MU School of Medicine grows

The MU School of Medicine, which traces its origin to 1841, handed out its first medical degrees in 1846. It was the first public school of medicine opened west of the Mississippi River.

Rich Gleba, director of the office of communication and innovation in the School of Medicine, said the school started at a time when students went to school to be general practitioners of medicine. There were no specialties. Today, the School of Medicine has 21 different departments that teach 975 students a year, including medical students, residents and those completing master’s degrees or doctorates in advance sciences.

Gleba said the medical school, which was accredited as a four-year program in 1957, is home to more than 600 faculty physicians and basic scientists. The faculty includes practitioners and those who focus on laboratory studies. Both groups teach. The size of the faculty has grown by more than 200 since 2000.

Research expenditures at the medical school increased nearly 200 percent since 2000, from $15 million annually to $44 million. Two of the researchers at the MU School of Medicine recently won a $6 million grant to continue their research on Alzheimer’s disease. Their research over the past five years has uncovered toxic effects of a particular protein, which explains a little about how the disease works. They will continue their research by looking for treatments.

Throughout the years, the school has also been ranked nationally in family and community medicine, primary care, health management and informatics, and biochemistry.

In 1996, U.S. News and World Report ranked the school sixth in the nation among 62 schools that focused on primary care. At the same time, the Department of Family and Community Medicine was ranked second.

The department has been ranked in the top three for the past 15 years.

Harold Williamson Jr., professor and chair of family and community medicine, said this ranking is because of three things. He said the school has worked hard to clarify its values and mission, to recruit the best faculty and staff and created a good culture and infrastructure.

“We have a culture that is collaborative and aimed at continuous improvement,” Williamson said. “If you look at successful sports teams or companies, these things are there.”

Gleba said that there are two very strong factors, in addition to the national rankings, that distinguish this medical school. One factor is its focus on preparing students for rural health care and another is its problem-based curriculum.

In 1993, after five years of planning, the MU School of Medicine implemented a new curriculum known as problem-based learning. The curriculum gives the 96 students accepted each year the opportunity to learn by problem solving and also promotes patient care from the first day.

“It encourages self-directed learning and team building,” Gleba said.

The curriculum breaks students into groups of eight with one faculty facilitator. Weekly, each group is given a case of a past patient. The team must diagnose the problem and plan the care.

Dana Galbraith, MU School of Medicine alumna, said her group broke the case into sections and gave an assignment to each student.

“As a group, we taught each other through 10-minute presentations about the various aspects of the case we were presented,” she said.

Galbraith, now a first-year resident in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, said the group would come up with learning objectives for its case, then present to the class at the end of the week.

Galbraith said in her first year, she and classmates had a case about a young girl who was born with a congenital heart condition. Her group looked at the anatomy and physiology of the heart and the pathology of different heart conditions. The students also dissected human hearts. At the end of the week the patient, her parents and the surgeon on the case came into class the day the students presented to talk about their experiences.

“I really think that this kind of learning sets our school apart from others," Galbraith said. "Not only do I feel that it is easier to learn in an environment like this, but it is also much more enjoyable.”

Another distinguishing feature of the school, Gleba said, is the collaboration of the School of Medicine with other schools at MU. He said that the School of Medicine; School of Veterinary Medicine; and College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resource collaborate on researching and translating findings.

Chris Hardin, professor and chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences in the School of Medicine, agrees that collaboration is important. His department is the newest of the 21 in the medical school and is co-administered by the School of Medicine; College of Human and Environmental Sciences; and the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.

Hardin, who joined the MU medical school in 1993, said that the department’s research focus will build in the areas of diet and exercise and chronic diseases related to obesity. He has high hopes for the collaboration of these schools to be a part in solving the problem of obesity. “We could help solve the biggest economic and nutrition crisis in the U.S.”

Hardin is now hiring for the department so it can be running by the fall.

The School of Medicine is also planning to open a $27 million, 100,000-sqaure-foot Clinical Support and Education Building in May.

In the fall, it will also open the $10 million International Institute of Nano and Molecular Medicine building. Within a year, the school plans to break ground on a new clinical care tower and orthopedic institute.