Our history and mission

The College of Human Medicine

Michigan State University (MSU) was founded in 1855 as the nation's first agricultural college and prototype for 60 land-grant institutions later established under the Morrill Act of 1892. The campus is located in East Lansing, four miles east of Lansing, the state capital and the state's fourth largest city. The University enrolls more than 41,000 students in 14 colleges and offers over 165 areas of undergraduate and 76 areas of graduate specialization. Michigan State University employs approximately 3,000 faculty/staff members who are engaged in teaching, research and service.

The College of Human Medicine (CHM) awarded its first MD degrees in 1972. The curriculum of the College is characterized by early clinical experience, training in community facilities, integration with the University, and involvement with other health professions. A significant portion of the basic biological behavioral science content as well as clinical knowledge is acquired by focusing on specific medical problems of patients (problem-based learning). Students receive their first two years of training (Blocks I and II) in East Lansing followed by two years of clinical training in community settings located in Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, and the Upper Peninsula. Each community campus is a full-service medical community with affiliated medical education programs, faculty, clinics, and hospitals. In addition, each campus supports a research program that includes a Research Director, staff and facilities.

Residency programs are available across the CHM campuses in: Family Medicine, Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Surgery, Radiology, Pathology, Orthopedics, Plastic Surgery, Emergency Medicine, and Colorectal Surgery. There also is subspecialty training, including a Fellowship program in Medical Oncology. CHM offers a full range of graduate education programs. The Dean of the College is Marsha Rappley, M.D.

The mission of the College espouses the University's land-grant philosophy of social responsibility, and thus, in addition to the training of physicians and service to the state, the College is committed to medical research, particularly that which benefits its patients and communities. This dedication, as well as the combined resources of central campus and the community campuses provide a formidable research enterprise and an excellent system in which to perform community-based clinical research.

The primary catchment areas (home counties) of each community campus total a population of 1.8 million people while the extended catchment (referral) areas include 90% of Michigan's 82 counties with a population of nearly 5 million people. These populations include significant numbers of minority, elderly and rural individuals.

The Department of Family Medicine

The department began as the Michigan State University Department of Family Practice in 1974. The Department is interdisciplinary and advocates the ideals of family medicine, advances the knowledge base of primary care, and serves communities and families across the state of Michigan. William C. Wadland, M.D., M.S., serves as the department chairperson. Interests and activities of the department faculty cover the spectrum of primary care.

The number of MSU College of Human Medicine (CHM) graduates who choose careers in family medicine is impressive. In 2002, CHM earned a Gold Achievement Award from the American Academy of Family Physicians for the school's outstanding efforts in developing student interest in family medicine and producing graduates who enter the specialty. In 2003, the school earned the Silver Achievement Award. These awards are based on a three-year average of CHM graduates who entered family medicine residencies.

The success of the department is directly linked to the active role of its residency network; encompassing family medicine residency programs in Flint, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Marquette, Midland, Saginaw, and Traverse City, with a total of almost 100 faculty members. These programs, in conjunction with the East Lansing campus, all facilitate meeting the department's mission.

The department in East Lansing includes more than 20 board certified family physicians, a thriving research unit, educational specialists, and a creative and talented administrative group.

The Department of Family Practice has now changed its name to the Department of Family Medicine. This change reflects the recent decision of its certifying board to rename the discipline “Family Medicine.”

Over the past 10 years, there has been a growing national consensus that family physicians should use the term ‘family medicine’ when referring to the academic discipline. In October 2003 the Congress of Delegates of the American Academy of Family Physicians voted to change the name of the specialty to Family Medicine. The national professional organizations for the specialty recommend that the names of academic units and programs be changed accordingly. Residency programs, medical school departments and other academically oriented units across the country have proceeded to change their names.

Mission Statement

The Michigan State University Department of Family Medicine functions as a collaborative network with the following purposes:

• Training physicians who will provide quality, compassionate, cost-effective primary care.
• Providing patient care in settings characterized by excellence and innovation.
• Conducting community-based research.
• Advancing knowledge relevant to primary care and medical education.
• Advocating the ideals of family medicine to students, residents, and the community.
• Serving the people.