MSU receives state dollars to expand medical school at Flint campus
- MSU’s medical school campus in Flint is undergoing a significant expansion
- The building will include office, research and instruction space for about 100 students in their third and fourth year in the program
- The expansion will focus on public health — a priority in a community devastated by a water crisis that began in 2014.
The state is kicking in $3.4 million toward an expansion of the Flint branch of the Michigan State University medical school, part of an effort to focus on public health in a community devastated by a water crisis.
On Tuesday, the Michigan Strategic Fund Board, part of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., approved funding to help pay for a 40,000 square foot building that will house a new Public Health Department inside the MSU’s College of Human Medicine.
The three-story building will primarily be used for research, administrative purposes and for instruction. It will be located in what is now the parking lot of the former Flint Journal building in the city’s downtown.
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Last year, the university announced a partnership with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, which supports non-profit organizations seeking to support Flint following the city’s water crisis, to expand the Medical school to add a Department of Public Health.
The expansion will “build upon the College of Human Medicine's work as the leading public health institution on the Flint Water Crisis,” according to a memo from the MEDC.
The expansion will include research on domestic violence and suicide prevention, and is expected to be completed by 2028. MSU expects to hire 129 people, including 103 being full-time positions.
“The people of Flint and the faculty of Michigan State University College of Human Medicine have a deep, successful partnership that brings major funding into the community, providing hundreds of jobs for initiatives that improve the health of our people,” said Aron Sousa, dean of the College of Medicine. “This building project will allow us all to do more of this important and valuable work.”
The Flint medical school serves about 100 students in their third and fourth year. The Leadership in Medicine for the Underserved and the Medical Partners in Public Health are the two programs offered at the campus.
The Flint campus is one of the university’s eight regional medical school campuses The other campuses are in Grand Rapids, Lansing, Midland, Detroit, Traverse City, Marquette and Southeast Michigan.
The expansion “really embodies the spirit here at MSU in Flint,” said Mona Hanna-Attisha, associate dean for public health, in a news statement. “We have a whole lot of people who care a whole awful lot, and they are rolling up their sleeves to do better.”
The total cost of the expansion is estimated at $24.5 million, with the Mott Foundation committing $15 million toward its completion.
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