History
In 2007 the new president of Western Michigan University, John M. Dunn, challenged the community to consider the possibility of developing a medical school during his first academic convocation and state of the university address that October. Dunn's address sparked community interest and within six weeks a Medical School Feasibility Committee was formed. Consultants were retained to conduct detailed feasibility assessments in 2008 with funding provided by the local Kalamazoo Community Foundation. By January 2009, the feasibility studies confirmed what Dunn had observed during his short time in southwest Michigan – Kalamazoo has substantial existing assets and the necessary building blocks for developing an outstanding medical school.
With a commitment of collaboration from Western Michigan University, Ascension Borgess, and Bronson Healthcare, the medical school moved from merely an idea to a planned approach for the development of Western Michigan University School of Medicine (WMed). In November 2009, an anonymous donation of $1.8 million was made to support efforts to plan for the new medical school. A committee composed of the chief executive officers of Borgess Health, Bronson Healthcare, and the president of Western Michigan University began to meet regularly to guide the development process. In 2010, WMed was awarded Applicant Status by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, a search committee was developed to recruit the school's founding dean, and Jack Luderer, MD was named interim dean. A Steering and Visioning Committee, later renamed the Institutional Setting Committee, included a broader group of the senior leadership of the three organizations. Following a national search with multiple on-site interviews of the candidates, Hal B. Jenson, MD, MBA was named as the founding dean of Western Michigan University School of Medicine in January 2011 and began March 22, 2011.
In March 2011, WMed received a $100 million anonymous cash gift. At the time, this anonymous gift was the largest ever made to a Michigan college or university, and the 15th largest cash gift in the history of American higher education. [3] Later that year, in December, William U. Parfet, the chairman and chief executive officer of MPI Research and the great-grandson of W.E. Upjohn, donated to WMU a 330,000 square foot building located in downtown Kalamazoo that serves as the home of WMed. [4] This property, which is on the original plot of land acquired by W.E. Upjohn to begin the Upjohn Co., housed the research facility where Motrin, Xanax, Halcion, Rogaine, and Zyvox were discovered. Locally known as Pfizer Building 267, the property is adjacent to Bronson and three miles from Borgess, two miles from WMU, and the WMed Oakland Drive campus.
On October 12, 2012, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the site of the new medical school building on the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus, which opened in June 2014, two months prior to the arrival of WMed's first medical school class in August 2014. During the groundbreaking ceremony, Dean Jenson announced that WMed was granted preliminary accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, an important step, as WMed moves forward to recruit its first class of medical students.
WMed has more than 200 resident physicians training in the following residency programs: Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, General Surgery, Internal Medicine, Medicine-Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry along with fellowships in EMS, Forensic Pathology, Hospice and Palliative Care, Simulation, and Sports Medicine. WMed has used electronic medical patient records since 2002 and provides a state-of-the-art Simulation Center for resident and medical student training that is one of the largest in the country.
On March 11, 2014, the university announced that the school would be named in honor of Dr. Homer Stryker, the Kalamazoo orthopedic surgeon and medical device innovator who founded the Stryker Corporation. [5] At the same time it was announced that the original $100 million gift for the foundation of the school had been donated by Stryker's granddaughter, Ronda Stryker, and her husband, William Johnston.
In 2021, Paula Termuhlen succeeded founding Dean Hal B. Jenson who retired after a 10-year tenure. [6] [7] Later that year, the medical school received a commitment of $300 million as part of the $550 million Empowering Futures Gift to Western Michigan University (WMU) from anonymous donors. The overall gift is the largest for a public university in U.S history. The donation aims to continue to the medical school's mission of increasing scholarships, widening access to education, enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in medical education and fostering community impact. [8]
On February 19, 2024, WMed announced that Dean Paula Termuhlen and the university had "parted ways". The Board of Directors named Robert G. Sawyer, the senior associate dean for research, as interim dean on February 20, 2024. [9] The following month, WMed residents and fellow physicians successfully unionized after a 152-12 vote in favor of unionizing. [10] [11] [12]
SMAHEC and Michigan State University Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies (MSU/KCMS)
In 1946, the Upjohn Company, the Kalamazoo Foundation and the W.E. Upjohn Trustee Corporation contributed to a grant establishing the first graduate medical education program in Kalamazoo: a residency in internal medicine at Bronson Methodist Hospital. Shortly thereafter, Borgess Medical Center began its internship and residency training programs.
For many years, Borgess and Bronson independently offered numerous internship and residency programs. In 1966, the first joint residency between hospitals - the Orthopaedic Surgery Program - was created. Given the success of the ortho residency and a shared desire to strengthen graduate medical education in Kalamazoo, in 1973 both hospitals agreed to form a joint venture, non-profit organization devoted to medical education: the Southwestern Michigan Area Health Education Center (SMAHEC). SMAHEC's corporate structure was not conducive to responding to national changes in health care. In 1989, the organization restructured, with the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University added as a corporate partner, and reemerged under a new name: Michigan State University Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies (MSU/KCMS)
In 1994, the clinics and administrative offices, which had been scattered throughout the city, came together in one location.
The MSU/KCMS Board of Directors approved the merger of the institution into WMed effective July 1, 2012. This merger included the clinical education and patient care programs, administrative functions, 223 staff, 200 residents, and 61 full-time faculty. In addition, there were more than 420 clinical faculty members as physicians in the community who volunteered their time and extended the educational experiences for medical students and residents into their private offices. In 2014, the school welcomed 54 students into its first class.
