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This is from mlive.com. What do you guys think?
MSU chief solidly for med school move
Friday, February 27, 2004
By Kathleen Longcore
The Grand Rapids Press
It appears it's no longer a question of whether Michigan State University's medical school will move to West Michigan, but when -- and at what cost.
MSU President Peter McPherson came to Grand Rapids on Thursday to brief the Rotary Club about the dismal state of higher-education funding. But that topic was overshadowed by McPherson's strongest statements to date about moving the university's College of Human Medicine to Grand Rapids.
Still to be addressed is how much of the program would move here.
Speaking at the Amway Grand Plaza, McPherson said he hoped the MSU board would give him a decision by early May about how to proceed with a medical school move.
"There's been enough informal discussion. There's no reason why this has to take any longer," he said.
McPherson said he met with MSU department chairmen and East Lansing community leaders about the issue Wednesday and talked with medical school staff on Thursday.
He acknowledged he still has "some problems in East Lansing" with resistance to the move. But he expressed optimism that a plan can be forged that minimizes damage. It needs to be good for MSU, good for East Lansing, good for West Michigan and good for the state, he said.
"We're looking for a win-win, and that's what I expect can be done," he said.
Moving part or all of the medical school here would join MSU's "powerhouse sciences" with West Michigan's "powerhouse" medical facilities, McPherson said.
"What we have in East Lansing in the sciences would take you more than a generation to build here. And Grand Rapids has put together important pieces of a powerhouse medical center that will serve not just West Michigan," he said.
Grand Rapids is second only to Detroit in what it can offer medical students in Michigan, with many medical specialties and the volume of cases required for a good education, some doctors say.
"We see more cancer cases here than in Ann Arbor," said Peter Secchia, a local business leader and MSU alum who has long been a booster of the med school move.
The region has attractive qualities, McPherson said. "You're a community that solves problems. You're a community that's growing, and your medical centers have community support," he said.
While the cost of such a move likely would be shared by West Michigan, the region would get a big economic boost from a med school here, area leaders say.
West Michigan would get some benefit from the $300 million a year in research grants that Michigan State scientists get. And it would attract biotech companies.
It would boost the Van Andel Institute's ability to get federal research grants. And it would help the institute hang onto star scientists who are constantly wooed by more prestigious research facilities attached to medical schools.
Such a school here would put Grand Rapids on the map, said Dave Van Andel, chairman and CEO of the Van Andel Institute, in a recent interview.
"One of the side benefits of locating the (Van Andel) research institute here has been that medical students and scientists began to take Grand Rapids more seriously. Over time, that raises the level of health care here because good doctors and scientists choose to come here instead of to one of the coasts," Van Andel said.
A local medical school would broaden the relationship between VAI and area hospitals, and that would help institute scientists translate research into medical practice, Van Andel said.
It also would help the Grand Rapids Medical Education &Research Center establish more medical fellowships here -- advanced training that goes beyond medical residency, said Rick Breon, president and CEO of Spectrum Health. The area currently has fellowships in critical care, colorectal surgery and pediatric oncology. It recently applied for a fellowship in vascular surgery.
Bright young doctors are attracted to an area by fellowships, and eventually that translates into more sophisticated medical care for a region's residents, doctors say.
"It's not impossible to get fellowships without a medical school (in the same city). But it's more difficult," Breon said.
MSU chief solidly for med school move
Friday, February 27, 2004
By Kathleen Longcore
The Grand Rapids Press
It appears it's no longer a question of whether Michigan State University's medical school will move to West Michigan, but when -- and at what cost.
MSU President Peter McPherson came to Grand Rapids on Thursday to brief the Rotary Club about the dismal state of higher-education funding. But that topic was overshadowed by McPherson's strongest statements to date about moving the university's College of Human Medicine to Grand Rapids.
Still to be addressed is how much of the program would move here.
Speaking at the Amway Grand Plaza, McPherson said he hoped the MSU board would give him a decision by early May about how to proceed with a medical school move.
"There's been enough informal discussion. There's no reason why this has to take any longer," he said.
McPherson said he met with MSU department chairmen and East Lansing community leaders about the issue Wednesday and talked with medical school staff on Thursday.
He acknowledged he still has "some problems in East Lansing" with resistance to the move. But he expressed optimism that a plan can be forged that minimizes damage. It needs to be good for MSU, good for East Lansing, good for West Michigan and good for the state, he said.
"We're looking for a win-win, and that's what I expect can be done," he said.
Moving part or all of the medical school here would join MSU's "powerhouse sciences" with West Michigan's "powerhouse" medical facilities, McPherson said.
"What we have in East Lansing in the sciences would take you more than a generation to build here. And Grand Rapids has put together important pieces of a powerhouse medical center that will serve not just West Michigan," he said.
Grand Rapids is second only to Detroit in what it can offer medical students in Michigan, with many medical specialties and the volume of cases required for a good education, some doctors say.
"We see more cancer cases here than in Ann Arbor," said Peter Secchia, a local business leader and MSU alum who has long been a booster of the med school move.
The region has attractive qualities, McPherson said. "You're a community that solves problems. You're a community that's growing, and your medical centers have community support," he said.
While the cost of such a move likely would be shared by West Michigan, the region would get a big economic boost from a med school here, area leaders say.
West Michigan would get some benefit from the $300 million a year in research grants that Michigan State scientists get. And it would attract biotech companies.
It would boost the Van Andel Institute's ability to get federal research grants. And it would help the institute hang onto star scientists who are constantly wooed by more prestigious research facilities attached to medical schools.
Such a school here would put Grand Rapids on the map, said Dave Van Andel, chairman and CEO of the Van Andel Institute, in a recent interview.
"One of the side benefits of locating the (Van Andel) research institute here has been that medical students and scientists began to take Grand Rapids more seriously. Over time, that raises the level of health care here because good doctors and scientists choose to come here instead of to one of the coasts," Van Andel said.
A local medical school would broaden the relationship between VAI and area hospitals, and that would help institute scientists translate research into medical practice, Van Andel said.
It also would help the Grand Rapids Medical Education &Research Center establish more medical fellowships here -- advanced training that goes beyond medical residency, said Rick Breon, president and CEO of Spectrum Health. The area currently has fellowships in critical care, colorectal surgery and pediatric oncology. It recently applied for a fellowship in vascular surgery.
Bright young doctors are attracted to an area by fellowships, and eventually that translates into more sophisticated medical care for a region's residents, doctors say.
"It's not impossible to get fellowships without a medical school (in the same city). But it's more difficult," Breon said.
