The records of the University of Michigan Department of Postgraduate Medicine and Health Professions Education, dating from 1919 to 1993, offer a partial picture of the development of the department and the subsequent effort to provide continuing medical education to practicing physicians and residents. These records generally contain little information about intramural programming, primarily focusing on the affiliated hospital program and the training of interns and residents (house officers). The records are also indicative of the varied responsibilities held by the department over time (i.e., administration of Medical Center Alumni Society).
The records were received in two separate accessions. The first accession, received from the Department of Postgraduate Medicine and Health Professions Education in 1994 is located in boxes 1-10. Material received in 1996 are located in boxes 12-15. Restricted files from both accessions have been removed to box 11.
When the University of Michigan Medical School offered its first courses in the fall of 1850, the field of medical science was poised for a tremendous explosion of knowledge. Rapid advances in medicine and medical practices soon made the need for postgraduate medical education readily apparent. The University of Michigan Board of Regents acknowledged this need as early as 1878 when they authorized the faculty of the Medical School to admit medical graduates into undergraduate courses (Regent's Proceedings, January 22, 1878).
The admission of graduates into undergraduate courses was rescinded in 1892 when the Medical School began to offer graduate courses. A system of summer courses was instituted in 1902, which offered refresher courses and the introduction of new medical practices and procedures both for credit and non-credit. Despite these efforts there was growing demand for greater continuity and more academic direction of the program.
In January 1926, representatives of the University of Michigan Medical School, Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery (Wayne State University School of Medicine), and the Michigan State Medical Society met in Ann Arbor to consider ways of meeting the rapidly growing need for postgraduate study in Michigan. A committee was formed to study the problem and a recommendation was made for a program of postgraduate education to be assumed by the University of Michigan because of its state support.
The recommendation was placed before the Board of Regents, who voted on June 24, 1927, to establish a Department of Postgraduate Medicine within the Medical School. Dr. James D. Bruce was named the head of the new department. Although he did not receive any additional salary he was given an expense budget of $2,000 and office space in the administrative wing of the University Hospital.
The first postgraduate courses were offered from May 27 to June 24, 1929, at the Receiving Hospital, Herman Keifer Hospital, and Children's Hospital in Detroit. Twenty-four doctors registered for the course in internal medicine and twenty for the surgery course. In 1938/39, during the program's tenth year, fifteen short, intensive courses were presented throughout the state including several summer sessions. Total enrollment in these courses was 2,392, including practitioners from all over Michigan and several other states.
Increasing medical specialization helped to make the residency a vital component of postgraduate medicine. In 1927 when the department was founded there were only 270 hospitals nationwide offering a total of 1,699 residency openings. By 1945 the number had grown to 734 hospitals offering 8,930 residencies, and in 1976 there were 1,702 hospitals providing 65,046 residencies. (Graduate Medical Education: Proposals for the Eighties, Association of American Medical Colleges, 1980).
An influx of returning World War II servicemen resuming their medical education and specialty training triggered the development of the Decentralized Residency Training Program in October 1946. This program, also known as the Affiliated Hospital Program, was funded by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and was designed to upgrade the quality of intern and resident (house officer) training in Michigan and to improve the distribution of physicians throughout the state. The program provided a link between the Medical School and other health education providers as hospitals in Detroit, Saginaw, Grand Rapids, Pontiac, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Benton Harbor, Traverse City and Midland became affiliated with the University of Michigan.
On March 27, 1969, the Towsley Center for Continuing Medical Education was formally dedicated. The new facility, which replaced the inadequate space in the University Hospital, included the 518-seat Dow Auditorium and the 114-seat Sheldon Lecture Room. The addition of this facility greatly strengthened the delivery of intramural education and added a major audio-visual component to continuing medical education.
During the 1970/71 academic year the department underwent a major program review. The Ad Hoc Committee to Review the Department of Postgraduate Medicine, chaired by Dr. Chris Zarafonetis, issued several recommendations that resulted in significant expansion and restructuring of the department. The name of the department was officially changed to the Department of Postgraduate Medicine and Health Professions Education to reflect these new changes. The review committee also recommended that the teaching activities be expanded at affiliated community hospitals as well as in undergraduate medical student teaching and continuing education of allied health professionals. The recommendations further stressed the addition of research in the areas of teaching, learning, and evaluation of health services.
In 1977, as the department celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, the organizational structure consisted of five offices: Office of Educational Resources and Research, Office of Extramural Education, Office of Intramural Education, Office of Allied Health Education, and Office of Health Care Delivery Research. That year the department's programs reached nearly 7,000 physicians and medical students.
Grant-funded research components such as the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center were added to the departmental responsibilities, administered by the Office of Extramural Education. From 1984 to 1991 the department published the Michigan Postgraduate Review, promoting further outreach (The Medical Center Journal, 1964-1980, also carried postgraduate medicine news and articles).
The present structure is composed of three major offices or divisions (Office of Educational Resources and Research, Office of Extramural Education, and Office of Continuing Medical Education), with a three-fold mission of educational support, outreach, and continuing education underscored by research.
Chairs of the Department of Postgraduate Medicine and Health Professions Education
| Date |
Event |
| 1927-1942 | James D. Bruce |
| 1942-1954 | Howard H. Cummings |
| 1954-1967 | John M. Sheldon |
| 1967-1971 | Harry A. Towsley |
| 1971-1974 | Neal Vanselow |
| 1974-1980 | William Harlan |
| 1981-1982 | Roland G. Hiss (Acting) |
| 1982-2003 | Roland G. Hiss |
| 2003-2014 | Larry D. Gruppen |
| 2014- | Charles P. Friedman |
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Sources Consulted
- Bruce, James D, "Postgraduate Education in Medicine," Journal of the Michigan State Medical Society, June 1937*
- ________, "Continuing Professional Education," Journal of the American Medical
- Association 110, April 23, 1938*
- ________, "Postgraduate Medical Education," Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, May 1941*
- Karr, Joan Mason, "The Department of Postgraduate Medicine: A History and Interpretation of its Development" (Ph.D. Dissertation, U of M), 1979
- Kelly, Mabel F., "University of Michigan Department of Postgraduate Medicine," (unpublished history) ca. 1967*
- Sheldon, John M, Thomas C. Flotte, and Mabel F. Kelly, "Postgraduate Medical Education at the University of Michigan Medical Center," Postgraduate Medicine 27, January 1960*
- Towsley, Harry A., "University of Michigan Plan for Postgraduate Medical Education," Journal of the American Medical Association, 164 May 25, 1957*
- ________, "Remarks at Dedication of the Towsley Center for Continuing Medical ," Education," March 27, 1969*
- Wilkinson, Charles F., Jr., "Hospitals' New Role as Michigan Decentralizes," Hospitals, February 1947*
- ________, "The General Practitioner," Journal of the American Medical Society 137, July 10, 1948*
- ________, "Michigan's Decentralized Resident Training Programs," Journal of the Michigan State Medical Society 47, September 1948*
- Annual Report of the Department of Postgraduate Medicine and Health Professions Education, 1976-77 (Fiftieth Anniversary Issue)
- "Postgrad Medicine," University Record, Vol. XIV, No. 1, October 1958*
* Copies of cited sources are located in Box 1 of this record group.
