Students Celebrate the 2022 Match, Host Mass Casualty Exercise and Serve as Judges for a Middle and High School Science Fair

PCOM South Georgia First-Generation Students Establish Advocacy Committee

Four Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine South Georgia (PCOM South Georgia) students have joined a committee that creates opportunities and advocates for first-generation students. The First-Generation Committee was founded under the Student Government Association to increase academic equity for individuals who identify as first-generation students. Read more about the committee, including the student leader profiles.

PCOM Georgia Helps Connect the Dots with Science

Photo: Students, faculty and staff members evaluated projects on scientific quality, accuracy, creativity, engineering precision and experimental design.

PCOM Georgia was well represented at the recent Gwinnett County Regional Science, Engineering and Innovation Fair, “Connecting the Dots,” as 59 judges from the Suwanee, Moultrie and Philadelphia campuses judged middle and high school student projects. Students and faculty served as judges for the fair.

“Impressive,” “inspiring,” “well organized” and “uplifting” were some of the adjectives PCOM Georgia’s judges used to describe their experiences with the close to 1,000 students from 64 local schools who completed more than 450 projects this year. Read more about the event and winners.

WVSOM Mini-Med School Welcomes Public, Turns Medical Students into Teachers

At the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM)’s Mini-Med School, medical students introduced members of the public to health-related concepts through hands-on demonstrations, visual aids, lectures and quizzes. The 2022 event was the first in two years, with last year’s Mini-Med School canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It focused on five themed “stations” that community members rotated through. Read more about the event and the student organizers.

PCOM Students Celebrate Match Day

For the first time in more than two years, PCOM students in the doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO) program and the doctor of clinical psychology (PsyD) program celebrated Match Day in-person on March 18 surrounded by family, friends, faculty and administrators.

Match Day is an annual tradition coordinated by the National Resident Matching Program, a private, non-profit organization that matches medical students with residency programs across the country for continued training after graduation. PCOM’s Match Day had for the last two years been moved to a virtual event due to the pandemic, so the opportunity to convene as a community once again was a welcome experience. Read more about PCOM’s match and view photos from students.

CCOM/MWU Students Raise Funds to Support Cancer Research

Students and faculty from Midwestern University participate in a St. Baldrick’s event to raise money to battle childhood cancers.

Midwestern University students, faculty members and community residents raised more than $42,000 to battle childhood cancer as part of an annual “St. Baldrick’s Shave for a Change” fundraiser held at Ballydoyle Irish Pub in downtown Downers Grove, Illinois, in March. Students from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University (CCOM/MWU) organized the event where 35 people had their heads shaved in solidarity with children who are experiencing the effects of cancer treatments. Read more about the fundraiser and one of the student organizers.

KCU-COM Joplin First- and Second-Year Students Enact Mass Casualty Exercise

Kansas City University College of Osteopathic Medicine (KCU-COM) Joplin Campus student doctors recently participated in a mass casualty exercise. During the simulation, first-year students played the role of victims while second-year students played the role of first responders.

“A mass casualty incident is where you have a significant number of casualties that will exceed the resources of the local community. Usually, a car accident might involve two cars. There may be three or four casualties. That’s very well within the ability for EMS to take care of. However, if you’ve got a mass casualty, usually we’re talking about dozens or sometimes even hundreds of people,” said Ken Stewart, DO, assistant professor of primary care.

Read more from the feature on the Joplin Globe, Four States Homepage and KOAM News.

She Overcame Late-Stage Cancer, Now Aivien Do Is Ready for Match Day

Aivien Do was in her first year as a medical student at University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth - Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNTHSC/TCOM) sitting through a class as different slides of various ailments were shown. First a chest X-ray of pneumonia, plural effusions and then it came up, an image of a widening of the mediastinum … it was an X-ray of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Do broke down in tears in the middle of class and had to leave. Read more about Do’s journey to recovery and recent match.

ICOM Celebrates First-Ever Match Day

Photo (left to right): Peyton Osmund, Albert Nakayama, Rachel Bryant, Jared Machado, Nicholas Scapini, Lijah Vann Gardner, Yalda Chalabi and Perry Yazzolino

The Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine (ICOM) celebrated Match Day with its inaugural class of medical students who will graduate this spring, as the 145 graduating physicians learned where they will complete their residency training.

“We are so proud of our inaugural class! They have been true trailblazers over the last four years as we launched our new medical school,” said Thomas J. Mohr, DO, ICOM dean and chief academic officer. “They were the first to tackle our rigorous curriculum, they helped established student organizations and community service projects, they performed extremely well on their national board examinations and have excelled in their clinical rotations at hospitals and clinics across Idaho and our region. Today we celebrate the fruits of their efforts and take one step closer to their graduation on May 13.

CHSU-COM’s Visiting Students Achieve 100 Percent Match Rate for Second Year

Photo (left to right): Christian Campat, Tyler Ky, Bikash Adhikari, Andrew Torres, Dr. Anne VanGarsse, Francis Dournayan, Kelsey Helm and Jose Garcia

It was another 100 percent match rate on Match Day for visiting fourth-year students at the California Health Sciences University College of Osteopathic Medicine (CHSU-COM) this year. All 18 visiting medical students from Kansas City University (KCU) and A.T. Still University (ATSU) matched to a residency program. This is the second year that 100 percent of CHSU-COM’s visiting medical students matched to a residency program, with 50 percent of them matching to programs in California. This pilot program began in 2019 and has become a unique avenue for medical students from KCU and ATSU to develop relationships with our local community and help address the physician deficit in the Central Valley. Read more about the students who matched and view photos.

RVUCOM Celebrates Match Day with Class of 2022

On March 18, Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine (RVUCOM) held a virtual Match Day celebration for fourth-year students as they found out their residency locations and specialties via email. Leading up to the event, students were mailed Match Day signs so that they could share the news live during the celebration, on social media and with family and friends. For students, Match Day was a culmination of a year of competitive interviews with different programs, and RVUCOM is incredibly proud of all that the Class of 2022 has accomplished! View RVUCOM’s placement list and full coverage of RVUCOM’s Match Day on the Southern Utah campus and Colorado campus Instagram accounts.

DMU-COM DO Class of 2022 Achieves 100 Percent Residency Placement

It seems logical that March Madness coincides with Match Day, the momentous occasion for medical students when they learn whether and which medical residency programs they’ve been matched into for the next three to seven years. The nail-biting “madness” of Match Day this year, March 18, turned into joy when members of the Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine (DMU-COM) DO Class of 2022 achieved a 100 percent residency placement rate. That includes student success across many national match programs, including those who applied for military residencies announced in December, the initial National Resident Matching Program match completed on March 14 and the Match Week Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program process during the week of March 14-18. Read more about DMU-COM’s match and view student photos.

On a Roll: Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine’s MedAchieve

Photo (left to right): London Francis, Noelle Osei-Tutu and Kylee Rivas.

This semester, 18-year-old Kylee Rivas has been able to hold a human heart and brain; maneuver an ultrasound machine to view kidneys, hearts and bladders; and practice saving a life with CPR techniques. She also presented a medical case to her high school peers “Grand Rounds” style—mimicking what medical students do while training on the hospital floors.

A Bronx resident who attends the High School for Health Professions and Human Services in Manhattan, Rivas is one of about 100 high school students learning these skills and others at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine - New York (TouroCOM-NY) on 125th Street in Harlem, where they attend labs and lectures after school as part of TouroCOM’s MedAchieve STEM program.

AZCOM/MWU Partners with AOMA to Host Advocacy and Policy Event

Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University (AZCOM/MWU)’s Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents and Student Osteopathic Medical Association chapters are partnering with the Arizona Osteopathic Medical Association to host an Advocacy and Policy Event for AZCOM/MWU students on the Glendale campus in early April. Attendees will enjoy an informative workshop to learn best practices for raising their voices to educate state and federal lawmakers about osteopathic medicine, convey the importance of residency programs and dispel myths about the profession. Former Arizona State Senator Heather Carter will provide a keynote address.

TUNCOM Achieves 99.4 Percent Residency Placement for 171 Medical Students

Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine (TUNCOM), home to Nevada’s largest medical school and its only school of osteopathic medicine, is celebrating a 99.4 percent placement rate for its Class of 2022. Of the graduating population, 32 percent will remain in-state and begin a residency in Nevada, a record-breaking number for TUNCOM. A significant number of students will enter the fields of primary care, including family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics.