exist to meet the needs of this state and provide future doctors and physicians for this area,” he said.

CMED has come a long way, and its grand opening hasn’t taken place without some controversy regarding costs, funding and other aspects of the college.

“This just may be the most exciting day of my time here as president of CMU,” Ross said. “We’ve come a long way, and much of the credit is due to everyone coming together and working hard, as a team, toward the same goal.”

Ross said perhaps one of the biggest challenges he faced during this project was coming into the university as president and having the building approved but not having any of the work done.

Ross attributes the completion of this college to the collaboration and hard work of everyone involved, as well as various donors and sponsors who have supported the mission of CMED.

CMED will be the 137th medical school in the country and just the 14th in the state of Michigan.

The opening ceremony consisted of speakers such as world-renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Malcolm Field and keynote speaker and best-selling author Mark Neepo, followed by a religious blessing ceremony conducted by members of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.

A ribbon cutting ceremony took place after the formal ceremony, followed by an open tour of the college.

The open tour of the building provided those in attendance with an opportunity to get a hands-on experience with some of the simulation equipment CMED will offer.

Steve Vance, associate dean of simulation for CMED, provided a demonstration of the laparoscopic simulation machine in which he used various life-like controls to remove a gallbladder from a virtual patient.

“Simulators like these aren’t going to be used to teach first-year medical students how to remove a gallbladder from a patient, but rather provide a backbone and point of reference for students to know what they are learning about, so they have something to visualize besides a two-dimensional picture in a textbook,” Vance said.

The inaugural class for CMED will be accepted for the fall semester of 2013. The class will consist of 60 medical students. So far, 1973 applications have been turned in.