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College of Human Medicine

Dean's Update

September 26, 2025 - Aron Sousa, MD

 

 

Above: Kira Sieplinga, MD, pediatrician, Corewell Health and Kira Bear with Aron and Hope Bear in the green room before appearing on WOOD TV’s eightWest to promote the Teddy Bear Health Fair, Saturday, 9 a.m. – noon at Garfield Park in Grand Rapids. Friends, It has been another big week for the College of Human Medicine. The Secchia Center was decked out for its 15th anniversary celebration. For the last few weeks, we have been doing town halls about our expansion in Grand Rapids including building the Secchia Center as the headquarters of the College of Human Medicine. There were about 150 city leaders and donors at the event Wednesday evening, including Carol Van Andel; Grand Rapids City Manager Mark Washington; MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz; Dave Porteous, who was chair of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees during the expansion; Corewell Health President and CEO Tina Freese Decker, who worked on the earliest of the expansion agreements; and Mark Secchia, son of Joan and Peter Secchia. In return for the $90 million in community support ($50 million from Corewell, nee’ Spectrum) for the new building, the university agreed to place the headquarters of the College of Human Medicine in Grand Rapids on the Medical Mile. Since then, the community has invested another $30 million in the Grand Rapids Research Center, nearly $20 million in support of the Doug Meijer Medical Innovation building, and more than $20 million in support for research and education. In return for the community support, the college and university have been excellent partners, investing in education, research and community engagement that yields an average of $300 million a year in economic activity in the city. The partnerships go beyond money, as new discoveries have created destination clinical programs, expanded residencies and fellowships, and nearly tripled the number of college students staying in Grand Rapids for their residency and fellowship. The Secchia Center was abuzz for the anniversary event, and there was a lot of media interest as well. Our events and communications teams have been crushing it. The Flint ribbon cutting was a brilliant event with great news coverage, and the Secchia anniversary was all I could have hoped. This Saturday is our third, and final, Teddy Bear Health Fair of the year. I want to recognize Melissa Veneklase, events manager; Emily Linnert, senior public relations manager; Amy Nienhouse, MS, senior communications and marketing officer; Megan Barber, facility conference/event coordinator; and our entire External Relations, Communications, and Operations and Facilities teams for all their work on these events. People do not know what we do if we do not tell them. In one other piece of news, last week was the launch of the Michigan State University Primary Care Research Collaborative (MSU-PCRC) Research Training Fellowship Program. There are six fellows from six college-affiliated residencies: Gurbaksh Esch, MD, MPH, FAAP, Hurley Medical Center – Flint; Katrina Weirauch Engle, DO, University of Michigan Health–Sparrow – Lansing; Jenna Bernson, MD, MSU/MyMichigan Medical Center – Alma; Kate Shaffer, MD, FAAFP, Munson Medical Center – Traverse City; Uzma Khan, MD, McLaren Health Care – Flint; and L. Raquel Clary-Lantis, DO, UP Health System – Marquette. One of the great opportunities of our campus system has been its potential as a research network. Julie Phillips, MD, MPH, made a primary care practice-based research network a priority when she became chair. The fellows, program faculty, and network director Yasi Zamani-Hank, PhD, MPH, are developing research capacity in our residencies and communities.
Above: Kira Sieplinga, MD, pediatrician, Corewell Health and Kira Bear with Aron and Hope Bear in the green room before appearing on WOOD TV’s eightWest to promote the Teddy Bear Health Fair, Saturday, 9 a.m. – noon at Garfield Park in Grand Rapids.

Friends,
It has been another big week for the College of Human Medicine. The Secchia Center was decked out for its 15th anniversary celebration. For the last few weeks, we have been doing town halls about our expansion in Grand Rapids including building the Secchia Center as the headquarters of the College of Human Medicine.

There were about 150 city leaders and donors at the event Wednesday evening, including Carol Van Andel; Grand Rapids City Manager Mark Washington; MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz; Dave Porteous, who was chair of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees during the expansion; Corewell Health President and CEO Tina Freese Decker, who worked on the earliest of the expansion agreements; and Mark Secchia, son of Joan and Peter Secchia.

In return for the $90 million in community support ($50 million from Corewell, nee’ Spectrum) for the new building, the university agreed to place the headquarters of the College of Human Medicine in Grand Rapids on the Medical Mile. Since then, the community has invested another $30 million in the Grand Rapids Research Center, nearly $20 million in support of the Doug Meijer Medical Innovation building, and more than $20 million in support for research and education.

In return for the community support, the college and university have been excellent partners, investing in education, research and community engagement that yields an average of $300 million a year in economic activity in the city. The partnerships go beyond money, as new discoveries have created destination clinical programs, expanded residencies and fellowships, and nearly tripled the number of college students staying in Grand Rapids for their residency and fellowship.

The Secchia Center was abuzz for the anniversary event, and there was a lot of media interest as well. Our events and communications teams have been crushing it. The Flint ribbon cutting was a brilliant event with great news coverage, and the Secchia anniversary was all I could have hoped. This Saturday is our third, and final, Teddy Bear Health Fair of the year. I want to recognize Melissa Veneklase, events manager; Emily Linnert, senior public relations manager; Amy Nienhouse, MS, senior communications and marketing officer; Megan Barber, facility conference/event coordinator; and our entire External Relations, Communications, and Operations and Facilities teams for all their work on these events. People do not know what we do if we do not tell them.

In one other piece of news, last week was the launch of the Michigan State University Primary Care Research Collaborative (MSU-PCRC) Research Training Fellowship Program. There are six fellows from six college-affiliated residencies: Gurbaksh Esch, MD, MPH, FAAP, Hurley Medical Center – Flint; Katrina Weirauch Engle, DO, University of Michigan Health–Sparrow – Lansing; Jenna Bernson, MD, MSU/MyMichigan Medical Center – Alma; Kate Shaffer, MD, FAAFP, Munson Medical Center – Traverse City; Uzma Khan, MD, McLaren Health Care – Flint; and L. Raquel Clary-Lantis, DO, UP Health System – Marquette. One of the great opportunities of our campus system has been its potential as a research network. Julie Phillips, MD, MPH, made a primary care practice-based research network a priority when she became chair. The fellows, program faculty, and network director Yasi Zamani-Hank, PhD, MPH, are developing research capacity in our residencies and communities.

Serving the people with you,

Aron

Aron Sousa, MD, FACP
Dean, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine


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