Med students from St. Martinus to graduate in Farmington Hills

FARMINGTON HILLS — St. Martinus University, a medical school based in Curaçao in the Caribbean Islands, will graduate its class of 2026 at the Farmington Hills Inn April 26.

“They are hardworking students. The medicine program is not an easy program,” said Murali Ginjupalli, the chancellor and owner of the university. “The students are evaluated by rigorous third-party exams. The students go through serious vetting. They are qualified and have the knowledge to treat a patient in a high-expectancy way.”

The program begins in Curaçao, a Caribbean Island that is a territory of the Netherlands. During the first two years, students learn the basic sciences, and then in their third and fourth years, students do clinical rotations at hospitals and clinical sites in Michigan and around the United States, where St. Martinus has a formal affiliation. Students are integrated into health care teams and train under the direct supervision of licensed physicians. Their exit exams are then conducted by the National Board of Medical Examination.

High school graduates can be accepted to the program with no prior pre-med course work, if they have at least a 3.0 grade point average in math and the sciences, letters of recommendation, and if they do well in a panel interview with staff at the school.

But they will first have to enroll in a 90-credit pre-med program taking biology, chemistry, physics and math classes, which can be completed in one year following the tri-semester calendar.

When Ginjupalli’s son was in high school, he wanted to pursue a career in medicine.

“(My son) had two options: going to undergrad, taking the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) and then going to medical school, or starting medical school right after graduating from high school. He chose to start right after high school,” Ginjupalli said. 

Ginjupalli, a pharmacist in Michigan, had the opportunity to buy the school. The previous owners of St. Martinus had run the school for more than two decades since it was founded in 2000. They were getting older and looking to move on.

“So, when the opportunity came for me to buy it, I took it,” Ginjupalli said. 

Since the COVID pandemic, there has been a greater need for new doctors.

“When I purchased the school in 2022, there were 28,000 students enrolled in medical schools; now, there are 43,000. Gradually, it increases every year,” Ginjupalli said. “There’s not that many medical schools to graduate physicians.” 

According to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the United States is projected to face a shortage of about 40,000 to 100,000 physicians by 2030, Ginjupalli said. This is driven by an aging population requiring more healthcare services, as well as existing physicians retiring, and constraints on the number of residency training positions. The shortage is expected to be most impactful in the availability of primary care in underserved and rural communities.

“Opportunities are increasing for students, and they can come to a medical school like (St. Martinus). It is more optimal for students to get in,” Ginjupalli said.

He said students are drawn to his school because it meets U.S. training standards and they can start right after high school without taking the MCAT. Tuition is also comparatively affordable at $25,000 per year or $100,000 for the four-year program.

It also supports “The Match” program, which places medical school students at clinical training sites known as residency, according to the National Resident Matching Program website. 

“Coming to St. Martinus was a turning point in my life. The small class sizes, dedicated professors, and support during USMLE (United State Medical Licensing Exam) prep gave me the confidence I needed to succeed,” Shree Vidya Umashankar said on the school’s website. “Clinical rotations in the U.S. gave me a real-world edge.”

For more information, visit martinus.edu.