Michigan State University and
Van Andel Institute are planning to hire up to 40 research scientists to establish a research arm for the proposed West Michigan Medical School in Grand Rapids.
Van Andel Institute Chairman and CEO David Van Andel and Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon reached a collaboration agreement last week to hire the researchers, beginning with 15 in the first three years.
The researchers would eventually be housed in the Van Andel Institute's 248,000-square-foot phase II expansion and some may hold positions in both the medical school and the institute. Van Andel has committed $2 million toward this research agreement while Michigan State has agreed to pay the remaining cost.
The researchers are another piece in the effort to create the Michigan State-sponsored medical school, which could accept students as soon as 2008.
The partners intend to hire five basic scientists, five clinical physician scientists, and five population-based scientists, statisticians/epidemiologists over the first one to three years, with a goal of achieving approximately 40 hires in five years of the new medical school operation.
Next steps in this process include the completion of contracts between other stakeholders and MSU. After fund raising reaches a certain level, the school will select a site and design and build the school. The hope is that a fully functioning four-year school will be complete by 2010.
Sources: Van Andel Institute; Michigan State University
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