Students Introduce High Schoolers to Careers in Osteopathic Medicine During Summer Camps
Published July 18, 2023
Campus Roundup Inside OME
High School Students Explore Careers in Health Professions
Photo: STEM Camp Introduces Gwinnett County youth to health professions.
A graduation ceremony on Friday, June 30, 2023, marked the end of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine Georgia Campus (PCOM Georgia)'s weeklong 2023 Opportunities Academy for 41 Gwinnett County high school students. Joined by their parents, the celebration recognized the personal development of all students as well as distinguished individual and group achievements.
Launched in 2017 and hosted on all three campuses, the PCOM Opportunities Academy supports members of underserved communities by introducing them to careers in healthcare. According to Assistant Director of Diversity and Community Partnerships Christy Finley, EdD, who organizes the PCOM Georgia Opportunities Academy, six members of this class will be the first in their families to graduate high school. Seventeen students speak English as a second language. Consequently, besides aiming to broaden their horizons and impart skills for success, PCOM Georgia student volunteers embrace their roles as mentors and commit to relationships forged for as long as their mentees and parents’ desire. Read more about PCOM Georgia’s Opportunities Academy.
High School Seniors Discover Paths to Healthcare at PCOM’s Opportunities Academy
PCOM South Georgia Opportunities Academy participants work with their mentors to dissect a sheep’s heart during an anatomy lesson.
The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine South Georgia Campus (PCOM South Georgia)’s annual Opportunities Academy provides high school students from Colquitt and surrounding South Georgia counties with a glimpse into medical school through
hands-on activities and interactions with current healthcare professionals. Read coverage of PCOM South Georgia’s Opportunities Academy in The Moultrie Observer and on WALB 10 News.
UNTHSC-TCOM Chair Dr. Priya Bui Completes AACOM Senior Leadership Development Program
Clinical experiences for students, online education and an opportunity for professional growth were just a few of the takeaways for Priya Bui, DO, chair of the Department of Pediatrics and Women’s Health at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, who finished up AACOM’s year-long development program.
The program paired Dr. Bui with a mentor and other leaders across the nation to work on individual and group activities. Her mentor was Kenneth J. Veit, DO, senior vice president of academic affairs at PCOM.
“I think the biggest growth was in meeting colleagues across the nation,” Dr. Bui said. “It was inspiring but also in some ways humbling as we are all tackling many of the same challenges. It was a unifying experience.” Read more about Dr. Bui’s experience and her capstone project.
High-Schoolers Visit WVSOM Campus to Study Anatomy, Lifestyle Medicine
Two summer camps for high-school-aged students—one new, one established—brought groups of young people to the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) campus for activities designed to educate and encourage aspiring healthcare professionals and scientists.
From June 19-23, 2023, WVSOM hosted its 11th annual Just Say KNOW camp. The theme for this year’s event was “Just Say KNOW to Lifestyle Medicine,” with a focus on culinary medicine, nutrition and exercise. Campers studied the basis of nutrition and the physiology behind a healthy diet. They learned to cook meals such as rainbow cabbage slaw and roasted asparagus in the Clingman Center for Community Engagement kitchen and exercised in the WVSOM Founders’ Activity Center while monitoring their heart rate and other metrics via armbands.
The inaugural Clinical Anatomy Summer Experience (CASE) camp took place June 26-30, 2023. Ten high-schoolers and rising college freshmen from West Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia visited WVSOM’s Lewisburg campus to learn about the human body, investigate clinical correlations and discover how the osteopathic medical approach encompasses care for the mind, body and spirit. Lectures by Karen Wines, a member of the school’s biomedical sciences faculty, and current WVSOM student Aubrey Hanes, were accompanied by experiences in WVSOM’s gross anatomy lab in an expansion of the Anatomy Lab Educational Program the school has hosted for many years. Read more about both of WVSOM’s summer camps.