To Be...A Spartan MD

With the introduction of our ground-breaking Shared Discovery Curriculum as well as several new facilities and initiatives, there are a lot of great changes happening to the College of Human Medicine (CHM). It's truly a special time to be here. And no one can better voice what it is like to be at CHM than those within the student body. From time to time, the Office of Admissions has enlisted student representatives to periodically offer an inside look at what studying medicine here is all about. Students at different stages and various backgrounds are given the opportunity to touch on their personal experiences and ambitions. Moving into the new year, we'll be hearing from first-year student, Harminder Sandhu. *** Hi! My name is Harminder. I grew up in a small farm town called Gridley, California, where access to healthcare and resources was very limited. Having experienced health disparities first-hand in my rural community, I have a strong desire to give back ...

With the recent news of McLaren Health's plan to consolidate operations into a new hospital next to MSU , the move expands McLaren's relationship with the university and, subsequently, the College of Human Medicine (CHM). The plan for a new $450 million health care campus will allow both entities to work more closely together on research and increase educational opportunities for students among additional clinical services. "This is an extraordinary opportunity to collaborate with MSU to redesign and elevate health care for a region and the state for generations to come. Our partnership will transform health care delivery to support a world-class medical experience and advance pioneering medical research," said McLaren CEO Phil Incarnati. Norman Beauchamp, Dean of the College of Human Medicine, is also excited about the partnership's expansion and the college's opportunity to help transform health care. The college is proud to see that CHM medical stude...

One of the biggest takeaways of the new Shared Discovery Curriculum is that it quickly places students inside clinics to contribute to real patient care teams. By quickly, we mean the first year. Within weeks, actually. While this is only one facet of the new curriculum , rapidly immersing students in real clinical environments is a big departure from traditional models. Medical schools have delivered their curriculum by way of a "2 + 2" structure for decades. The first two years are predominantly dedicated to learning basic and disease sciences (typically delivered through lectures and numerous exams) followed by two years dedicated to clinical experiences that use observational and apprenticeship methods for learning. With the Shared Discovery Curriculum now in it's second year, each of the college's last two entering classes have joined third- and fourth-year students in the clinic, providing a more authentic trajectory of training focused on progressi...

Today is a College of Human Medicine (CHM) Rural Applicant Interview day. This is one of the days that the admissions office specifically designates for interviewing students that are from rural communities, have strong ties to rural areas, or are interested in one of our rural medicine training programs. As Director of Rural Medicine for the College of Human Medicine, this is one of my favorite days. Many of these students will become part of the Leadership in Rural Medicine certificate program, and will choose to complete their clinical training in Michigan’s rural communities—either in the Upper Peninsula, Northern Lower Peninsula, or the MidMichigan/Thumb area. These students, if enrolled, will eventually graduate as the 44th class that has been involved in the college's rural training programs. Things are different now than they were when CHM started the Rural Physician Program in the 1970’s. The College was one of the first medical schools to create a rural t...

After a violent demonstration on the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville took place in August, an idea began taking shape in Chrissiey Jackson’s mind. “After the Charlottesville incident, I asked my peers how they felt about what was going on,” said Jackson, a second-year Michigan State University College of Human Medicine student. “As an institution, we needed to deal with it.” She emailed her concerns to Wanda Lipscomb, senior associate dean for diversity and inclusion and associate dean for student affairs in the medical college. Other students also began approaching Lipscomb, suggesting the college needed to do something in response. As a result, Celebrating Unity and Connections week was born and has now become the college’s effort to help its students of different ethnic, economic and cultural backgrounds share their personal stories and find common ground. As part of Celebrating Unity and Connections week, students participated in group activities “We ...

September is Women in Medicine Month and we celebrate those who offer their support to advance women with careers in medicine. While there are still ways to go, women have made great strides in the field. In terms of medical school students, the AAMC has reported that in the decade from 2006-2016, female first-time applicants have steadily increased from under 15,000 to about 20,000 applicants. In fact, the number of female enrollees reached a 10-year high in 2016.  Most recently at the College of Human Medicine , women made up the majority in four of our last five entering classes and averaged over 54% of the classes in that span. As the month comes to a close, we reached out to our Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education, Dr. Dianne Wagner, to discuss a bit of her story and the changes she has witnessed for Women in Medicine. *** It is a great time to be a woman in medicine. I often talk about how “internal medicine chased me down.”  As a third year medi...

The College of Human Medicine Office of Admissions has announced their two fall Twitter Talk sessions of the 2017-2018 cycle. Those interested in learning more about the college and/or admissions process can join us on Wednesday, September 27th at 8pm ET/5pm PT and Thursday, October 12th at 7pm ET/4pm PT . It is the third straight fall the admissions office has planned the initiative, a platform allowing curious and potential applicants to chat with the college and ask any questions they may have on a variety of topics. Admissions staff will once again be joined by a panel of Early Clinical Experience (ECE) and Middle Clinical Experience (MCE) students. The chat on Sept. 27th will feature students from our Grand Rapids community campus while the chat on Oct. 12th will switch over to East Lansing. Last year, students touched on several topics including the innovative Shared Discovery Curriculum and the college's community campuses . "Our fall Twitter Talks al...