page_title: Wayne State University School of Medicine
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Wayne State University School of Medicine / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: Postcard picture of Detroit College of Medicine, postmarked 1911. Formerly on Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan. Present day Wayne State University School of Medicine (new buildings).
context_page_description: The Wayne State University School of Medicine currently hosts an enrollment of more than 1,500 medical students in undergraduate medical education, master's degree, Ph.D., and M.D.-Ph.D. programs and courses encompass 14 areas of basic science. WSUSOM traces its roots through four predecessor institutions since its founding in 1868. According to U.S. News ranking, the school ranks 70th nationally in its research activities.
  The Detroit College of Medicine was founded in 1868 in a building on Woodward Avenue. The Michigan College of Medicine was incorporated in 1879 and offered classes in the former Hotel Hesse at the intersection of Gratiot Avenue, Madison Avenue and St. Antoine Street. In 1885, the two schools merged to form the Detroit College of Medicine and occupied the former Michigan College of Medicine building. The college was reorganized and refinanced as the Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery in 1913, and five-years later, came under control of the Detroit Board of Education.
context_section_description: The School of Medicine's mission is to provide first-rate medical education while leading the field through research and patient care. The faculty consists of numerous local physicians, many who are members of the Wayne State University Physician Group, and provide care at eleven affiliated hospitals, clinics and training sites throughout the area.
  Although the school's faculty offer expertise in virtually all medical fields, the institution's areas of research emphasis include cancer, women's and children's health, neuroscience and population studies. Many are also academic leaders at national and international levels in editorial roles. 
  Professors at the school provided the "first evidence that glucose is a major stimulant on insulin secretion and, while and increase in the concentration of blood glucose stimulates the secretion of insulin, a decrease inhibits it and, in addition, stimulates the secretion of a blood-sugar raising factor (glucagon) by the pancreas. Subsequent experiments contributed substantially to the establishment of glucagon as a "second pancreatic hormone."
  The first successful open heart surgery was performed at the Detroit Medical Center by Wayne State University physician Dr. Forest Dodrill on patient Henry Opitek. He used a machine developed by himself and researchers at General Motors, the Dodrill-GMR, considered to be the first operational mechanical heart used while performing open heart surgery.
  Wayne State University School of Medicine is the academic affiliate of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of 26 NCI-designated Cancer Centers in the United States.  WSUSOM researchers, in conjunction with Karmanos Cancer Institute, oversee more than 400 clinical trials, participate in a national program to collect and study cancer data for future research and provide about half of all national statistics on cancer in African Americans. The first drug approved for the treatment of AIDS and HIV infection, Zidovudine was synthesized here. WSUSOM and Karmanos furthered their partnership in 2009, signing an agreement to establish a new academic department at the school for Karmanos researchers and expand their already successful research and teaching partnership.
  Wayne State University School of Medicine, along with Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine, is affiliated for undergraduate and graduate medical education with the hospitals of the Detroit Medical Center, and Henry Ford Health System.  The Detroit Medical Center includes the Children's Hospital of Michigan, the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, Detroit Receiving Hospital, Harper University Hospital, Hutzel Women's Hospital, Sinai-Grace Hospital, Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital and the DMC Surgery Hospital.  Primary affiliates within the HFHS are Henry Ford Hospital, Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, and Henry Ford Kingswood Hospital, a comprehensive psychiatric facility.  Detroit Receiving Hospital and Henry Ford Hospital are Level 1 Trauma Centers, Children's Hospital of Michigan is a Pediatric Level 1 Trauma Center.  Additionally, it coordinates teaching experiences for students and residents with 14 community hospitals through the Southeast Michigan Center for Medical Education.
caption: Detroit College of Medicine, about 1911
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