EAST LANSING, Mich. — The expansion of the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine to two sites in Southeast Michigan has been approved by its accrediting body, the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.
The action, taken by COCA after its September meeting, followed a thorough examination of the curriculum, faculty and staff, student support services, learning resources, and finances of the expansion. It included a visit to each site – one at the Detroit Medical Center in downtown Detroit and another at Macomb University Center in Clinton Township.
The accreditation culminates more than a year of planning between the college and its new partners, making it possible for the college to invite 300 applicants to fill its 2009 entering class, 200 on the East Lansing campus, and 50 at each of the Southeast Michigan sites. Classes will begin June 2009 in all three locations.
The expansion is being done to address the projected shortage of physicians both statewide and nationally, and to broaden access to osteopathic education in the most populous part of Michigan. The college, through its educational programs in Statewide Campus System hospitals, has been educating physicians in the area for nearly 40 years.
“Having such a strong presence in Southeast Michigan has many benefits,” said William Strampel, dean of the college. “At Macomb, we will be located at an innovative, state-of-the-art educational institution situated among a high concentration of osteopathic physicians and partner hospitals. At the DMC, we will be teaching our students in an outstanding medical environment which will help them to appreciate the needs of an urban population.”
During the past year, the college has been involved in identifying faculty and staff positions, assessing and testing distance learning, planning infrastructure, establishing student and academic services, and more.
The expansion sites both require significant construction and renovation to support osteopathic medical education. Detroit Medical Center just began renovation of part of the former Hutzel Hospital. Macomb will lease existing educational space to the college until a new building is constructed in the Macomb University Center complex to house college programs; groundbreaking will be scheduled this fall and construction is expected to be completed in January 2010.
The MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine has consistently ranked in the top five percent of all medical schools nationally for its primary care education. More than 2,000 of its volunteer physician faculty educate osteopathic students and residents in 27 Michigan hospitals, 15 of which are in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
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