Michael J. Potchen, M.D.
Academic
Dr. Potchen serves as a medical educator and mentor on several fronts within MSU. He teaches in the College of Human Medicine’s Problem Based Learning Block (HM513/514; HM 528) and provides general radiological education through lectures and case-based learning to the MSU Radiology Residency program, which presently involves 62 post-graduates. Dr. Potchen previously served as residency and fellowship director from 1998-2002. His present teaching responsibilities include participation in laboratory-based education within Radiology’s subdivisions of Anatomy and Sports Medicine. He annually mentors numerous undergraduate students interested in seeking a career in medicine. However, his interests extend beyond just the medical arena. He offers career counseling to students with non-medical career plans and teaches within MSU’s undergraduate programs in the Lyman Briggs School for their senior seminar “Leadership, Power & Responsibility: Reflections on World Views as seen in Classical Literature” (LBS 492) and offers a freshman Seminar on “Decision Making in Medicine, Law and Business” (PRO 101).
Dr. Potchen has participated in the medical education and training of numerous radiologists since joining MSU’s faculty in 1994. He is now leading the Department of Radiology in their new program for International Radiological Education aimed at physicians from other regions. In 2006, he began supervising the training of Malawian physicians who come to MSU for training in general radiology and neuroradiology. At this time the entire country of Malawi (population 11 million) has only one fully trained radiologist. Dr. Potchen along with other faculty members in the department are dedicated to seeking resources and opportunities to expand the human resources for provision of radiologic services internationally. The recent landmark donation of a 0.35T MRI by
General Electric Health Systems to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, which became operational in July of 2008, makes the MSU-based training program even more relevant for this region of the world where radiologic technology and expertise are both extremely limited.