The Wayne State University School of Medicine officially unveiled its new training hub and face of the medical school Friday, celebrating a milestone with hundreds of faculty, alumni, donors and students.
The opening of the Richard J. Mazurek, M.D., Medical Education Commons marks the latest chapter in the School of Medicine's ongoing efforts to provide the finest medical education and produce some of the world's best physicians and researchers, said Dean Robert M. Mentzer Jr., M.D., dean of the School of Medicine and senior advisor to the president for Medical Affairs.
"The Mazurek meets contemporary medical education needs as well as those anticipated for the foreseeable future," Dean Mentzer said. "The Mazurek will shorten the practical learning curve as our students move from academics to clinical practice. Our students will be better prepared as diagnosticians and better prepared to provide clinical treatment because of their training in the Mazurek.
"With the rapid advances in biomedical research and technology, the need for ongoing learning is more necessary than ever before," he added. "The Mazurek provides a home for ongoing medical education for the entire WayneState family of physicians."
The building, paid for entirely with private donations, further cements the School of Medicine's ongoing commitment to the city of Detroit, and establishes a state-of-the-science training center for the university that educates more medical students than other Michigan medical schools combined.
The $35 million investment is a bright spot in a region that has experienced its share of difficulties in a challenging economy, WSU President Jay Noren said.
"This building is simply the latest of many extraordinary things to happen in Midtown because of Wayne State University," Noren said. "For our School of Medicine, this is the right facility at the right time."
Medical education in this country faces a number of challenges, among them rapid advances in biomedical knowledge and an anticipated shortage of possibly as many as 200,000 physicians by 2020, the president continued. The building nearly doubles the class space at the School of Medicine, vital considering that the Michigan State Medical Society anticipates that the state faces a critical shortage of physicians. The Mazurek Medical Education Commons provides the facilities and opportunity for the School of Medicine to further expand incoming class sizes to meet the needs of the people of Michigan.
The building, which includes an updated Shiffman Medical Library, is named for Richard J. Mazurek, M.D., a 1961 graduate of the School of Medicine. Dr. Mazurek, now deceased, was honored with a naming gift of $10.2 million by his longtime friend and business partner, Nick Labedz. That gift stands as the largest single donation to Wayne State University.
"I'd like to extend my thanks to all of you as we, together, have breathed life into bricks and mortar and, in doing so, made Richard J. Mazurek live forever," said Labedz, who helped cut the ribbon that marked the official opening of the building. "This center for learning will be a key part of training thousands of physicians and will result in the treatment of hundreds of thousands of patients. This will be the legacy of Richard Mazurek."
The three-story, 53,000-square-foot commons connects to the School of Medicine's Scott Hall via an elevated and enclosed walkway between the two buildings. The training facilities available in the new building will be among the best and most challenging in the nation. The Clinical Skills Center includes four simulation labs, two of which are fully functioning operating rooms. Each of the labs contains patient mannequins that can speak, breathe, bleed and display a spectrum of symptoms to test medical students. Instructors can observe students in action from outside the rooms and challenge students by constantly tweaking the "patient's" conditions.
The center will include examination rooms in which students and residents will interact with live "patients" trained to enact any number of symptoms and conditions. The exam rooms are fitted with cameras and all interactions are videotaped so that instructors may provide immediate feedback or review the tapes with students later.
"This is a day of excitement and celebration for all administrators, faculty and students at the School of Medicine," said Robert Frank, M.D., executive vice dean for the School of Medicine, and master of ceremonies for the building opening festivities. "It is the day that vision has become reality; the day when medical education at Wayne State leaps into the 21st century; the day when all of you who committed your time, money and resources to this project can proudly witness what you have helped to achieve.
"There is no finer, contemporary, state-of-the-science medical education facility than the Mazurek," Dr. Frank added. "We will train more and better physicians because of it. And we will do so in a facility that is aesthetically pleasing and friendly to the environment."
Another key component of the new facility will be its ability to serve as a hub for Continuing Medical Education courses. Physicians from around the state and country will have access to ongoing professional medical education at the Mazurek Medical Education Commons, bringing with them a regional economic boost in use of hotel rooms, taxis and dining expenses.