EAST LANSING, Mich. – Working to address the projected physician shortage at the first whisper, the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine has already dramatically increased its class size to ensure an adequate supply of doctors for Michigan’s future.

Recent reports anticipate a severe shortage of doctors, especially in primary care, for both Michigan and the nation. Last week, for example, the Michigan Department of Community Health issued a report indicating that as many as 38 percent of the state’s active physicians are planning to stop practicing within the next 10 years.

“Educating a physician requires four years of undergraduate studies, four years of medical school, and two-to-eight years of postdoctoral education,” said William Strampel, dean of the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. “It’s imperative that we address this issue now if we’re going to forestall a health-care crisis in our state.”

Strampel noted that the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine is strategically poised to address the shortfall, in that it is ranked ninth among all medical schools in the nation for primary care education, and fully two-thirds of its alumni remain to practice in Michigan.

The college has already responded by expanding its 2005 entering class from 147 to 205 students, and is planning to educate 50 additional students in each class at an off-campus site in southeastern Michigan by 2007. Prospective locations are being explored, and approval of the final plan by the MSU Board of Trustees and American Osteopathic Association will be necessary.

Though the college, since its inception 37 years ago, has trained its third- and fourth-year students in community hospitals around the state, this will be the first time that preclinical osteopathic students will take their coursework outside the East Lansing campus.

Strampel said that there are additional benefits from the expansion, including:

• Meeting the needs of hospitals in the Detroit area for osteopathic interns and residents. Of the 23 hospitals in Michigan who are part of the college’s Statewide Campus System, 14 are in this region.
• The Southeast Michigan site will provide a focal point for community and clinical service to the medically underserved persons of the area
• A strong MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine presence in the Detroit area will facilitate recruiting of students to meet the needs of patients from that area.

 MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine

Founded in 1969 under a legislative mandate to produce primary care physicians for the state of Michigan

Ranked for five years running as the best osteopathic college in the nation for primary care education by U.S. News & World Report; currently ranked ninth among all 146 medical schools in the nation (M.D. and D.O.) for primary care education

Approximately 95 percent of graduates take internships and residencies in Michigan as part of the college’s Statewide Campus System

More than two-thirds of College of Osteopathic Medicine alumni remain to practice in Michigan

First college of osteopathic medicine at a major university and first to receive regular public funding

Enrolls nearly 600 students – first- and second-year students are based at the East Lansing campus, third- and fourth-year students train in affiliated base hospitals around the state

The focus of one of nation’s largest consortia for graduate medical education: nearly 2,000 volunteer physician faculty in the Statewide Campus System and 23 hospitals, including those in Bay City, Clinton Township, Coldwater, Commerce, Detroit, Farmington Hills, Garden City, Grand Blanc, Grand Rapids, Hillsdale, Kalamazoo, Lansing (two), Madison Heights, Mount Clemens, Muskegon, Pontiac (two), Southfield, Traverse City, Trenton, Warren and Wyandotte

First joint D.O./ Ph.D. dual-degree program in the nation