Message from the Dean

From the Dean,

 

I am honored to serve as your dean. I graduated from the College of Human Medicine in 1984, and the values that drew me here still inform all my thoughts and activities in this new role.

 

We believe that the community-based medical school will figure prominently in the nation’s health care agenda, and the college is determined to lead in the development of this agenda. Our locus of action at CHM is where most people receive their health care: within their own communities. This is our point of service, our point of education, and the focus of research in which new knowledge is discovered and translated into meaningful improvement in health.

 

We will look back on these as years of momentum when we laid the ground work for our future. First, our recent reaccreditation process was successful, and you would be proud to read its assessment of our educational programs. The second reason for momentum is the expansion of the medical school in Grand Rapids. Phase I will see the addition of a second-year program in Grand Rapids in fall 2008. To this end we are admitting a class of 156 to matriculate in East Lansing in fall 2007. Fifty of these students will go to Grand Rapids for their second, third and fourth years of medical school. Phase II is keyed to the completion of a new medical education building in Grand Rapids, to be named the Secchia Center after Ambassador Peter F. Seccia, who has made a generous gift to assist with its construction. We are on target to begin Phase II in 2010 with the admission of 200 students to CHM, 100 in East Lansing and 100 in Grand Rapids.

 

We have established new partnerships in Grand Rapids that enable the college to make significant contributions to health and medial education in the community, and to benefit from its superb health and research institutions. However, the governance and processes of CHM will remain intact. College affairs will be accountable through the dean, the provost and the president of the university and the MSU Board of Trustees. All curricular matters will be controlled by the college’s curriculum committee.

 

Our expansion does not change the character of our community based campus system, in which Flint, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Saginaw and the Upper Peninsula continue to be critical components. We will create a new core of teaching faculty in Grand Rapids, beginning with the dedicated individual – already at work for us there – who are interested in establishing the expanded program.

 

I applaud the faculty and staff of CHM, paid and volunteer, for their dedication to achieving the finest medical education and to promoting CHM’s values and vision. Every year, we reflect on the truly outstanding array of experience, talent and commitment that our students represent. I look forward to fostering a closer relationship with our many friends and alumni as together we shape the future of our college.

 

Marsha D. Rappley, M.D.

Dean of the College of Human Medicine