College of Medicine seeks to grow, strengthen programs

Increasing demand for medical care and education

Each year, the CMU College of Medicine receives thousands of applications from interested students. In 2024, more than 8,000 applicants vied for the 104 spaces available in the coming year’s cohort. Statewide and throughout the Midwest region, demand for physicians is on the rise, especially in rural and historically underserved communities. Consistent with the College of Medicine’s mission, most medical students admitted call Michigan home.

“72 of Michigan’s 83 counties are currently considered health professional shortage areas,” said Dr. George Kikano, dean of the CMU College of Medicine and executive vice president for health affairs. “And, as more than a third of Michigan’s practicing physicians plan to retire within the next decade, the shortage will get worse without swift action and investment.”

With student demand and community need on the rise, the College must strengthen and expand its programs to meet its core mission, Kikano said. 

A charge from CMU Trustees

In early 2022, the CMU Board of Trustees formed a Health Care Special Committee to examine CMU’s current and potential contributions to health care within the state of Michigan and throughout the Great Lakes Bay Region. Later that year, following a report from the committee, the Trustees approved recommendations to increase the capacity and strengthen the impact of CMU’s health professions and medical education programs.

Following this directive, in 2023, CMU began discussions with community partners throughout the region to identify opportunities for growth. One of the options discussed was a presence in the Medical Diamond Project, a collaborative effort led by the City of Saginaw, County of Saginaw, Saginaw Future Inc., the Saginaw Chamber of Commerce and other partners.

In late summer 2023, together with President Davies and Dr. Kikano sent an email to faculty and staff, introducing the idea that the university was considering a possible shift of the College of Medicine to the Medical Diamond in Saginaw.

The need for expansion

“The current Mount Pleasant facility for the College of Medicine was built to accommodate a cohort size of roughly 60 students, and we are currently admitting classes of 104 students,” Kikano said. 

“Because we have outgrown our space, our students are split between campuses. This separation is not a best practice, and we are losing opportunities for peer-to-peer education and training.”

In addition to the medical education taking place in Saginaw, there are several other CMU College of Medicine and CMU Health clinics, buildings and programs in the area. CMU’s medical education building on Stone Street is adjacent to Covenant Hospital, and the CMU Women and Children’s Center. 

Also in Saginaw, CMU Medical Education Partners is a collaborative organization between CMU, Covenant HealthCare and Ascension St. Mary’s Hospital (soon to be MyMichigan Health) that manages Graduate Medical Education (GME) Programs and a growing footprint of clinical services. GME programs have existed in Saginaw since 1947, and today CMU Medical Education Partners has more than 170 residents per year in eight accredited specialty programs. Faculty and residents in these programs are essential to the education and mentorship of our medical students.

Based on the need to bring medical education back together in one location, and considering CMU’s existing presence in the region, the CMU Board of Trustees passed a resolution at their December 2023 meeting that commits the university to begin fundraising efforts to support a consolidation in Saginaw.

Committed to Mount Pleasant

Kikano said that while medical education and training would move to the new building in Saginaw, many important programs of the CMU College of Medicine would remain in Mount Pleasant.

The space currently occupied by the College of Medicine on campus would also remain in use and would allow expansion and development of new healthcare education programs, according to CMU President Bob Davies. 

“With the growing needs for health care in our region, we are looking to expand other health professions programs as well,” Davies said. “Programs like physician assistant, nursing, physical therapy, athletic training and others will be able to grow into those spaces.”

CMU to raise millions to support consolidation of medical school

To realize the success of the College of Medicine’s expansion and consolidation in Saginaw, a fundraising goal of $200 million has been set. Included within that goal are funds for medical student scholarships and research, as well as support for other health related programs at CMU.