Dean’s Message: Match Day 2021 and Commencement The mission of the College of Medicine is to educate diverse students and train culturally competent physicians to provide comprehensive care to underserved populations (both rural and urban) in Michigan and beyond. We see our mission fulfilled each March with Match Day, the day when medical students across the nation learn where they will conduct their residencies. Friday, March 19, was Match Day, with 90 CMU College of Medicine students participating in the process. • 61% of our students matched to primary care residencies • 47% of our students matched within the state of Michigan • Five students matched with the CMU Medical Education Partners residency programs in Saginaw o Carmen Avramut – Psychology/MIDOCS o Ryan Guthrie – Emergency Medicine o Danielle Hebert – General Surgery o Trusha Patel – Psychology o Kyla Walworth – Ob/Gyn • Three students matched to our branch campus at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit. o Rabia Mahmood – Internal Medicine o Raghuram Palepu – Internal Medicine o Tamara Siblini – Ob/Gyn Our medical students take with them lessons learned on the front lines of a global pandemic - experiences that will shape their residencies and the remainder of their careers. As they voluntarily staffed testing and vaccination clinics, the students confirmed their capacity for compassionate care, and they witnessed how public health infrastructure and science-based community health measures have direct implications for patients’ lives. Their successful navigation of this national health crisis is a testament to our mission and their commitment to advancing health care for all people. As we move forward toward Commencement, I am pleased to announce CMU is planning an in-person, outdoor ceremony for May 7, 2021, for the Classes of 2020 and 2021 College of Medicine students. Though audience capacity will be limited, a livestream of the ceremony will be available for those unable to be physically present.
I am incredibly proud of our students, faculty and staff whose determination and resilience brought the College of Medicine through a turbulent year. Thank you for your patience, your dedication and your steadfast support of one another. Sincerely, George E. Kikano, MD CMU Vice President for Health Affairs Dean, CMU College of Medicine
Student Spotlight
Michael Megaly, Sterling Heights, matched into General Surgery at the University of Minnesota. “The past four years have been the most exciting, rewarding, humbling, and eye opening years I have ever experienced. I’m looking forward to this next phase of my life and continued education in residency. I would have never made it this far without my faith, family, and friends, so thank you all!”
CMU Pediatricians Lead the Way in COVID-19 Research for Children $1.5M in federal grants awarded to diagnose and manage severe illness Pediatrics professors in CMU’s College of Medicine are researching a method to fundamentally change the diagnosis and management of severe COVID-19 related illness in children using saliva samples. The study is one of only eight in the nation funded by the National Institutes for Health to develop approaches for identifying children at high risk for Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a rare and severe after-effect of COVID-19 or exposure to the virus that causes it. Usha Sethuraman, MD, co-principal investigator, professor of pediatrics at the CMU College of Medicine, and University Pediatricians emergency department physician at the Children's Hospital of Michigan, and her team are studying the role of salivary biomarkers known as miRNA, cytokines (indicators of inflammation), plus Artificial Intelligence to develop a predictive model of severe COVID-19 disease. "If proven effective, this will be a game-changer because this model could be used in health care settings to identify continued on page 13
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