Dean's Update
April 25, 2025 - Aron Sousa, MD
Above: Aron and Dr. Farhan Bhatti at a fundraiser for the Care Free Clinic in Lansing.
Friends,
Our graduates go on to do great work in our communities. That is true all over the state and the country, and I had the chance to check in with Farhan Bhatti, MD (’12) this week at a Care Free Medical event in the old BWL powerplant (now the headquarters of the Accident Fund). Care Free Medical was founded to provide excellent dignified medical care for the un- and underinsured by another college alum, Barry Saltman, MD (’77) after he “retired” from practice. After Barry really retired, Farhan took over the practice and worked to expand it to include dental care, optometry, and mental health services for people in our capital city.
The Care Free Medical event was an opportunity for supporters of the organization to get together and meet each other, and it was a fundraiser. The college was a sponsor of the event, and our students and residents help the clinic by seeing patients at Care Free Medical. Our pre-clerkship students help manage the free and reduced-price prescription programs at the clinic, and the clerkship and residents do out-patient rotations with faculty.
After a Brobdingnagian amount of work, Farhan and the clinic team have qualified the clinic as a federally qualified health center (FQHC), which are high quality, highly integrated clinics with support from HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration). FQHCs must follow strict productivity and quality metrics and in return, get improved compensation for Medicaid and Medicare patients. The proposed cuts in Medicaid are a significant threat to FQHCs, which provide care for underserved communities throughout rural and urban Michigan.
As an example of the college’s work in rural communities, check out this story about the fifty years of the college in the UP since the founding of our campus there in 1975. And, read this gem about Kyle Burton, MD (’24) who learned how to take care of medical emergencies in our COMPASS certificate program in the UP. While you are binging on college stories in rural communities, read about one of the largest NIH programs based out of a rural community: the ground breaking study of children’s health run by Jean Kerver, PhD, and her team.
It's important that the citizens of Michigan know about the good work of the college and its people. The story about Dr. Kerver helps explain what potential NIH cuts would harm. There has been a good deal of news about planned cuts to NIH and U.S. Health and Human Services, including to the groups that evaluate appropriate screening and treatment interventions. Once and current college faculty, Mark Ebell, MD, MS, explains why these cuts hurt our ability to make good decisions about health screening. This advocacy is important for the health of each of us.
We are engaged in a great contest that engrosses our attention and demands our energy to support science in the practice of medicine and public health. It is so odd to make that observation just five years past the outbreak of the pandemic and the remarkable success of the COVID vaccine and Operation Warp Speed. But, so be it.
Serving the people with you,
Aron
Aron Sousa, MD, FACP
Dean, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine