By Journal Staff

MARQUETTE — Medical students from the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, U.P. Campus, were named to receive the Mazzuchi Scholarship. The six recipients are Robert Dubisky, Katrina Elzinga, Lloyd Mercier, Karmyn Polakowski, Lindsay Sandell and Caleb Wendt.

Recipients are selected for their commitment to practicing medicine in the Upper Peninsula after residency training; interest in specializing in emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, general surgery, hospitalist medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics or psychiatry; and need for financial assistance.

Here is more about the Class of 2025 CHM medical student recipients:

≤ Robert Dubisky of Lowell received a bachelor of science in biomedical sciences from Grand Valley State University

≤ Katrina Elzinga of Marquette received a bachelor of science in biochemistry from Northern Michigan University

≤ Lloyd Mercier of Tipton received a bachelor of science in neuroscience from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor

≤ Karmyn Polakowski of Houghton received a bachelor of science in medical laboratory science from Michigan Tech University

≤ Lindsay Sandell of Houghton received a bachelor of science in biomedical engineering from Michigan Tech University

≤ Caleb Wendt of Petoskey received a bachelor of science in human biology from Michigan State University

The scholarship fund, which began providing financial assistance to Michigan State University College of Human Medicine students in 1983, was renamed the Mazzuchi Scholarship in 2006 in honor of Dr. Dan Mazzuchi, who provided immeasurable contributions to the development and continuation of medical education in the Upper Peninsula.

“The Mazzuchi Scholarship has benefitted so many students with approximately $430,000 disbursed since 2011,” said Community Assistant Dean Stuart Johnson in a press release. “Dan was the first to say that was not his money and to remind us that his contributions were joined by many physicians, community business owners and others to build this fund. He was honored to have the scholarship in his name.”

Mazzuchi was part of the team whose efforts led to the establishment of the U.P. Region Campus in Marquette, where he served as the first community assistant dean in 1978.

Prior to this, Mazzuchi and other physicians occasionally traveled to Escanaba to teach the first class of medical students who entered the program in 1975 at the Bay de Noc Health Center.

“He arrived in Marquette as the board was being developed for the Upper Peninsula Health Education Corporation and the first class of medical students were recruited,” Johnson said. “With full commitment from a U.P. experiment, Mazzuchi’s involvement helped make the U.P. Campus a successful pioneer model for rural medical education.”

In addition to the medical school, Mazzuchi was instrumental in creating the framework that helped launch the UP Health System – Marquette Family Medicine Residency Program, affiliated with the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

He was hired in 1977 to direct the planning of the residency program and has been touted as the program’s “founding father.”

“It was an honor to have expressed my personal gratitude to him for his commitment over the years to medical education, the students, the residents, the faculty and for the lives that have been touched,” Johnson said. “Dr. Mazzuchi’s legacy lives on when our medical learners return to practice in the Upper Peninsula’s underserved rural communities in this wonderful place we call home.”

The MSU College of Human Medicine U.P. Education Corporation works in conjunction with UP Health System-Marquette to coordinate the training of family medicine and psychiatry residents and Michigan State University College of Human Medicine U.P. Campus medical students. Since its inception in 1974, 340 medical students, two psychiatry resident physicians and 228 family medicine physicians have graduated from these programs.