Drawing illustrates Medical School addition to Health Professions Building at Central Michigan University.
Saginaw Connection Still in Negotiations for CMU Medical School
CMU Plans Feb. 18 Groundbreaking on School of Medicine Building
February 7, 2010
By: Dave Rogers
Central Michigan University's School of Medicine will begin to take shape later this month at a groundbreaking ceremony February 18 outside of the east entrance of the Health Professions Building.
The school has the ambitious goal of changing the face of medicine in the Saginaw Valley and Northern Michigan. (See MyBayCity.com, "CMU School of Medicine to Involve Students Beginning in Middle School," Dec. 6, 2009. Please use search function.)
Saginaw interests and CMU officials have been working on a plan for third and fourth-year students to attend classes in a $10 million medical research park on 60-acres north of Davenport on the West Side of the Saginaw River in Saginaw by 2013.
Dr. Cam Enarson, interim dean of the CMU Medical School has told CMU's Board of Trustees the college is progressing in negotiations for alliance with Saginaw's Synergy Medical Education Alliance (SMEA).
SMEA is an educational arm of Covenant HealthCare and St. Mary's of Michigan, formed in 1968 to coordinate all of the medical education activities in the Saginaw community. The corporation's primary educational missions include undergraduate medical education (third and fourth year medical students), residency training and continuing medical education for all Saginaw Physicians. SMEA already is formally affiliated with the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine (MSU-CHM).
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SMEA has about 80 resident physicians on staff staff, with residents rotating among member hospitals with combined patient capacity of nearly 1,000. These hospitals feature state-of-the-art facilities and the best in medical care, according to SMEA.
Synergy Medical, 1000 Houghton Ave., Saginaw, provides administrative offices for all the teaching programs. Combined with Generations Family Care (Synergy Medical's Clinic), the program handles more than 40,000 patient visits annually and maintains a medical library serving the entire region.
The 2 p.m. ceremony on Feb. 18 at CMU will include an indoor presentation and a reception.
"The groundbreaking for a facility designed to meet the Liaison Committee on Medical Education's accreditation standards is a significant milestone in the development of a School of Medicine," said Kathleen M. Wilbur, CMU's interim president.
"It signifies to our partners and others that the medical school is on track and moving forward. It also provides a state-of-the-art education facility, not only for the education of medical school students, but other CMU students from a wide variety of disciplines."
The $24 million, 60,000-square-foot addition to the Health Professions Building will house the School of Medicine and is to be completed in early 2012.
"The groundbreaking is a historic event for the medical school at Central Michigan University," says Dr. Enarson, interim dean of the School of Medicine, who added:
"It serves as a formal marker in the development of the school and is reflective of the university's commitment to the development of an excellent medical education program here at CMU."
According to Dr. Enarson, the medical school's emphasis will be to prepare students for practice in mid and northern Michigan, as well as the Upper Peninsula, with particular attention to primary care needs in the region.
The ceremony is free and open to the public. Make reservations by contacting Carolyn Studebaker at carolyn.studebaker@cmich.edu or 989-774-7547.