UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences Southeast Campus to host open house in Fargo on Oct. 28
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) Southeast Campus Office in Fargo is on the move.
To celebrate the grand opening of its new space at 4820 23rd Ave. S., the Fargo branch of North Dakota’s only comprehensive medicine and health sciences program is hosting an open house from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 28.
New digs, new opportunities
For Dr. Scott Engum, associate dean of the SMHS Southeast Campus, the new space was long overdue – and will better facilitate innovation and collaboration in healthcare.
“It’s about bringing everybody together,” said Engum, a pediatric surgeon in the Fargo area. “We’ve brought the learner and the teachers closer together, which is number one. Number two is better engaging the healthcare system. We’ve got those systems – like Sanford and Essentia – constantly around us now.”
Open house activities include tours of the new facility, live demonstrations of medical simulation scenarios that help educate healthcare learners, and a meet-and-greet with faculty, staff, medical residents, and students.
Describing how “a classroom or a conference room can happen anywhere,” Engum added that this bringing together of faculty, students, providers, industry, and staff produces more and often better ideas for local patient care.
“People are starting to run into each other here,” he said, which is producing new ideas, partnerships, and opportunities for health providers and medical students. “Not only do [providers] ask ‘How can we train students and residents better?’ They say, ‘How can we train ourselves?’ Meaning, they also want to use our space for Continuing Medical Education.”
50 years of M.D. training
Around the time it converted to a four-year Medical Doctorate (M.D.) program in the middle 1970s, UND’s medical college sought to train future physicians beyond Grand Forks. To that end, it began distributing medical education to sites across the state, including in Bismarck, Fargo, and Minot.
Under this “community-based” model, UND medical students train on the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences campus in Grand Forks for two years before traveling to clinical locations across North Dakota for their third and fourth years.
North Dakotans can learn more about the 50-year history of UND’s M.D. program at: youtube.com/@undsmhs.
Prior to this latest move, Fargo-based students trained primarily at the Fargo VA Health System – which also housed the Southeast Campus staff for nearly 50 years.
Having outgrown that space, the Fargo team, which has been partnering with other Fargo-based health providers for decades, is excited to be in a space that includes its own medical simulation technology, more study space for Fargo students, and a location closer to the newest hospital in the Fargo metro area.
“We want to thank the Fargo VA Health System for supporting our students and staff for so many years,” added Dr. Marjorie Jenkins, UND’s vice president for health affairs and dean of the SMHS. “At the same time, because we’ve expanded class sizes more than once since we started sharing the previous space – and we’re hoping to grow again in a few years – this upgrade is overdue.”
Calling Fargo “a crucial part of our mission to meet the growing healthcare needs of the people of North Dakota,” Jenkins added that outside of Grand Forks, “Fargo is our busiest campus for healthcare training, and home of some of our largest health system partners.”
The event, which is free and open to the public, begins at 5 p.m., with remarks by Dr. Jenkins starting at 6 p.m.
Interested parties can register online.
Complimentary hors d’oeuvres will be served and door prizes are available.
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Brian James Schill
Director, Office of Alumni & Community Relations
UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences
701.777.6048 direct | 701.777.4305 office
brian.schill@UND.edu | www.UND.edu