University of Michigan School of Medicine: A Comprehensive Overview

The University of Michigan School of Medicine (UMSM), an integral part of Michigan Medicine, stands as a beacon of medical education, research, and patient care. With a rich history spanning 175 years, the school has consistently been at the forefront of medical innovation and shaping future healthcare leaders. This article delves into the various aspects of the UMSM, including its history, facilities, academic programs, research endeavors, and commitment to diversity and inclusion.

A Legacy of Firsts and Milestones

The Medical School’s 175 years of history tie closely with another key milestone of 2025: the 100th anniversary of the opening of the University Hospital known as “Old Main.” It welcomed patients from 1925 to 1986 and still looms large in the memories of many who worked, trained or received care there. This fall, a new hospital will open on the site where part of Old Main once stood: the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion. The UMSM holds the distinction of being the second college and the first professional school established at the University of Michigan. For its initial 65 years, it was known as the Department of Medicine and Surgery, officially changing its name to the Medical School in 1915.

Throughout its history, the UMSM has achieved numerous "firsts," solidifying its position as a pioneer in medical education and practice:

First University Medical School Professors: U-M was the first university to integrate its Medical School professors into the main faculty, a practice that continues today.
First University-Owned Teaching Hospital: In 1869, thanks to the dedication of Medical School faculty, U-M established the nation's first university-owned teaching hospital. It was initially located in a former professor's house on the Diag, where the Chemistry Building now stands.
First Chemistry Teaching and Research Building: Recognizing the importance of science in medical training, U-M opened the nation's first university building devoted to chemistry teaching and research in 1856.
First Major Medical School to Accept Women: Demonstrating its commitment to inclusivity, U-M became the first major medical school to accept women alongside men in 1870.
Clinical Clerkship Introduction: The Medical School was the first in the nation to introduce the concept of the clinical clerkship for medical students in 1899, providing invaluable hands-on training within U-M-owned hospitals.

These milestones highlight the UMSM's unwavering commitment to innovation, excellence, and inclusivity, shaping the landscape of medical education and healthcare.

Reflecting on History

While the anniversary observances include a celebration of the Medical School’s key contributions and notable figures, it will also include reflections on aspects of the institution’s history that look different through a contemporary lens, or when the experiences of those harmed by past medical practice are centered. While looking at historical harms is vital, doing so can have a double edge when we understand ‘historical’ to mean safely and permanently locked in the past,” she said. “Sometimes learning about history makes us feel like we are different from our predecessors, when really we ought to consider how we are the same - how we may hold the same kinds of biases or subscribe to similar harmful ideologies but express them in new ways that are harder to recognize.”

Shaping the Curriculum

In the late nineteenth century, the U-M Medical School embarked on a mission to involve students as active participants in their education, rather than passive observers. It also taught students how to acquire and interpret information. Both teaching approaches were radical for the time. In 1899, the U-M Medical School successfully introduced the concept of the clinical clerkship. Because U-M owned our own hospital, we could set up such clerkships directly at our hospital. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the U-M Medical School led efforts to revise and improve medical curricula by doubling the length of the program for the MD degree and by integrating clinical rotations into every student's course of study. In the 1950s through the 1960s, we made sweeping changes to our medical curriculum. The late 1960s was an era of increased clinical training in the first two predominantly basic science years of medical school. The U-M, along with many medical schools across the country, adopted an interdepartmental Introduction to Clinical Medicine course that would remain a staple of the first two years.

Facilities

U-M’s hospitals and health centers in Ann Arbor and southeast Michigan are staffed by U-M faculty physicians and serve as training sites for students in U-M’s medical and health professions programs, as well as residents and clinical fellows. Michigan Medicine is a high-volume surgical center with a total of 66 operating rooms. The construction of the $523 million Children and Women's Hospital and the $132 million Eye Center expansion added 18 operating rooms to the health system for a total of 82 operating rooms.

More than 2.4 million outpatient and emergency visits, 48,000 hospital stays, 54,000 surgeries, and 4,400 births take place each year at facilities operated by Michigan Medicine, including the University Hospital, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Women's Hospital and the A. University Hospital is the main hospital for adult patients. It opened in 1986 and has 550 beds. C. S. Mott Children's Hospital opened in 2011 with 348 beds in the 12-story inpatient tower for children and adolescents including a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, a 46-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, 12 operating rooms, diagnostic facilities, rehabilitation facilities, a gift shop, indoor and outdoor play areas, a classroom, and a chapel. The new facility for the C. S. Mott Children's and Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital, opened in December 2011 following the completion of a $754 million, five-year construction project. It is one of the largest children's hospitals in the United States. The hospital is 1,100,000 sq ft (100,000 m2) and consists of a 12-story inpatient wing and a nine-story outpatient wing. There are 348 beds, including 50 maternity rooms and 46 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) rooms. The expansion increases the number of beds at the hospital by 75 percent and makes the hospital the largest of Michigan's three children's hospitals. Every inpatient room is private, in contrast to the old facility, which had mostly double occupancy rooms. The new hospital has 16 operating rooms and two interventional radiology rooms. The first Women's Hospital opened in 1950, while the original C.S. The new hospital was the most expensive building project in University of Michigan history and one of the most expensive construction projects in state history. The C. S. Rogel Cancer Center (formerly Comprehensive Cancer Center) was founded in 1986 and includes cancer research and clinical care. The cancer center building opened in 1997. Its nine-stories contain four floors dedicated to outpatient cancer care for adults and children, six floors for cancer research laboratories. The facility also features 77 clinic rooms, 42 chemotherapy infusion suites, 7 procedure rooms, 2 outpatient surgical suites, Mohs skin cancer unit, patient education center, cancer survivor art gallery. Samuel and Jean Frankel Cardiovascular Center is a 350,000-square-foot (33,000 m2) building that opened in 2007. W.K. The W.K. Kellogg Eye Center is the home of the University of Michigan Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, part of the Medical School and Michigan Medicine. The Kellogg Eye Center has 64 clinical faculty and 21 research faculty (including nine endowed professorships), 21 residents, 17 research fellows and 11 clinical fellows. The Department of Ophthalmology was established in 1872 and has served patients at least as early as 1904, when there were 1,400 patient visits to the Eye & Ear Ward. The Kellogg Eye Center opened in 1985; in that year, there were 36,852 visits to the center. In 2011, there were 140,104 patient visits and over 5,783 surgical procedures performed. The Kellogg Eye Center has community clinics in Ann Arbor, Brighton, Canton, Livonia, Milford, West Bloomfield, and Ypsilanti. The expanded W.K. Kellogg Eye Center and new Brehm Center for Diabetes Research opened in March 2010. The $132 million expansion project built the Brehm Tower, an eight-story 230,000 sq ft (21,000 m2) research and clinical building expands space for the Kellogg Eye Center by 50 percent. The Eye Center is located on the tower's six lower floors, and the Brehm Center is housed on the upper two floors, with its Diabetes mellitus type 1 research laboratories. The tower includes nine eye clinics, six operating rooms, and new refractive surgery and cosmetic surgery suites, as well as facilities for support services such as genetic counseling, ophthalmic photography, diagnostic visual electrophysiological testing, and ocular prosthetics. The tower also houses a library, optical shop, and café. The tower is named after Virginia philanthropists Delores S. (Dee) and William K. The A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Science Research Building (BSRB) at 109 Zina Pitcher Place houses biomedical research facilities. The BSRB opened in February 2006 and is around 472,000 sq ft (43,900 m2) The $220 million building occupies a site 415 ft (126 m) by 200 ft (61 m) and is 100 ft (30 m) high. It is the largest research facility on campus and covers an entire city block. The building contains six levels, including two partial levels, of research laboratories and offices, and features a basement, a two-level vivarium space that includes an imaging core, surgery, behavioral testing suite, aquatics suite, and cage/rack washing facilities. It houses 144 faculty offices; 1,600 sq ft (150 m2) of divisible seminar room and break-out area; 16,000 sq ft (1,500 m2) of linear equipment space; alcoves for tissue culture, fume hoods, general bench space and lab entries. The 240 lab modules in the building are grouped into six "neighborhoods" for geriatrics and biogerontology; immunology; cardiovascular science; cellular and molecular therapeutics; organogenesis; and neuroscience). Construction planning by the New York City-based architectural firm of Polshek Partnership Architects began in 2001, with final design approval in 2002 and groundbreaking in April 2003. The BSRB was named in honor of A. Within the building is the 300-seat Kahn Auditorium, named for philanthropists D. Dan and Betty Kahn of Bloomfield Hills, who gave $6 million to the university for cardiovascular research. LSI consists of three centers: The Center for Chemical Genomics (chemical genetics), Center for Stem Cell Biology (stem cell research), and Center for Structural Biology (structural biology). The three Medical Science Research Buildings, designated MSRB I, MSRB II and MSRB III, opened respectively in 1986, 1989, and 1995. They are home to basic research laboratories and shared "core" facilities for U-M biomedical researchers. In 2009, the University of Michigan acquired the 174-acre (0.70 km2) former Pfizer facility with 28-buildings and created the North Campus Research Complex. The complex was adjacent to the North Campus and occupied land that the university sold to pharmaceutical manufacturer Parke-Davis in 1957. The acquisition of the site spurred the development of several new interdisciplinary research institutes. The Rachel Upjohn Building, adjacent to the Health and Geriatrics Center on the East Ann Arbor Medical Campus, opened in 2006 and combines all outpatient psychiatric and substance abuse care for adults and children into one facility. The 112,000 square feet (10,400 m2) building houses 335 offices/outpatient treatment rooms, a 120-seat auditorium and two telemedicine offices to assist patients living in remote areas as well as space for the research, education, and administrative programs of the U-M Depression Center, a library and art gallery. The facility is named for Rachel Mary (Upjohn) Meader, who with her husband Edwin gave $10 million toward the building's construction. The Ice Cube houses the Sports Medicine Program in a facility southwest of Ann Arbor. The program was established by Gerald A. O'Connor, professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at U-M and past president of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, and is operated by the Sports Medicine Division of Orthopedic Surgery. The program is one of the premier Sports Medicine programs in the country and attracts patients from across the US. The East Ann Arbor Ambulatory Surgery and Medical Procedures Center, located near Geriatrics and Depression centers, opened in 2006. The $30 million outpatient surgical facility houses six operating rooms and four medical procedure suites. The West Ann Arbor Health Center - Parkland Plaza opened in November 2017, replacing the former West Ann Arbor Health Center that had been located in a smaller facility nearby. Officially located in Scio Township, which neighbors Ann Arbor, the center is located on land donated to the university in 2010, and offers care in 27 adult and pediatric specialties. The VA Ann Arbor Health Care System opened in 1953 and underwent $150 million expansion in 1998. The 145-bed facility houses a surgical suite containing 9 operating rooms.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

The UMSM recognizes the importance of diversity and inclusion in creating a vibrant and equitable learning environment. The school actively works to address historical disparities and promote a culture of belonging for all students, faculty, and staff.

The University of Michigan Medical School is part of a vast, collaborative community that supports learners at all levels with experts who love to share and help grow the next generation of leaders. That explains why some of the most common words to describe the Michigan experience are warm, friendly and collegial. For us that goes both ways. Welcoming new students into our medical school community each summer is a tradition we cherish.

Read also: History of the Block 'M'

Avg. * URiM: Includes all AAMC Underrepresented in Medicine Categories + Arab American / Middle Eastern.

Student Support and Well-being

The UMSM prioritizes the well-being and success of its students, offering a range of support services to help them thrive academically, professionally, and personally.

Supportive Mentors, Small Group Settings

Students find support in small groups with longitudinal learning experiences across their four years of training. You are part of a team of exceptional students, problem-solving together and expanding each other’s sense of inquiry and discovery. Our dedicated faculty coaches foster a collaborative learning environment and individualized professional development with a special focus on your well-being.

Early Engagement with Patients

Preparing the best physicians for taking care of patients from all walks of life starts in the clinic. Beginning within your first month, you will be introduced to team-based clinical care in the Shadowing Interprofessional Sessions (SIPS).

Real-World Leadership Skills

The future of medicine needs physician leaders who are prepared to influence the systems of health care to improve health outcomes for patients and society.

Read also: Legacy of Fordham University

Opportunities to Make an Impact That Interests You

Addressing challenges in health care should not have to be put on hold for med school. Our Impact curriculum provides the framework for you to take on the problems that matter most to you, culminating in a Capstone for Impact project that is uniquely yours. You can choose to make an impact via a Path of Excellence, the Leadership Program, a dual degree or in one of four Branch concentrations.

Flexible Assessments

One of the most popular features of our first-year curriculum is the flexibility of our quizzes, which you can choose to take anytime between Friday afternoon and Sunday night. Flextime quizzing helps to ease you into the rigors of med school, allowing you to take the exam when you’re ready, maintain some control over your own schedule, and still make time to see your friends and family, participate in student groups or do whatever interests you. We also provide Second Chance Quizzes on the Mondays following each quiz that allow students to take an optional second quiz covering similar content to the standard quiz. These Second Chance Quizzes provide an additional opportunity to test for learning, reinforce material and attempt to relieve some of the stress that accompanies those quizzes.

Personalized Learning Support

In addition to peer and mentor support through M-Home, our learning specialists work with students to identify a wide spectrum of learning challenges and then develop targeted learning support plans to maximize students’ capabilities. Med school faculty coaches, along with Branch and Capstone advisors, are available to provide additional guidance as needed in all four years. There are many additional resources available on the greater university campus to help students with specific learning disabilities that our learning specialist can help students access when they need them. Learn more about the types of student support available through the Medical School.

Valued Student Voice

Michigan believes in seeking input and counsel from students on all aspects of the medical school experience, both formally and informally. This feedback provides invaluable insight and direction about what’s working and what can be improved in both content and delivery. As a student, you can review courses and clinical experiences, participate in pilot courses, join the Student Diversity Council, complete evaluations and end-of-year surveys, and/or participate in Student Council activities.

Flight Services

In 1983 UMHS established Survival Flight, the first of its kind in the state. The service operates three American Eurocopter EC155 B1 helicopters and one Bombardier Learjet 75 fixed-wing, twin-engine jet. For its first, ten years, the service flew American Eurocopter AS355 Twinstar craft, which were replaced in 1993 with Bell 230 craft that remained in service for five years, until they were replaced in 1998 with Bell 430 craft. The four aircraft make 1000 to 1500 trips annually and have a range of over 400 mi (640 km) from the U-M campus. Survival Flight has an excellent safety record and intense maintenance program. The aero-medical aviation sector has a high accident rate per hours flown due to its requirement to operate in almost all weather conditions and due to urgent transportation needs. Survival Flight has only suffered one crew and equipment loss. after a lawsuit was filed because the university terminated its contract for air medical transportation services.

Research Prowess

The University of Michigan is the top public institution for research spending in the United States, and more than 40 percent of those expenditures come from the U-M Medical School. This productivity means that our learners have access to unparalleled research opportunities.

Funding

For FY25, UMMS had $819.5M in extramural research funding, including federal, state, foundation, and industry sources.

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