Students Host Celebration of Remembrance, Serve in the U.S. Air Force, Mentor High School Students and More

PCOM South Georgia Community Addresses Black Maternal Health

Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women.

That Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistic is why Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) South Georgia’s OB/GYN Club and Sistahs in Medicine—an initiative that supports Black women in medical and graduate school—in collaboration with the Office of Diversity and Community Relations, hosted an online panel to address Black maternal health. The PCOM South Georgia community joined the panel to listen as Jillian Lucas Baker, DrPH, EdM; Jessica Brumfield Mitchum, DO ‘16; Jenne Johns, MPH and Karla Booker, MD, addressed black maternal health, mortality and equity.

An overarching message delivered by panel members was the need for future physicians to listen to and advocate for Black patients. Kicking off the panel, Dr. Booker, a practicing physician and assistant professor at Morehouse School of Medicine, said, “This is about the value of life, inherent bias and what being a Black person means. When people see us, do they see someone who matters as much as everyone else?”

Read more about the panelists and discussion topics.

WVSOM Recognized Internationally for Efforts to Create Culture of Wellness on Campus

The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) is one of only 156 universities and colleges—and the only osteopathic medical school—to be recognized by Exercise is Medicine on Campus for its efforts to create a culture of wellness. WVSOM earned a silver-level designation from the program, which was created by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Medical Association and grounded on the belief that physical activity promotes optimal health, is integral to the prevention and treatment of many medical conditions and should be regularly assessed and included as part of healthcare. Read more about the program and the two students who initiated it at WVSOM.

UNTHSC/TCOM Chosen to Participate in STFM’s Anti-racism Learning Collaborative

The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth - Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNTHSC/TCOM) was selected by the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine to participate in the highly coveted Anti-racism Learning Collaborative. Headed by UNTHSC/TCOM’s Didi Ebert, DO, MPH, MS, CPPS, FAAFP, associate professor in family medicine and OMM (pictured left), and Melva Landrum, the director of the office of medical student success (pictured right), UNTHSC/TCOM was one of just 20 medical schools or residency programs across the nation chosen for the project.

Dr. Ebert and Landrum will head a group of 11 UNTHSC/TCOM faculty and staff who, over the next 18 months, will work to integrate knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to drive health equity into professional identity formation, clinical practice, population health management and policy advocacy training for UNTHSC/TCOM. Read more about the collaborative and the program leaders.

New Recording Studio Enhances Teaching and Learning at ICOM

Photo (left to right): Chris Wilson, Director of Facilities; Brian Atkinson, Director of Information Technology; Russell Colbert, Audio/Visual Systems Specialist.

Through the collaboration of its Facilities and Information Technology Departments, the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine (ICOM) recently unveiled its new video recording studio, which will allow faculty to easily record lectures and supplemental content for their classes. ICOM’s Director of IT, Brian Atkinson, said the studio will provide several benefits to faculty members, as well as students, and serves as a sign of the times in education.

“The addition of this lecture capture studio will allow our faculty to create content that is focused and relevant to their curriculum—bringing tremendous value to our students who want access to these types of learning media,” Atkinson said.

ICOM’s move to remote and hybrid instruction for the 2020 spring and fall semesters, amidst the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, catapulted the idea of a recording studio into a necessity. 

AZCOM/MWU Student Mentors Help Spark Interest in Healthcare Careers

Photo: Arizona high schoolers get a hands-on introduction to medical careers.

High schoolers in Arizona who are interested in a career in healthcare are applying for Midwestern University’s Health Careers Institute for High School Students, a free seven-day summer program offering hands-on labs, presentations and career mentoring. Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University (AZCOM/MWU) students have volunteered to act as mentors in the program, offering their first-hand perspectives on graduate medical education and helping the younger students understand the prerequisites and best practices for applying to medical school. AZCOM/MWU students also help introduce the high schoolers to osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) principles and practice.

PCOM Hosts Celebration of Remembrance 

On Tuesday, May 3, PCOM hosted a Celebration of Remembrance Ceremony. The event was held to honor and remember the many individuals who have donated their bodies to medical and educational research on the PCOM campus. Osteopathic medical students in the Class of 2025 performed songs, readings and reflections.

“Those who donated their body did so for your education, because, simply put, the quality of your education would suffer without them,” shared Michael McGuinness, PhD, professor in the department of anatomy, who spoke at the event. Dr. McGuinness also shared a statistic that, on-average, a family medicine doctor will see between 1,200 and 1,900 patients per year. Because of these donors’ selfless gifts, students across the nation can learn the skills they need to go on and treat tens of thousands of patients in their lifetime. Read more about the ceremony and the ways students honored the individuals who donated their bodies.

DMU Anatomy Ambassadors “Open a Door to the Health Sciences Community”

Photo (left to right): DMU Anatomy Ambassadors Lauren Hastings, Emiko Hasegawa, Robyn Hjalmquist, Anna Geiger, Rebecca Taylor, Maddie Johnson, Talon Hoefer and anatomy coordinator Ariel Gubatina.

On a recent evening at Heritage Elementary School in Ankeny, IA, some students twittered nervously, others hung back and yet others charged forward into the classroom where a group of Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine (DMU-COM) students stood ready to welcome them. It was STEAM Night at the school–Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics–and the DMU Anatomy Ambassadors were eager for Heritage students to gain hands-on learning with the real human organs and bones they’d brought. DMU’s Anatomy Ambassadors Program is an organization open to all DMU students who enjoy interacting with the community by giving on- and off-campus demonstrations to youth in elementary school through undergraduate school. Read more about the organization.

OMS I Continues Family Dreams to Serve in the U.S. Air Force

Photo: CHSU-COM first-year medical student, Chelsey Preciado, recites her Oath of Office during her U.S. Air Force commissioning by JoAnna Jackson, DO, Chair of Specialty Medicine at CHSU-COM and U.S. Air Force reservist and veteran.

Chelsey Preciado, first-year medical student at the California Health Sciences University College of Osteopathic Medicine (CHSU-COM), was commissioned into the U.S. Air Force on campus in April. She hopes to specialize in emergency medicine, particularly studying the effect that altitude has on the health of airmen. By joining the U.S. Air Force, Preciado is following in her grandfather’s footsteps and finishing something her mom has always wanted to do.

At the age of 18, Preciado’s mother took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, a test evaluating an individual’s occupational success in the military, but never received the results until years later when her grandmother shared that she intercepted them. Preciado wanted to bring it full circle to finish what her mother had started. Preciado also has several family and friends who are currently serving in the military. Read more about Preciado and her future plans of healthcare service. 

Gwinnett Fire Services Honors PCOM Georgia

Photo (left to right): Toni Musta, MS, PCOM Georgia's manager of the Simulation Center; Captain Chad Bird, paramedic program director and Jeffrey Seiple, MBA, LFD, LE, PCOM Georgia's director of anatomical labs and services.

PCOM Georgia’s Anatomical Donor Services program and Simulation Center were recently honored by Gwinnett County Fire & Emergency Services with an award recognizing the “partnership in education” between the two organizations.

Jeffrey Seiple, MBA, LFD, LE, PCOM Georgia’s director of anatomical labs and services, and Toni Musta, MS, manager of the Simulation Center, were on hand to accept the honors at the Gwinnett County Fire & Emergency Services headquarters.

In presenting the award, Captain Chad Bird, paramedic program director, said, “What started out of necessity has developed into a very fruitful relationship between PCOM Georgia and the Gwinnett County Training Academy. I don’t know what we would have done without you.” Read more about the partnership.

RVUCOM Colorado and South Utah Students Host Mass Casualty Incident Training

The last weekend in April saw Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine (RVUCOM) students from both Colorado and South Utah campuses participate in mass casualty incident trainings that introduced them to a variety of simulated injuries and new triage and surgery skills.

On the Colorado campus, students from the Emergency Medicine Residency Interest Club, SIMS Club, Surgery Club as well as Student Association of Military Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, collaborated with local first responders to treat patients in the field (the RVU Front Lawn) and prepare them for transport to the Emergency Department (RVU’s Healthcare Simulation Center).

In Southern Utah, the campus was converted into an active shooter area with local law enforcement also conducting training alongside the students. Students learned how to assess the severity of gunshot wounds, intubate patients and more. View photos from the event on RVUCOM’s Colorado Campus Facebook and Southern Utah Facebook pages.