A CMU medical school:
Addressing the growing needs of mid- and northern Michigan
By Mark Lagerwey, MA '01
Considering the need
Citing impending physician shortages that could disproportionately impact regions from mid-Michigan north to the Upper Peninsula, the CMU Board of Trustees in April 2007 began formally exploring the feasibility of establishing a medical school. Since then, the university has:
- Conducted various feasibility studies with the assistance of consultant Michael Whitcomb, M.D., former medical school dean
- Outlined a 20-year vision for the medical school
- Reviewed campus facility possibilities
- Developed a medical school budget model
- Prepared a fundraising feasibility study
- Invited clinical self-study reports from interested health care partner institutions
As early as this fall, trustees expect to consider approval of plans to begin establishing a medical school. If approved, CMU could finalize affiliation agreements with partner health care systems this fall, hire a dean and faculty in 2009 and early 2010, and admit a charter class of students in fall 2011. •
Contemplating the questions
CMU President Michael Rao answers questions about a visionary idea
with vital implications for Michigan and CMU.
Q: How would a CMU medical school benefit the people of Michigan?
Our vision is for a rurally focused medical school that would serve the needs of 2 million people in a very, very large geographic region in mid- and northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Many of the people in this population are significantly underserved in health care availability and quality. They will increasingly need the same access to higher quality health care and associated higher-paying life sciences jobs as residents in southeast Michigan have – which will become particularly necessary with a growing physician shortage and continued decline in Michigan’s economic base.
Q: Doesn’t Michigan already have enough medical schools?
Michigan enjoys three well-established universities with medical schools, but the state – particularly the mid-Michigan and northern regions – is especially susceptible to the pending physician shortage, because as the shortage becomes acute, it is likely that most physicians will tend to remain close to health care systems with a teaching emphasis. I’m concerned there will not be sufficient forces compelling new physicians – all of whom will be in high demand – to practice in our region.
Q: What kind of foundation does CMU have in place to establish a new medical school?
In many ways, establishing a medical school would be a natural evolution for CMU because it would be building upon a 116-year foundation of very student-centered teaching and learning, community outreach in many health-related areas, and nationally recognized excellence – particularly in teaching basic sciences at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
I believe that as one of mid-Michigan’s largest entities, with affiliations throughout Michigan and a strategic location at the heart of mid-Michigan, CMU must provide leadership that is vital to the region’s future.
Q: How would CMU’s Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions and its new building fit in with the plans?
The very rapid ascension of The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions to national prominence is a direct result of its high quality programs and services and technologically advanced new Health Professions Building. The college already provides more than 3,000 students with unequaled clinical education, and its centers treat thousands of patients annually. The success of The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions is an important factor enabling the university’s vision of medical education for this region.
Q: What inspires your conviction for this project?
In my ninth year at CMU, I have become increasingly aware of CMU’s unheralded strengths, and I’m rightfully proud of this institution. While CMU’s current success is encouraging, it must always look to leverage existing resources to create new programs and services in areas of emerging need, particularly in the region and state. I am excited about the possibilities in the life sciences, both to help bolster the economy and to meet the state’s future shortage of highly trained medical professionals. This is actually something that I believe is so important that I would regret not pursuing CMU’s role in addressing this growing need. That’s what drives me.
Q: Is the university conducting any formal studies on whether to establish a medical school?
CMU is completing a comprehensive feasibility study, the initial phase of which was directed by Michael Whitcomb M.D., a former Association of American Medical Colleges senior executive. We have found that CMU is well-prepared with its basic sciences, technology, telehealth, and library services – all of which are important foundations to any medical education program.
Q: Would CMU’s medical school have any particular focus or mission?
CMU is examining the feasibility of establishing an allopathic medical school focusing on preparing physicians who would embrace a commitment to primary care in a diverse environment; we believe that we need physicians who recognize the importance of making strong personal connections to their patients. As such, if CMU moves ahead, it would hire a dean and faculty who are committed to admitting well-qualified students who demonstrate strong communication and human relations skills and an understanding of the different ways in which families communicate their health care issues. We will be thinking about ways to help encourage CMU physician graduates to remain in Michigan to provide primary care in rural settings. Statistics show that more than half of graduates of programs with a rural focus remain to practice in rural settings after they complete their residencies.
Q: Could you describe the medical program and affiliations CMU would hope to establish?
The medical school would enroll classes of 100 students per year. The initial years of a four-year program would reinforce the basic sciences on campus and prepare students for third-year clinical experiences and rotations with partnered regional medical centers. The fourth-year internship would focus their studies in many of the areas that directly impact residents of this region: stroke, diabetes, cancer, and neurological diseases. CMU’s health care partners would be important participants in connecting the university with these regions like never before – which is something that we really need to make sure happens for the sake of future populations. I very much appreciate conversations with the health care systems in Saginaw and Midland, and we are hopeful that we will have affiliation agreements with those entities within a short time. We all recognize the long-term value of bringing an academic health care environment to the people of mid- and northern Michigan.
Q: Would the program be accredited?
Any medical education program at CMU would have to be accredited. In fact, accreditation standards have driven nearly every aspect of our feasibility examination for this project. Obtaining accreditation through the Liaison Committee on Medical Education will continue to drive almost every decision made if the university continues to move forward with this important undertaking.
Q: How would the university secure funding to open and operate a medical school?
The school itself would be a tuition-based program. Regrettably at this point, we do not anticipate that the state will be in an economic position to offer an expanded appropriation despite the economic and welfare benefits that this would bring to so many Michiganians. We anticipate that start-up costs needed to develop infrastructure and hire faculty and staff before students are enrolled and paying tuition could be as much as $10 million for facilities and $13 million for operating expenses during the next three years of development. One of the primary objectives of our fundraising initiative would be securing private donations from foundations, individuals, and corporations to pay for the necessary facility enhancements. As an investment of the university, there are many resources that would be leveraged and borrowed by a budding medical school that would be instrumental.
Q: How could a medical school benefit CMU’s alumni?
A medical school at CMU would directly improve quality of life and access to health care for more than 100,000 loyal alumni in the state of Michigan. The important thing for CMU alumni to consider is that a medical school has the potential to much more substantively connect their alma mater with the state and region while stimulating economic progress as well as new research and associated funding.
Q: What do you believe will happen if CMU decides not to establish a medical school?
It’s important for us at a critical time like this, when Michigan is experiencing probably one of its greatest economic struggles ever, to have a bold vision with potential to carry us through the rest of this century. We cannot afford to make a decision to do nothing or attempt to just maintain what we have. A decision to merely maintain existing programs is a decision to let other institutions and regions pass us by, leaving the people of this region with much less in the long run. I think we have an obligation both to this region and to the United States. You can almost be sure that if a medical school is established, people will look back and say, “How could we possibly not have done this?” •
