MSU College of Human Medicine U.P. Campus students train throughout region

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - Medical students from the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Upper Peninsula Campus/Region received firsthand experience practicing rural family medicine alongside area physicians during their four-week Rural Family Medicine rotation.

The program gives medical students an opportunity to live in the community they are learning in and experience what it is like to live in a small town.

The MSU College of Human Medicine U.P. Campus is one of eight community campuses across the state providing clinical training for medical students. The U.P. campus offers a community-based, mission-focused curriculum to fulfill the Leadership in Rural Medicine (LRM) certificate, one of three community campuses in the LRM program, and the only to offer the Rural Physician Program certificate.

Clinical training sites are in communities across the Upper Peninsula with core clerkships primarily at UP Health System – Marquette. Fourth-year medical students Joshua Cole and Sarah Teising recently completed their rural family medicine rotations in Houghton/Hancock and L’Anse. As part of their requirement, they conducted research and presented their data to the UP-Campus audience about the communities in which they served. Their statistics and information included community, population, demographics, service groups, recreational activity opportunities, types of available education, and prevalent community health issues in the respective communities. Their community involvement and research help illustrate what contributes to a community’s overall health.

The Rural Physician Program aims to provide clinical options for students whose goals include serving people in small towns and rural communities. Students in the program complete two years of clinical training at MSU College of Human Medicine campuses in either Lansing or Grand Rapids before coming to the UP Campus for their third and fourth years of training.

Students and their training faculty in the Rural Family Medicine rotations were:

Emily Jaberi – Bay Care Medical Center, Munising with Paul Haduck, DO and Chelsea Texter, NP

Joshua Cole – Upper Great Lakes Family Health Center, Houghton with Zachariah DeYoung, MD, and Karen DeYoung, DO

Erik Gammon – Jeffery Peterman MD, Sault Ste. Marie

Natalie Gammon – Jeffery Peterman MD, Sault Ste. Marie, and My Michigan Health (formerly War Memorial Hospital) with James Sawyer, MD

Tyler Janish – Aspirus Laurium Clinic with Dawn Lee, DO and Aspirus Lake Linden Clinic with Shannon Handler, FNP

Alex Lucas – Upper Great Lake Family Health Center, Houghton with Zachariah DeYoung, MD

Erin McKenzie – Upper Great Lake Family Health Center, Houghton & Lake Linden with Karen DeYoung, DO (Houghton) and Tom McConnon, MD (Lake Linden)

John Mroz – Aspirus Houghton Clinic with Marilynn Dewald, MD, and Aspirus Laurium Clinic with Dawn Lee, DO

Sarah Naracon – MI WI Family Practice Associates, Iron Mountain with Kristi Olson, MD and Beth Schroeder, MD

Sara Teising – BCMH Physicians Group, L’Anse with Todd Ingram MD, Craig Vickstrom MD, Jeff Sweers MD, Abigail Prentice MD

“We are grateful for the community hospitals and providers that continuously welcome our students into their facilities and communities,” said Susan Tincknell, Student Programs Administrator for UP Clinical Campus. “This rural rotation is the hallmark of the U.P. Campus and students look forward to this rewarding experience.”

Currently, 319 medical students have graduated from the MSU College of Human Medicine U.P. Campus. As part of the Leadership in Rural Medicine, the U.P. Campus Rural Physician Program has made a significant impact on the rural physician workforce of the region. Nearly 30% of our graduates have practiced in the Upper Peninsula, helping us achieve our mission to educate medical students to become competent and compassionate physicians, skilled to care for the citizens of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.