vitalgrowth
Building for the Future
Workforce reports predict a physician shortage in Indiana in the near future, so an expansion of the IU School of Medicine – Fort Wayne campus is just one step IUSM is taking to address the problem.
A new 41,000 square-foot Medical Education & Research Building at IPFW will become the new home for medical and allied health students and will accommodate a larger medical school class size. The total IUSM – Fort Wayne student body will increase by 16 in the next two years, with the addition of six students in the 2009 entering class and 10 students in the 2010 entering class.
The facility, scheduled for completion by the end of 2008, also is the first step in preparations that ultimately will allow third and fourth-year students to rotate through specialties at the Fort Wayne campus. Currently, IU medical students attend their first two years of schooling at one of eight regional campuses or the Indianapolis campus, and all students attend their third and fourth years on the Indianapolis campus.
“When asked, many students say they would opt for staying at their regional campuses,” says Fen-Lei Chang, M.D., assistant dean and director of IUSM – Fort Wayne. “We’re currently discussing the strategy of having various clerkships statewide so students will be involved in programs beyond central Indiana.”
Approximately 50 percent of the practicing physicians in Indiana were educated or trained at the IU School of Medicine, proving that many physicians bloom where they are planted. By increasing the number of students trained in state, the hope is that more will remain and practice in Indiana.
There are other benefits of the new building as well.
Dr. Chang notes the facility’s high-tech lectures halls will bolster his faculty’s teaching strengths. Its state-of-the-art laboratories and telecommunications capabilities will enhance research by encouraging collaboration among faculty from Fort Wayne and other IUSM campuses. The Fort Wayne faculty focuses on cardiovascular, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, orthopedic and nutritional research.
While Chang expects the new facility and the collaboration it encourages to lead to higher productivity within the School of Medicine, he also is enthusiastic about potential new collaborations between the school and Fort Wayne’s already robust medical community.
Building Community Alliances and Meeting the Goal
“Our goal is to increase the school’s interaction with the community and regional institutions including Parkview Health System, Lutheran Health and Northeast Indiana Innovation Center, as well as the orthopedic industry in the Fort Wayne area,” Chang says.
To that end, a portion of the building’s first floor will be designated a clinical and community space. Chang envisions the school partnering with local medical organizations to offer community programming such as screening clinics for low-income families or to engage in clinical research. “Our students will learn by observing and participating in these types of community health activities,” Chang says.
Jody Neer, B.S.’94, M.D.’98, can speak first hand about the benefits that the Medical Education & Research Building will provide both to students and the community. A former IU School of Medicine-Fort Wayne student, Neer says, “I rotated through the Fort Wayne Center as a medical school student myself for two years. We had 16 in our class and the smaller class size really increased the accountability and responsibility of the students. Working on one floor of one building, however, did make us feel somewhat detached. I really support the idea of bringing in outside services to have a presence at the school so that it isn’t only a place for medical education but also a resource for patients, community physicians who volunteer their time, and researchers. This will only serve to benefit the community as a whole.
“My educational experience on the Fort Wayne campus is the sole reason I returned here to practice,” stresses Neer, a neurologist with the Fort Wane Neurological Center, co-director of the Rehabilitation Hospital, and chairman of the American Heart Association, Fort Wayne.
Neer is a perfect example of what Chang hopes to accomplish: retain top medical students in the community after they graduate. Completion of the new Medical Education and Research Building is the first step in the process, and Chang’s enthusiasm seems to reflect campus and community interest.
“IPFW, the local community, and area physicians all have been extremely helpful and supportive,” Chang says. “This will certainly raise the visibility of Indiana University School of Medicine – Fort Wayne. To make this endeavor truly successful, however, we must not limit our vision only to this building, but we also must look to the next phase of development. This is a great opportunity for the Fort Wayne community to impact the future needs of our state’s health care system.”
Dr. Fen-Lei Chang at the construction site of IUSM – Fort Wayne’s new building scheduled to open in spring 2009.
