Wayne State University School of Medicine - Overview

Overview

The School of Medicine’s mission is to provide first-rate medical education while leading the field through research and patient care. The school ranks 22nd in total research expenditures in health sciences with a research portfolio exceeding $99 million annually, according to the National Science Foundation. The faculty consists of over 2,000 physicians, many who are members of the Wayne State University Physician Group, and provide care at eleven affiliated hosptials, clinics and training sites throughout the area.

Although the school’s faculty offer expertise in virtually all medical fields, the institution’s areas of research emphasis include cancer, women’s and children’s health, neuroscience and population studies. Many are academic leaders at national and international levels in editorial roles. Research highlights in these areas include:

WSUSOM’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology ranks first in the country in terms of total funding from the National Institutes of Health. It is the home to the NIH Perinatology Research Branch, which is dedicated to improving the quality of maternal-fetal health nationwide. The department pioneered several innovative therapies in this field of medicine, including fetal surgery to treat birth defects in the womb, the first-ever successful in-utero bone-marrow transplant and Michigan’s first in-vitro fertilization program.

Professors at the school provided the "first evidence that glucose is a major stimulant on insulin secretion and, while and increase in the concentration of blood glucose stimulates the secretion of insulin, a decrease inhibits it and, in addition, stimulates the secretion of a blood-sugar raising factor (glucagon) by the pancreas. Subsequent experiments contributed substantially to the establishment of glucagon as a "second pancreatic hormone"."

The first successful open heart surgery was performed at the Detroit Medical Center by Wayne State University physician Dr. Forest Dodrill on patient Henry Opitek. He used a machine developed by himself and researchers at General Motors, the Dodrill-GMR, considered to be the first operational mechanical heart used while performing open heart surgery.

Wayne State University School of Medicine is the academic affiliate of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of 26 NCI-designated Cancer Centers in the United States. WSUSOM researchers, in conjunction with Karmanos Cancer Institute, oversee more than 400 clinical trials, participate in a national program to collect and study cancer data for future research and provide about half of all national statistics on cancer in African Americans. The first drug approved for the treatment of AIDS and HIV infection, Zidovudine was synthesized here. WSUSOM and Karmanos furthered their partnership in 2009, signing an agreement to establish a new academic department at the school for Karmanos researchers and expand their already successful research and teaching partnership.

The school has a major program of emphasis in the neurosciences, including neurology, neurotrauma, neuromuscular and degenerative diseases, vision sciences, neurobehavioral sciences and neuro-imaging. WSU is also home to the Ligon Research Center of Vision, one of the few centers in the world working on both retinal and cortical implants to restore sight and advance artificial vision, as well as the newly established and highly innovative Center for Spinal Cord Injury Recovery.

The medical school is the site of an innovative pilot study to expand basic ultrasound education to medical students as part of the NASA funded Advanced Diagnosis in Microgravity Project (ADUM) led by Dr. Scott Dulchavsky. The University is the first Medical School in the United States to implement this measure in a joint venture between teh departments of Radiology and Surgery.

Wayne State University School of Medicine is primarily affiliated for undergraduate and graduate medical education with the hospitals of the Detroit Medical Center, and Henry Ford Health System. The Detroit Medical Center includes the Children's Hospital of Michigan, the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, Detroit Receiving Hospital, Harper University Hospital, Hutzel Women's Hospital, Sinai-Grace Hospital, Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital and the DMC Surgery Hospital. Primary affiliates within the HFHS are Henry Ford Hospital, Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, and Henry Ford Kingswood Hospital, a comprehensive psychiatric facility. Detroit Receiving Hospital and Henry Ford Hospital are Level 1 Trauma Centers, Children's Hospital of Michigan is a Pediatric Level 1 Trauma Center. Additionally, it coordinates teaching experiences for students and residents with 14 community hospitals through the Southeast Michigan Center for Medical Education.