College of Medicine 'on track'; other universities make progress in med school projects
Universities all over Michigan are scrubbing up their curriculums with new medical schools.
CMU's College of Medicine is "on track" both structurally and financially, according to administrators close to the project. Dr. Ernest Yoder, the college's founding dean, said the project has received positive attention and $1,035,000 has so far been raised. The amount is about $35,000 more than first reported by CM Life in September.
“Everyone in the wider community has been extremely supportive,” he said, "and I believe we will hit our targets in a timely way."
Yoder said the overall goal is to raise $25 million. He said $15 million will go toward facilities, $8 million toward endowing scholarships and $2 million toward startup.
Steve Lawrence, CMU's associate vice president of Facilities Management, said construction for the college is 55 percent complete and is "on schedule to reach substantial completion on Aug. 31, 2011."
Oakland University and Western Michigan University are also developing new schools of medicine.
Dr. Angela Nuzzarello, associate dean of Student Affairs at the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, said OU is in the process of selecting students for the medical program.
The school is interviewing over 300 people for a class of 50 medical students, she said, and the faculty is preparing courses for classes to begin Aug. 8.
Nuzzarello said the faculty is preparing courses for classes to begin Aug. 8.
“We can’t wait for medical students,” she said. “We’ll be ready.”
OU renovated an existing building for the new School of Medicine and it has been occupied since November 2009,
“It was amazing how quickly we did the renovation,” she said.
Cheryl Roland, executive director of University Relations at Western Michigan University, said WMU is developing facilities and curricula for a medical school. She said Dr. Hal Jenson was hired as the founding dean in January.
Roland said a date has not been set to open the medical school, but it should be finished in 2013 or 2014.
“We’re not quite as far along as our sister universities,” she said.
Roland said it is good universities are developing medical schools to address a shortage of physicians in Michigan.
“There certainly is a reason and ample opportunity to fill that need,” she said.
Michigan State University has expanded services for its existing medical schools, as well.
Its College of Osteopathic Medicine opened a new campus in Macomb County in February 2010, according to articles on MSU’s website. The university's College of Human Medicine also added a new facility in Grand Rapids in September — the Secchia Center.
“MSU and the College of Human Medicine believe in the value of teaching medicine where it is needed and practiced — in the community,” MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said in an article on the site.
