MSU med school adds two campuses

MSU med school adds two campuses

Students start classes at new Clinton Twp., Detroit sites

Candice Williams / The Detroit News

Detroit -- As Danelle Graves made plans to graduate with a degree in chemistry from Hope College in Holland this spring, she decided to study medicine at Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Graves, who lives in Flushing, northwest of Flint, was pleased to find she wasn't limited to taking classes in East Lansing because the university has opened two new sites in southeast Michigan. Instead, she will move near the campus in Clinton Township.

"This is the start of something new," said Graves, 20, who will attend classes at the Macomb University Center on the Macomb Community College campus "I get to be a part of the inaugural class."

The university's other new site is at the Detroit Medical Center in midtown Detroit.

Three hundred first-year medical students started anatomy classes this week. The 51 students based in Macomb and 55 at the DMC site started their classes at the medical center's new anatomy lab because the Macomb University Center isn't completed.

Students at the Macomb University Center will begin fall studies in a rented space at the center. They will move in January, when a new building is expected to be completed, said Kari Hortos, an associate dean for the college of osteopathic medicine who will be based at the Macomb location.

Each of the campuses offers a different atmosphere, but the basic education will be the same for first- and second-year medical students, Hortos said. Students will receive simultaneous lectures via the Internet as one professor teaches from the East Lansing, DMC or Macomb locations.

Steve Cassin, Macomb County director of planning and economic development, said officials and the community worked to woo the college to the county.

"It opens up additional opportunities for students of this region to go to med school," he said. "We went very hard after them. There was no medical school in Macomb County."

Classes at the Detroit Medical Center are held at the former Hutzel Women's Hospital. About 28,000 square feet were renovated for classrooms, computer labs and a library.

Zach White, 22, said he chose to attend classes in midtown Detroit because he wanted to be in the city.

"This is more of an urban setting," said White, who received a biochemistry degree from Hope College. "I just kind of wanted to be in that atmosphere."

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