Dean's Update
August 8, 2025 - Aron Sousa, MD
Above: Team Sparty rounding: (l-r) Aron; pharmacy resident Eryn Isaacson, PharmD; senior resident Sai Sushrutha Muduoula Vemula, MD; pharmacist Andrea Payne, PharmD; and junior residents Angel Dongol, MD; Kelsey MacDonald, DO (front); and Arman Shojaei, DO (back).
Friends,
This fortnight, I am rounding with the Michigan State University Department of Medicine service on Team Sparty. Those of you who know me, or have read many of these updates, know how much I enjoy rounding on the resident service. Seeing patients with these young physicians is a privilege I do not take for granted. My partners in the Department of Medicine could make more money if they did these weeks on the service, and they back me up when my schedule causes a problem. I do appreciate my faculty colleagues in the department for letting me do this.
The residents are consistently excellent and so focused and dedicated to our patients. It turns out our resident service provides some of the best quality care in the hospital. This is not new, which speaks to the quality of the residency program built by the faculty and program director, Supratik Rayamajhi, MD. Day in and out, this quality work is delivered by the residents, who take the in-house call, come in early, stay late, and take care of the patients. You will notice I am on a cross disciplinary team, and our pharmacy colleagues, Drs. Isaacson and Payne, provide an invaluable service for each patient. I’ll note too that our little merry band is made of up MDs and DOs, as is often the case at our college. All across the country, the most advanced and often best care is provided by resident teams in an academic setting. Finally, I just want to give a shout out and thanks to Sai, our senior resident, who is wise beyond her training and has done a great job for the patients, the junior residents, and me.
I was wandering the halls of this same hospital 29 years ago as a new PGY1 resident not unlike Drs. Dongol, MacDonald, and Shojaei. They have been wonderful to work with. And, our recent graduates across the country are doing this same work – medical schools make doctors, but residency creates physicians and surgeons. It is residency that really sets MDs and DOs apart from other health care providers.
At this point, rounding on patients is a respite from university politics, budget cuts, and the national miasma. On our service, we have patients and families struggling with the core challenges to health, happiness, and life itself. My own frustrations pale in comparison. With rounds each morning, I feel at once useful and reoriented to what is most important.
For all the struggles in science policy and federal inefficiency over the last few months, we did have a moment of normalcy this week. The Flint Registry, which supports more than 20,000 people exposed to lead-laden tap water during the Flint Water Crisis, received its annual notice of funding from the CDC. The continued congressional funding of the registry is thanks to the dedication and consistent bipartisan support of the Michigan congressional delegation and our senators. That consistent support is made possible by the outstanding work of the registry team, who built one of the nation’s largest and most influential registries — now recognized as a national model.. I also must give a shout out to the MSU team in Washington, and especially the inimitable Jacob Courville, who focuses on health among other areas. The program would not exist without our team in DC.
If you glance back to the start of the last paragraph, I called the funding announcement normal. The funding was appropriated long ago, but the money could not get out of the CDC, in part because the people in the lead program were fired and then eventually rehired. Once the lead team was back in place, the wheels of the bus began to go round. Which is not special, it is what is normal.
The Flint Registry and Rx Kids are two remarkably bipartisan programs led by this great land grant institution. It is not lost on me that they are both in Dr. Mona’s shop. I already mentioned that the Flint Registry has long-standing bipartisan support. It turns out Rx Kids does too. The program has been supported by both the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the governor. When Rx Kids launched in Clare County last week, State Representative Tom Kunse (R) and State Senator Roger Hauck (R) were on site, celebrating the program and standing alongside the community. State Senator John N. Damoose (R), whose district includes part of the Upper Peninsula, is one of the program’s greatest champions. In a time when some question the value of academia, we are demonstrating how the premier land grant institution brings innovation and science to improve health and how people of goodwill from across the political spectrum can build a better world for our children.
Serving the people with you,
Aron
Aron Sousa, MD, FACP
Dean, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine