August College News

August 31, 2021

  • A new class was welcomed into Michigan State University’s College of Medicine on Sunday, August 22. The 2021 matriculation and white coat ceremony introduced the entering class at the DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids.
  • Supported by a $5.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Rebecca Knickmeyer, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, is leading a large international study to understand the genes involved in brain development and possible connections to psychiatric and neurological disorders.
  • Anthony Bonilla-Salmeron and Aghdas Movassaghi share what led them to the August 22 ceremony in Grand Rapids, where they donned white coats, formally making them College of Human Medicine students.
  • Closing the racial gap in health outcomes and COVID-19 vaccination rates in Michigan as well as other states is the aim of a study led by Debra Furr-Holden, PhD, associate dean for Public Health Integration and Charles Stewart Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health. The study received a $6 million, one-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • Katlin Harwood-Schelb is the inaugural recipient of the Flint Spartan Master of Public Health Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to an incoming Master of Public Health student who lives or works in the Greater Flint community and has demonstrated a commitment to implementing the knowledge obtained by completing the Master of Public Health program.
  • Todd Lucas, PhD, a C.S. Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health, received a five-year, $1.7 million Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society to study colorectal cancer screening and health equity.
  • Bold Advanced Medical Future (BAMF) Health, an artificial intelligence-enabled precision medicine company, recently broke ground on its new North American headquarters at Michigan State University’s Grand Rapids Innovation Park.
  • Ping Wang, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Radiology, is among 23 early career scientists to win funding for research to accelerate the development of the next generation of imaging technologies as part of the inaugural year of Scialog.
  • Srivinas Kavuturu, MD, FRCS, FACS, has been promoted to associate professor of surgery.
  • A study led by Claudia Finkelstein, PhD, Director of Wellness, Resilience Vulnerable Populations, concluded that burnout among physicians and medical school faculty is not just an individual problem, but is an issue that organizations need to address by minimizing the system-level factors that impede employee wellness.
  • Judith C. Lin, MD, professor in the Department of Surgery, received the 2021 Presidential Citation from the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS), was selected as a Consultant of the SVS/Sg2 Value of Vascular Surgery Consulting Program and was elected as a Distinguished Fellow of the Society for Vascular Surgery (DFSVS).
  • Third-year student Antara Afrin was selected to participate in the National Institutes of Health Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP) class of 2021-2022. During her yearlong research experience at the NIH, Antara will receive robust, mentored training and will conduct research in areas matching her personal and research goals. As one of 50 MRSP scholars, Antara will participate in courses, journal club seminars, a structured lecture series, and clinical teaching rounds.
  • Tom O’Halloran, PhD, MSU Foundation Professor, has been appointed director of the Elemental Health Institute.
  • John E. vanSchagen, MD, associate professor, has been named interim chair of the Department of Family Medicine. Dr. vanSchagen has been a senior associate chair in the department since 2014.
  • Eileen Hug, DO, Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) associate director for medical education has been appointed community assistant dean for the college’s new Detroit campus at HFHS, and Steve Kalkanis, MD, HFHS senior vice president and chief academic officer has been appointed associate dean.
  • Andrew Kim created the podcast Get to Know to meet and learn about his classmates during the pandemic, when in-person learning was very limited. His subjects are varied: a classmate who combines his interest in art and fashion with medicine, another who studied political philosophy before deciding on a career in medicine, and one who enrolled at age 40 after serving as a Green Beret medic.
  • Honglei Chen, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, has been named a Michigan State University Foundation Professor in recognition of his outstanding research into the epidemiology of aging and neurodegenerative diseases.
  • College of Human Medicine students in the Latino Medical Student Association and the Student National Medical Association are teaching and inspiring kids at Baxter Community Center's Youth Mentoring Program.
  • 30 students and four faculty in the College of Human Medicine were inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society.
  • Tune into the latest episodes of "Get to Know," a podcast hosted by Andrew Kim highlighting the stories of fellow MSU College of Human Medicine students: It's Okay to Not Be Okay | Michael Knox, Building Bridges | Melanie Valentin, Complete Freedom | David Klemet.