MCW-Green Bay receives accreditation approvals; will begin recruiting students

The Medical College of Wisconsin’s new campus in Green Bay (MCW-Green Bay) received approval from two key accrediting bodies and will begin recruiting medical students in the next month for the new campus, which is expected to welcome its inaugural class in July 2015.

The Higher Learning Commission expanded its current accreditation of MCW’s main campus in Milwaukee to include MCW-Green Bay, and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the accrediting body specific to medical schools, determined the school to have the resources necessary to open its doors to students in July 2015. The Higher Learning Commission is tasked with accrediting degree-granting post-secondary schools. The LCME is recognized as the authority for accrediting medical education programs that lead to an M.D. degree. Medical schools require accreditations from both entities.

“Our curriculum and development teams have worked tirelessly to ensure the highest quality medical education for the students who attend the new campus,” said Joseph E. Kerschner, M.D., Executive Vice President of MCW and Dean of the Medical School. “It is exciting that we will leverage tele-education in a new way to connect students and educators at both campuses. The foundation of this program is true partnership and collaboration.”

The new campus is expected to enroll 20-25 students per year in a collaborative educational model that engages multiple partners. Classroom and administrative spaces are being constructed in the new science building at St. Norbert College in DePere; students will also complete coursework at Bellin College of Nursing and Radiologic Sciences, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, and UW-Green Bay.

MCW-Green Bay is partnering with Green Bay area physician groups and healthcare systems including Aurora BayCare Medical Center, Bellin Health, Hospital Sisters Health System Eastern Division, Prevea Health, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Milo C. Huempfner Outpatient Clinic for clinical rotations for students.

The campus is being developed to address the need for future physicians in northeast Wisconsin and across the state, and will employ an immersive teaching model in which students receive core basic science and clinical experience in the community. A second regional campus, MCW-Central Wisconsin, plans to matriculate its first students in July 2016.

“Research has shown that 70-percent of medical students who complete both their medical education and medical residency in the same region will elect to stay there to practice medicine. Our hope is that this immersive education model leads to the growth and development of physicians who then remain in Wisconsin communities and care for the people who live there,” said Matt Hunsaker, M.D., Dean of MCW-Green Bay.

Students will complete their coursework in three years, rather than four, which will lower their debt burden upon completing the medical education.

To obtain more information about the application process, visit our website at http://www.mcw.edu/CMEP/MCW-Green-Bay.htm.