LECOM Connection Summer 2014

THE

LECOM

ONNECTION

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine SUMMER 2014

PILLAR OF PURPOSE

LECOM.edu

The College Seal, designed by John M. Ferretti, DO. LECOM Erie, Est. 1992 The Staff of Asclepius LECOM Bradenton, Est. 2004 Millcreek Community Hospital, Est. 1981 The healing art of osteopathic knowledge.

LECOM at Seton Hill, Est. 2009 The American Flag Mortar and Pestle

LECOM Board of Trustees John M. Ferretti, D.O., F.A.C.O.I President and CEO Michael J. Visnosky, Esq. Chairman, Board of Trustees John D. Angeloni, D.O. Paul J. Martin, Emeritus Mary L. Eckert Joan L. Moore, D.O. Michael J. Feinstein, D.O. Marlene D. Mosco Silvia M. Ferretti, D.O. Durrell Peaden, Jr., M.D., J.D. Suzanne K. Kelley, D.O., M.P.A. Dennis M. Styn John J. Magenau III, Ph.D. Thomas J. Wedzik

PILLAR OF PURPOSE Learning Medicine Through Art Throughout American history, our people have toiled to build the greatest nation on earth. In times of challenge, we have stood together, proudly proclaiming our heritage and shaping the pillars of our future.

The same can be said about the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), which has overcome seemingly insurmountable odds both to become the largest medical college and the only osteopathic academic health center in the nation. LECOM has accomplished this pinnacle of attainment through a consistent and unremitting commitment to excellence in education.

Truly, art is ever reflective of such attainment - of the institutions, the achievements, and the humanities that join us as a people. Its markers and monuments serve to define us as we affirm absolutely that nothing great in the world has been accomplished without great spirit and passion. The pillars representative of osteopathic teachings and principles are central to advancing such spirit.

Indeed, the pillar (on the cover) represents the foundational strength of that spirit - rooted in superlative medical education and in an unyielding focus upon community betterment.

From its health care genesis - the Millcreek Community Hospital, and its comprehensive network of care - LECOM indefatigably has sought to elevate the very paradigm of medical education; and the pillar of that purpose remains steadfast to this very day.

The pillar, originally designed by the late Arild Juel Pettersen and later completed by William R. Petro Jr. and his assistant Justin Elliot Poole is a finely detailed execution evocative of the unprecedented efforts of the founders - whose grand attainment came within the infinite, seemingly inexhaustible landscape of America - and one that reminds all who follow that it is ever the time and the place to pursue the noble calling of osteopathic medicine.

Crafted with the inspirational objective of linking the significant past achievements in the osteopathic philosophy to the powerful

and purposeful promise of those who cross the threshold at LECOM, the great column was placed decidedly in the Atrium of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Erie, precisely to symbolize the very core of this unremitting endeavor. Indeed, art conveys lessons, both of learning and of life; such is the case with the LECOM Pillar.

The Great Seal of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine over-arches a tender scene depicting a caring physician from whose hands flow the healing art of osteopathic knowledge, training, and skill. His medical care is bestowed upon a seemingly infirm woman who reaches toward the towering Rod of Asclepius, representing the unflagging staff of the healing arts. Beneath the figures, rests the mortar and pestle, symbolizing the benefits conferred upon society through the advancement of pharmacy.

Behind the figures can be seen depictions representative of each of the campuses of LECOM, signifying the source of the physician’s training. Notably, the glorious American flag underpins the scene, reminding the viewer that the idea of American exceptionalism guides the hearts and minds of each LECOM scholar.

The scroll displaying the names of the Board of Trustees featured at the very base of the pillar is redolent of the various degrees conferred by diploma to those who will carry forth the osteopathic philosophy to the benefit of all.

From its medical schools to its pharmacy schools to its dental school – to the clinics and the residency programs, to the state-of-theart Medical Fitness and Wellness Center, to the countless community programs, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine is the standard-bearer, truly in the vanguard of the next generation of health care professionals.

LECOM students become scholars, these scholars become capable and accomplished medical professionals, and these medical professionals strengthen and uphold the strong and faithful pillar of LECOM exceptionalism.

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine 1858 West Grandview Blvd.

Erie, PA 16509 814-866-6641 • www.lecom.edu John M. Ferretti, DO President/CEO Michael J. Visnosky, Esquire Chairman of the Board of Trustees Silvia M. Ferretti, DO Provost, Senior Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs Hershey Bell, MD, M.S. (MedEd) Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the School of Pharmacy Robert F. Hirsch, DDS Dean of the School of Dental Medicine Robert George, DO Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Bradenton Pierre Bellicini Institutional Director of Communications and Marketing Eric Nicastro Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing/Layout Michael Polin Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing, Bradenton Rebecca A. DeSimone, Esquire Chief Writer/Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Pronko Social Media Recruitment Specialist/ Contributing Writer The LECOM Connection invites you to contribute to our publication. If you have news of alumni achievements, research or student activities, please contact the Communications Department, at (814) 866-6641, or e-mail communications@lecom.edu.

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John M. Ferretti, DO - President/CEO 04 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

THE SINGULAR AND INDELIBLE MARK OF SERVICE The Message from the President that accompanies Commencement is an exceptionally important one for me, for it connotes the final time that I shall have the occasion to write collectively to the graduating students of 2014.

Each year marks another milestone in the history of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. This is the 17th class to graduate and to depart our hallowed halls. From this venerable place, this Class will carry forth a deep wealth of medical knowledge, a finely honed skill, and a profoundly formed character.

There have been many lessons taught to the countless students who have crossed the LECOM thresholds. Much has been learned

by LECOM scholars, many skills developed, many well-defined educational achievements attained; yet none so profound or more meaningful than one, in particular, that I have oft repeated.

The phrase: Non Sibi Sed Allis - (not for ourselves, but for others), has framed every action, every lesson, every mission undertaken by LECOM since the inception of this estimable institution. It forms the basis of my most sincere entreaty to the whole of this graduating Class.

For the worthy and virtuous progress of humanity, work alone never will be adequate.

Only work associated with selfless purpose,

with great love, with deep compassion, with right conduct, and with genuine empathy can create the foundation of any success that may be considered meaningful.

Without these qualities, selfless service cannot be performed; with them, a person has the power to change humanity.

Inscribed above the doors of the chapel at the United States Naval Academy, one may read the phrase: Non Sibi Sed Patriae - (not for ourselves, but for country). The phrase is a reflective and fitting testament to those who have given the ultimate in service to this great nation.

Likewise, our charge as members of the medical profession in answer to this noble calling is equally profound. Lives will depend upon the service of this Class.

Remember always that a work performed with selfish motives is inferior by far to selfless service; a legacy of its own singular and indelible mark.

Any definition of a successful life must include a complete commitment to serving others and the full acceptance of responsible character.

That foundation of responsible and purposeful service has formed the core of all that is “LECOM� and it is my fervent hope that it girds the core of every person who shares the LECOM spirit.

During the past four years, the Class of 2014 has witnessed a remarkably unremitting growth and development of the College. This class now graduates as a member of the largest professional school in the country; a part of the only osteopathic academic health center in the nation. LECOM offers the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, the Doctor of Pharmacy, the Doctor of Dentistry, and three Masters Degrees in Biomedical Science, Medical Education, and Healthcare Administration on multiple campuses with some degrees offered as nationwide distance learning programs. Our campuses represent not only a network of scholarly aptitude, but

of a unified and resounding voice of unflagging and focused service.

These years have generated a sense of community that forms the lasting imprimatur of the Class of 2014. This College has been blessed with students who understand service, who value purpose, and who see themselves as part of the solution. LECOM swells with pride in recognizing the sons and daughters borne of this grand mission.

To the members of the graduating class, I ask that you remember, among all of your past achievements and in the imaginings of your many future triumphs that none will be more lasting or more rewarding than that of service for the benefit of others. The very essence of healing, the root of this great calling, and the genesis of each of its disciplines strikes at the heart of actions taken for others.

Do not find trepidation in answer to your calling, for I promise that you will find that your very eagerness to serve and to care for others will endow you with the power and the skill necessary for the required task. Thus far, you have persevered and with the blessings of Providence and with the passion of purpose, you have come to this moment in time.

It is, and it remains, one of my great honors to serve and to have served during your four years at LECOM as your President; for the opportunity to serve and the power of service is profound.

Attendant to that service is found great responsibility. LECOM has been ever mindful of that responsibility. Those who follow in this course are imbued with a responsibility to that past, to the leadership that formed the template of educational excellence and to an enduring plan to edify the finest health care professionals of the 21st century.

Now - as LECOM graduates, you will continue along this noble course. May the hand of Providence guide you, may the lessons of our halls live within you, and may you find the lives that you are called to live.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 05

TABLE OF CONTENTS

pg 20......

LECOM’s National Economic Impact Approaching $600 Million

There is profound importance in the local, regional, and national economic impact of certain projects, programs, or policies. As a national leader in medical education and community betterment, LECOM has effectuated substantive and fundamental economic impact across a broad and far-reaching spectrum.

This issue of the LECOM Connection provides a compendium of factual analysis that comprehensively examines the beneficially transformative power of LECOM and its health care network upon a multiplicity of economies, ranging from local neighborhoods to the nation as a whole.

FEATURES pg 06......

Banishing Blight

pg 13.......

LECOM to Offer Peerless Student Benefit Program

pg 16.......

Dental Clinic Draws Front Page Press

pg 38......

pg 26......

LECOM Board Scores Highlight Superlative Eduation

pg 40......

DEPARTMENTS

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Community is Our Campus Faculty, Student, and Alumni Notes Upcoming LECOM Events

MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine is to prepare students to become osteopathic physicians, pharmacy practitioners, and dentists through programs of excellence in education, research, clinical care, and community service to enhance the quality of life through improved health for all humanity. The professional programs are dedicated to serve all students through innovative curriculum and the development of postdoctoral education and interprofessional experiences.

06 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

CREDOS OF OUR CALLING •PURPOSE•

Purpose is that from which all leadership derives, and that to which all leadership directs. It is the necessary element of a fulfilled life, for without it, life becomes a languid, drifting, emptiness. Each day calls upon us to review our purpose, to define our goals, and to make a difference.

A purposed leader will view the future as teaming with possibilities; seeking the new day as a sound beginning, and viewing the achievements of yesterday as little more than proving ground for further and higher attainment. Those who value purpose do not rest upon laurels; rather they understand that which has been done hitherto is naught.

Purpose entails a life devoted to something greater than oneself; to loving others, to serving community and nation, and to committing oneself to creating something of virtue and meaning.

those commitments such words as: “improvement,” “achievement,” and “success,” have no meaning.

Purpose combines the elements of determination, persistence, courage, and leadership. It does not abide the making of excuses; recognizing, as Benjamin Franklin noted, “He who is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else;” and no result is ever borne from an excuse.

“Purpose is the essence of life – it must follow faith, never precede it, and never destroy it” ~Aristotle

While many may possess the attribute of ability - that which one is capable of doing - purpose provides the mission. While many may possess the attribute of motivation - that which determines ones undertakings purpose provides the reason. While many may possess the attribute of attitude - that which determines the way in which a task in undertaken - purpose defines it.

Indeed, purpose directs ones very being.

Purpose, as a credo, encompasses and entails continual growth and personal progress, for without

LECOM leaders have oft spoken about the greatness of purpose. It is a venerated aspect that drives the LECOM mission, for the purposed calling of medicine is among the most noble.

Many organizations have little sense of purpose beyond their own sense of organization. LECOM views its organization as “purpose” - purpose to educate, purpose to serve, purpose to elevate humankind both in health and in optimum potential – and, purpose to create leaders who will continue the noble mission.

Indeed, life has a higher end than to be amused; for as Aristotle explained, purpose is the essence of life - it must follow faith, never precede it, and never destroy it.

The only truly happy people are those who have learned to find a purpose in life. That focus – profound, pure, and persistent – is evidenced through a dedication to purpose, and for that reason, “purpose” is the Credo of our Calling for the “LECOM Connection” summer 2014 issue.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 07

Above: An aerial photo taken in September 2012 of the LECOM Medical Fitness and Wellness Center (foreground) and Millcreek Community Hospital (background).

BANISHING BLIGHT

LECOM’s Legacy in Landscape Hearken to recall a decade or two past. The setting is Erie, Pennsylvania and a casual observer is met with the sense of a city that once must have been thriving, but now sadly sits teetering on the brink of despair.

Glancing about the landscape while on a drive along the well-known Peach Street, one would spot a decaying auto-yard formerly owned by Porreco Motors. Various vacant properties are overrun with weeds and strewn with litter. A few sundry turns through town and empty buildings dot Erie’s famed Little Italy. Another jaunt just south west of the city reveals once humming corporate offices, now dark and their parking lots empty.

Flash forward to 2014! A multimillion dollar Health and Wellness Center offers an imposing and visually stunning landmark where once, the scraggly rubble of ruptured concrete formed the only remnant of Porreco’s. The John M. and Silvia Ferretti Health and Wellness Center 08 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

now serves the entire Erie community with a facility replete with abundant fitness, health, rehabilitation, and wellness offerings. The thriving fitness hub has revitalized a decaying corner. Indeed, its very presence has developed tentacled offspring such as the wellreceived and equally well-patronized, Coffee Culture cafe and restaurant. The expansive economic growth and renewal has spread along Peach Street like springtime in blossom; reversing the blighted landscape, replacing it with activity and energy and a fiscally sound infrastructure of stability.

In the heart of Little Italy, LECOM repurposed vacant buildings with a new health clinic that serves the economically disadvantaged and the aged now known as Plaza 18 Medical Center.

The same repurposing of unused structures has been undertaken throughout the city, as LECOM gave “new birth” to its very genesis,

planting its educational roots in the former home of the GTE Building on West Grandview Boulevard. Expanding farther west along the same street, the empty LORD Corporate Headquarters building was refitted to serve the needs of the ever-expanding medical college.

Midtown east side buildings in the city of Erie have been revamped and restored by LECOM and its amalgam of associates to serve the health care needs of thousands. Through such focused leadership, the Eastside Medical Center completed refurbishments to the landmark health facility that began operations in the 1980s.

LECOM and its visionary, nearly two million-dollar revitalization, has transformed “Eastside” into a cutting-edge 21st century health center. Still in its original location on the corner of 26th and Parade Streets, the building now houses physicians from The Clinical Practices of LECOM. This clinical practice

Top Left: LECOM Erie. Top Right: Eastside Medical Center. Bottom Left: Coffee Culture Café and Eatery. Middle Right: Plaza 18 Medical Center. Bottom Right: LORD Corporation property now owned my LECOM.

group is part of a network comprised of 40 physicians and specialists, one optician, a full retail optical boutique, and 15 physician office locations throughout Erie County.

repurposed buildings and an unremitting view of the possible have persisted throughout the ensuing decades and they have given rise to a remarkably improved Erie.

The assemblage is an affiliate of the Millcreek Health System, which boasts Millcreek Community Hospital; LECOM; Millcreek Manor (the 50-bed long-term care and skilled nursing facility); the LECOM Institute for Successful Aging, which includes an interdisciplinary team that provides clinical services to those over fifty; and the aforestated John M. and Silvia Ferretti Medical Fitness and Wellness Center.

As is ever the case in creating forwardthinking projects, developments came as a result of a LECOM response to community need for increased access to medical services in underserved areas and to affect the betterment of health and wellness across a widespread region. Within the same period, LECOM has effectuated more comprehensive and purposed community benefit than may be attributed to all of the achievements of government projects.

The LECOM investment into the transformation of the landscape of the Erie region reminds the entire populace that the most enduring traditions and purposeful missions are everready to respond to the needs of the community through growth and renewal. LECOM has been a stalwart perpetuator of community betterment. Refurbishments and upgrades,

Thanks to LECOM and to the full complement of its resources, the mission and purpose that it began decades ago - to constantly improve access to health services and to affect community betterment - places LECOM squarely in the forefront of pinnacle care and

community development as it serves the Erie region economically as well as medically.

There is little doubt that Erie has found rebirth, in large part, due to the unremitting vision of the college founders and concomitantly, as a result of the laborious efforts of an administration and of a Board of Trustees that recognizes an exceptionalism that can be brought about by a commitment to excellence and through an unyielding persistence to achieve the possible.

There is work yet to be done, for always there are battles to be won and challenges to be vanquished. Yet, LECOM stands triumphantly - welcoming the next undertaking with the vision and purpose that will leave the landscape of tomorrow even more promising than that of today.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 09

A TALE OF THREE TRIUMPHS From coveted awards to heart-rending loss; from the far reaches of our great nation to its rural homesteads, LECOM Bradenton Class of 2014 graduates, Benjamin Kelley, Henry Tsang, and Lucas Poulter have exemplified the purposed mission of their alma mater.

Each person is possessed of his own specific vocation or mission in life; each one must carry out a concrete assignment that demands accountability and in so doing, he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Each task of each person is as unique as is his specific opportunity to see it to its fulfillment.

the prestigious 2013 American Osteopathic Foundation McCaughan Award. The $5,000 scholarship is a highly estimable prize as only one award is presented each year. Kelley also is the winner of the LECOM ACOFP Award for his excellence in the area of family medicine.

He is ranked number two in the class and he is married to fellow LECOM graduate, Rachel Kelley. Both hail from Anchorage, Alaska.

The three LECOM graduates featured in this piece reflect that elemental truism.

Benjamin Kelley, has won numerous awards and garnered many accolades during his time at LECOM. The well-grounded 26 year-old Kelley explained, “Life is not about the pursuit of awards; there always is another step in the process. The journey is the fun part,” he commented.

Benjamin Kelley is the honored recipient of

Kelley and his wife made their home in

10 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

Bradenton after spending their life savings to apply to various medical schools across the country. There had been no guarantee that they would attend the same school. Fortunately, the duo was accepted to LECOM Bradenton and there they surrendered their snowshoes and parkas for sandals and sunscreen.

“The PBL program that is offered at LECOM Bradenton was by far the best way for us to learn,” stated Kelley. “First and foremost, success in PBL comes down to the individual.

If one is committed to the program 100 percent, one will do well,” he explained.

The next stop along the journey takes the couple to Michigan where they will begin their residency programs in surgery and family medicine, respectively.

Benjamin Kelley, DO

Lucas Poulter, DO

Henry Tsang, PharmD

The journey has been one of another sort for 2014 LECOM graduate, Henry Tsang.

Shakespeare’s famed Duke said: “sweet are the uses of adversity,” and although Tsang may have traveled the past through his own “region of sobs,” the future holds for him the realm of a glorious medical calling - a calling of which his Mom, Lili, would have been immeasurably proud.

His determined and indefatigable dedication to a self-accountable personal effort blossomed at the age of 10, when young Poulter assisted on the job-site with his father, Brent, who owns a construction company.

Tsang was graduated with the Doctor of Pharmacy Degree on June 8, 2014. Immediately upon the heels of that conferred degree, he will return to the Bradenton campus in July to begin his pursuit of the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Degree.

Tsang’s intensity and keen motivation to pursue a degree in osteopathic medicine came about during his second year in the LECOM School of Pharmacy.

“My mother, Lili, was diagnosed with cancer and that event motivated me to want to help to serve others as a physician,” explained Tsang.

“I felt as if I were not able to help her as much as I wanted and I wished to do much more,” he lovingly reflected.

Another journeyman traveling the purposefilled path to medical success is LECOM medical graduate, Lucas Poulter. The new DO left his native Menan, ID (population 741) to attend medical school. With degree in hand, the triumphant physician will be returning to Idaho for a family medicine residency at the University of Idaho in Pocatello.

A grand homecoming awaits Poulter when he begins his family practice residency in Pocatello.

Despite being a non-smoker, Lili succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 57. “She was given a six-month prognosis, and she lived another two-and-a-half years,” noted Tsang.

The 30 year-old was raised in the small town of Menan where the nearest family physician was a full 20 minutes away from his home.

The hospital serving Menan emergencies is 30 miles away, in Idaho Falls.

Tsang welcomes the event-filled summer.

After graduation, he and his fiancé, Jessy Chua – a second-year medical student at LECOM Bradenton – are to be wed.

“Growing up in a small town, I learned the value of hard work and honesty,” said Poulter.

“One wakes up every day ready to work hard,” he averred.

In July, he will report to orientation with the College of Medicine Class of 2018. “I’ve been through the LECOM experience, so that will be a great help,” said Tsang.

That foundation of a dedicated work ethic will aid Poulter greatly as he begins his career as a physician.

“I did construction work with my Dad,” recalled Poulter. “The town of Menan is very serviceoriented and people go out of their way to help others,” he affirmed.

Poulter was motivated by a 2003 church mission trip to Guadalajara, Mexico. There, he labored for two years. “The people in Guadalajara did not have access to health care,” he noted. “It was an eye-opening experience and I enjoyed helping people,” he explained.

Poulter’s journey through the rigors of medical training could not have been accomplished without the support of his wife, Marissa, and their children, Story (age 5) and Pippa (age 3). “My family is awesome, they have been incredibly supportive throughout my time at LECOM,” he said.

As the journey continues for these three sons of LECOM, so too will the unflagging spirit of the school that nurtured their noble calling.

To each of these graduates and to the many others in the Class of 2014 with incandescent journeys of their own, LECOM congratulates and commends all.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 11

INAUGURAL APAP CLASS OF 2014 GRADUATES AS SCHOLARS SHINE As the first class of the Accelerated Physician Assistant Pathway (APAP) prepares to graduate in June 2014, several noteworthy and outstanding accomplishments are called to mind. The LECOM APAP Program is a specially designed platform that prepares and facilitates the physician assistant to become a physician.

Lisa Lanning applied for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Students to Service Loan Repayment Program and in so doing, she received a $120,000 loan repayment award. Lanning shined as a scholar and as a compassionate caregiver, receiving a NHSC stipend that will cover almost all of her threeyear tuition and expenses.

The Students to Service Program accepts students enrolled in their last year of medical school and it provides tuition and loan repayment assistance. In return, students commit to serve in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) that have the greatest need. The program is open to allopathic and osteopathic medical students in their fourth year at an accredited medical school. Awardees receive up to $120,000 in exchange for at least three years of service. Only 86 awards were made in 2013!

In a detailed letter to Mark Kauffman, DO, Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies, Lanning noted her exuberant joy in having received the award. She further articulated her profound gratitude to the LECOM faculty who helped her to realize her goal. “I have just received word that I am one of this year’s awardees of a $120,000 student loan repayment award over the next four years, which will go a long 12 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

way toward paying for this reckless venture I call medical school in my late 30s,” the thankful recipient penned.

The NHSC Students to Service Repayment Program offering is coveted by many students who seek to engage in medical service in rural or underserved areas upon graduation.

Perhaps more importantly for Lanning, her receipt of the stipend provided welcome clarity about which program to rank first for her residency choice. Lanning settled upon a well-established, Family Medicine residency in South Carolina that has been producing quality graduates since 1980. The worthy scholar noted happily that the facility is a ten-minute drive from her home! “I had made up my mind that if I received the scholarship, I would rank this program first, but if not, I would probably have devised my rank list a little differently, including medicine and psychiatry,” she explained. The receipt of the NHSC Award afforded the assiduous scholar a welcome modicum of peace about her decision, making it financially easier to choose primary care - her foundation and first love. Lanning wrote her NHSC application from the perspective of one who had worked nearly 15 years in primary care and rural emergency medicine and who recognized the tremendous need in underserved areas for longitudinal care and for chronic disease management in aging adults. Lanning worked as a certified Physician Assistant in Family Medicine and Urgent Care for six years in Oregon before moving to South Carolina in 2006, where she worked an additional six years in Emergency Medicine and taught two years at the Medical College

of Georgia Physician Assistant Program in Augusta. Additionally, Lanning worked clinically part-time with John Balmer, DO, in his rural Spartansburg, PA practice. She also taught Physical Diagnosis skills to Physician Assistant students at Gannon University during her first two years of medical school at LECOM. Lanning is exceedingly grateful to LECOM and to her professors, advisors, and mentors who so caringly encouraged her to pursue her purposed endeavors.

The comprehensive and collective student reaction to the goals and objectives of the innovative APAP Program at LECOM has been outstanding. The ability to move from physician assistant to physician is a wellreceived platform in a medical climate so needful of physicians in Primary Care and in other medical specialties. The APAP offering at LECOM underscores yet another foundational element making the College a preeminent leader in superlative medical education in the 21st Century.

The first class of APAP students to graduate from LECOM acquitted themselves superbly.

They emerge from a variety backgrounds and they bring with them various histories and experiences. Taylen Peaden is the son of former Florida Senator, Durell Peaden; Evan Miller is a Rabbi. Christopher Copley and fellow high performers, Matthew Gorgone, Brian Johnson, and Tuan Tran have much to celebrate as the first triumphant APAP Class of 2014!

LECOM PHARMACY GRADUATE RECEIVES CVS CAREMARK FELLOWSHIP Fourth-year pharmacy student, Jordan Daniel received the inaugural CVS Caremark Pharmacy Corporate Fellowship in Quality Assurance and Patient Safety.

Jordan Daniel (Class of 2014, Bradenton campus) is the first student in the country to be selected for the prestigious fellowship.

The CVS Caremark Quality Assurance and Patient Safety Fellowship provides opportunities for pharmacist practitioners to gain a profound understanding of medication-use safety and industry quality measures as they relate to a retail pharmacy setting. The program considers only highly motivated scholars interested in mastering the fundamental skills required to lead multidisciplinary teams and to function as effective medication-use safety leaders for the organization. In addition, the fellowship recipient must identify needed improvements in the present system, plan for and implement needed changes, and assess the change achieved.

Graduates of the program will be highly skilled in evaluating systems and workflows for quality and safety gaps enabling them to design, develop, and deliver medication-use safetyrelated training to the full scope of concerned audiences including patients, health care professionals, and health care professionals in training.

Jordan Daniel is inestimably grateful to LECOM for the opportunity to have become part of the CVS Caremark team. “I was very fortunate to be chosen for this fellowship; but it would never have been possible were it not for

LECOM,” pronounced Daniel. The pharmacy scholar asserted that his “choosing LECOM” was one of the best decisions that he ever had made.

“I was surrounded by a faculty who cared deeply about my goals and by professors and advisors who encouraged me to believe in myself to accomplish those goals,” he explained. ​​Throughout his career at LECOM, Daniel remained heavily “involved” by serving in multiple capacities in several organizations on campus, including the American Pharmacists Association -Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP), the Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International (CPFI), the Phi Lambda Sigma-Pharmacy Leadership Society (PLS), and the Student Government Association (SGA).

“Serving in organizations at LECOM equipped me to develop the needed leadership skills to pursue the fellowship with CVS Caremark,” Daniel stated.

Certainly, the demanding rigors of the pharmacy curriculum require a strong support team. Yet, in addition, Daniel expounded upon the abiding values in professionalism imparted upon and inculcated to the students by LECOM. The P4 scholar attributes much of his own success to the passion and advice afforded him by Associate Dean, Dr. Julie Wilkinson. “I have learned a great deal about leadership from Dr. Wilkinson through her instruction and guidance

throughout these years,” noted Daniel. LECOM has prepared students not simply to master the responsibilities and duties of a pharmacist, rather to offer themselves to the community and to prove the full value and impact that a pharmacist can offer in the health care arena.

When he began his studies at LECOM, Jordan Daniel hoped to be a pharmacist. Now, in his final year of study, Daniel intends to be an exceptional pharmacist who champions positive advancement in the profession and one who makes the sort of contributions to health and wellness that better society as a whole.

Truly, accomplishments, such as those achieved thus far by Jordan Daniel, stand apart as estimable exemplars of leadership in the field. Such experiences as the CVS Caremark Program build character while they reveal it.

LECOM is proud to recognize this pharmacy scholar in his outstanding achievement.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 13

LECOM TO OFFER PEERLESS STUDENT BENEFIT PROGRAM

Legacy of LECOM Pharmacy Student will Help Others Nicholas Aaron Barlow was a Pharm.D. candidate in the Class of 2013. In early January, the sorrowful news that he had lost his valiant battle against cancer touched the hearts of the entire LECOM family. At the age of 23, Nick was full of life and filled with hopeful optimism about his dreams to become a pharmacist. The Erie native was a graduate of Cathedral Preparatory School and Gannon University. “As a pharmacy student, he was a bright, outgoing young man who demonstrated a great compassion for the welfare of others,” said Hershey Bell, MD, Dean of the LECOM School of Pharmacy. “Nick possessed all of the ingredients to be an outstanding pharmacist,” averred Dr. Bell.

Truly, Nick was positive and passionate about people. The loss of this enthusiastic and uplifting soul serves as a reminder to all of the deeply precious value of life.

Indeed, as LECOM mourned the loss of a great student, friend, and future pharmacist, the College sought to implement a program to help other full-time LECOM students should dire or life-altering situations arise during their schooling.

For many students and their families, the thought of planning for the worst is not on their minds. LECOM has partnered with Hubbard-Bert Incorporated (HB) to address the needs of the student on a personal level. The comprehensive program will become the very first of its kind in the nation.

14 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

The majority of college age deaths are illnessrelated or accidental, closely followed by suicide. Recent discoveries have determined that 97% of students are not insured.

In tribute to Nick, The Barlow Trust has been established to assist students during the most traumatic times of a young person’s life.

Hubbard-Bert has allied with LECOM, bringing over 30 years experience in employee benefits and life insurance expertise to the aid of students. Joseph J. Kelly, a Principal and Vice President at HB is orchestrating the oversight of the Barlow Trust. Designed over the course of ten years, the collaboration with LECOM brings to fruition a three-pronged program consisting of guaranteed life insurance, a Life Balance Student Assistance Program and Worldwide Travel Assistance.

Within the Trust - and in addition to the insurance component, which students may retain after graduation - elements such as the Life Balance Program help students with everyday needs while also addressing more serious life issues. The Barlow Trust boasts a full suite of services that can assist with life insurance needs, personal issues, relationship traumas, diseases, mental health matters, addictions, family-related concerns, and even death.

Established in 1936, the independent consulting firm of HB specializes in employee benefit planning services; and LECOM is pleased to work with the well-regarded team

of consultants as they jointly implement this first ever student benefit program.

The Life Balance Program provides many resources available online and by phone.

Staffed by master level counselors who offer support during a difficult time, they stand available to address various topics - including suicide contemplation, depression, sexual assault, rape, violence, and trauma; and they offer financial and legal advice as well as emotional support. The World Wide Travel Assistance is a highly prized component of the plan as it will be available to students on rotation or in volunteer service endeavors as they travel throughout the nation and the world.

“This is the first program of its kind in the history of insurance,” related Joe Kelly. “It’s not surprising that LECOM is once again setting the paradigm in taking care of its students, because for LECOM, it’s all about the students,” the innovative program designer remarked.

The plaintive loss of Nicholas Barlow still on their minds, both Kelly and LECOM President and CEO, John M. Ferretti, DO, believe that the memory of Nick will live on through the profound and plentiful good that this unparalleled program will afford the entire LECOM student body.

For more information, please contact Joseph Kelly at Hubbard-Bert, Inc. at 814-453-3633; kelly.j@hubbardbert.net or Brett Gruss at 614807-2523; bgruss@unum.com.

The Barlow Trust... designed by LECOM and Hubbard-Bert, Inc. to Protect Students Services for students Student assistance program (life balance program)

Worldwide emergency travel assistance

A range of resources to help students find solutions for the everyday challenges of school, work and home — as well as for more serious issues such as substance abuse, divorce, and other mental, emotional and physical hardships. Students can access master’s level consultants, an online library, and other resources.

Help with travel emergencies is just a phone call away whenever students travel 100 miles or more from home. Students can use the travel assistance to access: Hospital admission assistance Emergency medical evacuation Prescription replacement assistance Emergency message services Critical care monitoring Referrals to Western-trained, English-speaking medical providers Legal and interpreter referrals Passport replacement assistance

. . . . . .

Insurance for Life...

Regardless of any preexisting conditions (i.e. health issues) your student will receive insurance for life. Coverage is portable and/or convertible, which simply means the student can take the coverage with them when they leave school.

Low Group Rate Easy Payment Portable Accelerated Benefit

. . . .

. .

As universities around the country compete for the best and brightest, The Barlow Trust helps attract and protect high-quality students.

Did you know?

The Barlow Trust is a 3 part The Barlow Trust also provides insurance for life at plan that includes student $162,000: the low group rates. This valuable coverage is designed assistance program, a worldmedian amount of wide travel plan and guaranfor today’s undergraduate and medical students. debt a medical teed insurance for life.

Student Assistance Program student owes at graduation

. . .

World Wide Emergency Travel Assistance Insurance for Life… and they can even take it with them

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 15

ANGELS IN THE WHIRLWIND

Three LECOM Medical Students Receive Magnanimous Scholarships

16 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

Three Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) students from the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) have learned that they will receive considerable assistance in the repayment their student loan debt.

The students, Benedict L. Belcik of Girard, Ohio; Vincent Caicco of Niles, Ohio; and Gregory R. Delost of Boardman, Ohio, have been selected for $100,000 scholarships by Humility of Mary Health Partners (HMHP) of the Youngstown-Warren, Ohio area. The scholarships provide each student with $50,000 for each of the final two years of medical school.

The profoundly purposed mission of Humility of Mary Health Partners is aligned comfortably with that of LECOM. Both institutions strive to provide care to those who most need it.

When Providence has opened the way,

The news comes to the students with added delight as the LECOM threesome are among only five Benedict Belcik, OMS4 individuals in all to receive the estimable stipend from HMHP.

Vincent Caicco, OMS4

Humility of Mary Health Partners is an integrated health system that includes three hospitals in northeast Ohio: St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, St. Joseph Health Center in Warren, and St. Elizabeth Boardman Health Center in Boardman.

The scholarship award requires the recipients to spend five years in practice with the medical staff at one of the Humility of Mary Health Partners hospitals. The postresidency requirement seeks to ensure that the Youngstown area maintains an adequate number of physicians. Applicants were selected based upon their academic credentials, their commitment to practicing in the greater Youngstown area, and their commitment to the mission of Humility of Mary Health Partners. That mission includes providing care for the poor and underserved and “continuing Christ’s healing ministry;” both purpose-driven goals deeply supported and decidedly mirrored by LECOM. Of course, the significant $100,000 scholarship award to each of the three scholars will help them to repay their loans; but the magnanimous gift proves an even greater benefit to these recipients as the mission at the heart of the scholarship is firmly rooted in the virtuous pursuit of caring for those less fortunate, for the indigent, the elderly, and the underserved.

I want to do my part to help,” said Belcik, who graduated summa cum laude from Youngstown State University with a bachelor’s degree in biology. Belcik, who plans to pursue a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation with an emphasis upon sports medicine, also is appreciative of the scholarship because it will allow him greater freedom to choose a specialty. “It’s comforting to know that I’ll be able to focus upon that which I love to do, instead of going into a specialty based solely upon the pay scale,” he remarked.

“Receiving this scholarship is a tremendous honor, because I’ve always considered the Youngstown area home and I’m very familiar with the people. I sincerely hope to make a difference as a physician and I genuinely look forward to returning to the community and to giving back,” expounded Caicco, a graduate of Ohio State University.

Delost, who completed a clinical rotation at one of the Humility of Mary hospitals (St. Elizabeth Health Center), looks forward to serving with physicians whose mission and values are aligned with his own. “I was struck by the strong degree of compassion that the physicians have for their patients,” said Delost, who graduated summa cum laude from Gannon University.

“The mission and values of HMHP are based upon improving the health of the underserved through a healing Christian ministry; one which embraces compassion, excellence, human dignity, justice, and the sacredness of life and service,” explained Delost.

Gregory Delost, OMS4

the new work must get started and award recipient, Benedict Belcik, noted that the scholarship offers him the freedom to choose a medical specialty based upon his interests, as opposed to opting for a higher paying speciality.

These young men now go forth into their own communities to serve in the whirlwind of need and healing. In that whirlwind, they are imbued with superlative LECOM medical training and the comprehensive service-based understanding as their work serves to better the quality of life of their neighbors and of their community.

Belcik, Caicco, and Delost are enthusiastic about the idea of practicing in their hometown. “I still have family there and @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 17

DENTAL CLINIC DRAWS FRONT PAGE PRESS The whole of Erie was abuzz with interest and anticipation as news was released in early April announcing that the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine is set to construct dental offices in one of the former Lord Technology Park buildings. The story broke with front page headlines in the Erie Times News as word that LECOM will further aid a struggling region could not have come at a better time.

The significant structure will include 30 operatories wherein patients with a variety of dental problems will be treated by LECOM School of Dental Medicine students under the supervision of LECOM employed dentists.

“They will be performing extractions, fillings, and all types of general dentistry,” said Robert Hirsch, a former Erie dentist and Dean of the LECOM School of Dental Medicine. “They will see patients of all ages,” he noted.

The dental offices are the first of four planned projects by LECOM for the four-building, 28-acre property at 2000 West Grandview Boulevard. LECOM purchased the property from Lord Corporation in December 2011 for $18 million. Other plans for the site include the construction of a research center, classrooms, and a communication center - with a tentative 18 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

project completion date of 2021.

LECOM is spending $5 million to turn the north building into dental offices, and an additional $1.4 million to purchase dental equipment. The clinic is expected to open in May 2015.

“That’s when our first class of fourth-year dental students will be ready for group practice,” Dean Hirsch explained.

The clinic will be divided into three group practices, each with 10 glass-enclosed treatment rooms that will surround a teaching station where instructors can observe the students. Each practice also will have its own digital X-ray machine.

“Enclosing each treatment room will enable dental students to care for younger patients, who sometimes scream or cry when they have their teeth checked,” Hirsch said. “They won’t disturb the rest of the clinic, and instructors will still be able to keep watch,” Hirsch noted.

The clinic will be open to the public. Patients will be charged about 60 percent of the usual dental practice rate for an appointment and Medical Assistance will be accepted.

“Patients will be selected based upon the educational needs of the students,” Hirsch expounded. The office will be open during weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and it will employ about 30 people, including dentists, a hygienist, and office staff.

The clinic also will include a small primary-care office (to treat dental patients who have other medical issues), along with a dispensary, and a lecture hall.

“Our goal is to improve health care in Erie,” noted Silvia Ferretti, DO, LECOM Vice President, Provost, and Dean of Academic Affairs. “I feel certain that these dental offices will have a huge positive impact upon our community,” concluded Dr. Ferretti.

Above Left: The artist rendering of the 10-bay operatory suite. Above Right: Artist rendering of the lobby/waiting area.

Below: The layout and design of the 30 chair dental group practic.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 19

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF REAL, SHOVEL READY, LEADERSHIP-DRIVEN, ENTREPRENEURIAL EXCEPTIONALISM I place economy among the first and most important national virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared. ~Thomas Jefferson As America remains mired in a seemingly endless morass of parsing health care costs and juggling governmentally implemented medical fixes, the wisdom of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine has proven both indispensable and resolute.

With a national economic impact of nearly half of a billion dollars, LECOM stands as an indelible example of American exceptionalism.

Demonstrating a doubled growth within a five year period, the economic benefit conferred by LECOM upon the state of Pennsylvania alone is greater than its total national impact only five 20 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

years earlier in 2009.

As an irrefutable template for economic success in medical education, the combined LECOM alumni impact totals a staggering $7.37 billion and it supports more than 49,000 American jobs.

Of course, those who know the history of all that is LECOM are well aware if its place as the largest medical college in America and that is the only osteopathic Academic Health Center in the nation.

With the college and Millcreek Community Hospital at the heart of its indefatigably innovative medical education system, LECOM consistently has enhanced quality of life by focusing upon total health care in each community in which it has set its cornerstone.

From the award-winning John M. and Silvia Ferretti Medical Fitness and Wellness Center,

to a comprehensive network of more than 40 physicians, to a new model of care for senior living, LECOM has remained, for decades, unabashedly in the vanguard of visionary community betterment. Health care services developed by LECOM have flourished to include an advanced wound care center, an in-patient rehabilitation unit, and the largest behavioral health unit in the region.

In 2011, the Coffee Culture CafĂŠ and Eatery was established to better serve LECOM Erie students and to welcome the public. LECOM acquired two corporate office properties to form the Erie Bayfront campus; a location that provides added classroom space and headquarters the Clinical Practices of LECOM. Well-paced expansion finds the former LORD Technology Center as a recent LECOM acquisition that provides space for educational, research, and clinical programs.

LECOM

at

Seton

Hill

in

Greensburg,

Above: LECOM Bradenton Medical and Pharmacy building. Above Right: LECOM School of Dental Medicine in Bradenton. Below: LECOM at Seton Hill.

Pennsylvania re-purposed two buildings on the campus of Seton Hill University for medical students.

The LECOM Bradenton campus in Florida has expanded from a College of Osteopathic Medicine and a School of Pharmacy to include a School of Dental Medicine. The establishment of the new school adjacent to the original LECOM Bradenton structure launched shovelready construction of the state-of-the-art facility dedicated to academic and clinical training of future dentists. The school is complete with cutting-edge dental offices where students and faculty provide oral health care to regional patients. From this platform was found the need to train future dentists in communitybased practices thereby impelling LECOM to construct outreach offices in Erie, Pennsylvania and in Defuniak Springs, Florida.

Comprehensively, the College of Osteopathic Medicine, the School of Pharmacy, and

the School of Dental Medicine train more than 3,600 students. The trio of campuses offer superlative, innovative, and affordable education in osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, and dental medicine.

overall economy. The Class of 2013 graduates will have a combined economic impact upon the United States Economy of $1.25 billion and as practicing physicians, they will support more than 8,350 full-time jobs.

Truly, the numbers tell the economic story. In December 2013, LECOM retained the services of Tripp Umbach, a private research organization and the most experienced nationally recognized provider of economic impact studies, to measure and to communicate the tremendous, multi-dimensional (direct and indirect) value that LECOM brings to communities, states, and the nation at large.

Since 1992, LECOM has graduated more than 4,300 physicians and 1,500 pharmacists who are practicing throughout the nation.

From 2009 to 2013, LECOM more than doubled the size of operations at the Bradenton campus, which in turn, more than doubled its economic impact upon Florida.

As classes increase at each campus, so too does the impact of LECOM graduates upon the

While some in the current shifting swirl of relativism reject the trickle-down benefit of a thriving organization, the facts bear out the premise.

The employment impact generated from the operations of LECOM campuses and Millcreek Health System includes individuals who work directly, as well as indirectly, for these institutions. Indirect employment represents additional jobs created as a result of a LECOM presence.

Local companies that provide goods and services to LECOM hire additional @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 21

ECONOMIC IMPACT quick glance Employment Impacts on the U.S. 1,000

1,355

1,833

2,289

Florida Economic Impacts (in millions)

Pennsylvania Economic Impacts (in millions) Direct Indirect Total

328.8

$

2013

237.3 355.9

$

593.2

$

98

2009

2009

197.3

$

127.4

$

225.4

$

160.3

$

$

208.3 368.6

$

Indirect

Direct

2013

131.5

$

$

954

make money do more for the betterment of life.� A glance through the section that follows will make plain that LECOM doctrine, taking it to heart and to practice.

Economic Impacts on the U.S. (in millions) Direct Indirect Total

2009

833

2009

With more than seven billion dollars of beneficial economic impact and with its comprehensive academic health center network supporting the employment of nearly 50,000 people, LECOM and its affiliates have created a veritable doctrine that bears out the sage words of Henry Ford: “the highest use of capital is not to make more money, but to

2013

Total

2013 2009

The comprehensive economic impact section that follows sets forth truly enlightening facts and figures that serve as a reminder that during these times of momentous domestic and global events that create both daunting challenges and limitless opportunities, LECOM has demonstrated that it understands the way in which to bring about real economic growth.

$

Indirect

Direct

2013

Since its convocation in 1993, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) has played a definitive role in the educational excellence, purposeful service, and economic growth in each community in which it has come to lay a cornerstone. With its medical affiliates and through its comprehensive - and first ever - academic health center network, LECOM has always endeavored to build upward from its solid foundation.

$

26.1 33.8

$

$

59.9 $

69.9 $

90.9 $

160.8

Since 1992 LECOM alumni have

7.37

$

Generated more than

49,168

Supported more than in total national economic impact

22 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

Total

individuals to support LECOM purchasing as well as to support the purchasing made by LECOM employees, faculty, students, and visitors. The tax revenue impact of LECOM campuses and of Millcreek Health System includes income, sales, corporate income, capital stock and franchise taxes. For every direct full-time job supported by LECOM, 1.4 additional full-time jobs are supported throughout the United States and 1.2 additional full-time jobs are supported within the states of Florida and Pennsylvania.

Economic impact begins when a company spends money.

Total economic impact measures the dollars that are generated within the region due to the presence of LECOM. This includes not only spending on goods and services with a variety of suppliers within the state, and the spending of its staff and visitors, but also the business volume generated by businesses within the region that benefit from LECOM spending.

While operational impacts are impressive, the impact of LECOM graduates is even more significant. As the largest medical school in America, with more than 500 medical graduates and 250 pharmacy graduates each year, the annual total impact of LECOM physician and pharmacy graduates is more than $1.25 billion, and the impact will grow exponentially as LECOM continues to expand. Each current class of LECOM physician and pharmacy graduates also supports the employment of more than 8,354 Americans annually.

The plethora of LECOM operations and the extent of its nurturing tentacles of enrichment support 2,289 full-time employees throughout the nation, an impact that has increased nearly 25% since 2009.

With each class graduated by LECOM, the economic annual impact grows and the overall benefit to the nation continues to expand incrementally as the class sizes increase.

Proving that non-profit organizations do indeed substantially fund government needs, hefty revenues are received by government institutions as a result of the influence of institutions such as LECOM. Spending by LECOM benefits local businesses, thereby generating large-scale state and federal revenue through sales tax, corporate net income tax, and capital stock or franchise taxes. In 2013, LECOM generated $47.5 million in direct federal tax revenues and an additional $71.1 million in indirect federal government revenue with a total impact of $118.6 million in Federal tax receipts.

According to Tripp Umbach, each American physician generates approximately $200,000 in total federal, state, and local taxes. Therefore, LECOM 2013 graduates will generate more than $167 million in additional total taxes when they begin medical or pharmacy practice.

Many visual and blight-banishing results have improved entire neighborhoods as LECOM refaced and revitalized existing buildings to extend the educational offerings of its evergrowing campus. Construction greatly aids the economy. Since 2009, LECOM has expanded its mission of superlative education and wholeperson patient care with projects totaling more than $75.5 million; a figure that, over the five-year period, translates to more than $211.1 million dollars poured into the national economy; and one which includes the creation of 1,452 jobs.

In addition to the economic and direct employment benefits that LECOM confers upon the comprehensive American financial system, the LECOM network effectuates substantial health care cost savings.

Employment in Primary Care specialties leads the practice area for LECOM graduates; placing LECOM in the top tier of all American medical schools whose graduates enter Primary Care. These physicians save the economy unnecessary costs of emergency medical visits and preventive care. The 2013 graduates will assist a national health care cost savings of $160.1 million once they begin to practice. Further, all LECOM alumni working in Primary Care positions annually contribute to $684 million in health care cost savings by assisting with preventive care practices.

Unequivocally, LECOM has added benefit to comprehensive government revenues, construction impact, health care cost savings, and strengthened economies on a considerable scale.

provides superlative medical education. The ongoing need for primary care physicians made the Florida a natural choice for the second LECOM campus which now operates a medical, pharmacy, and dental school.

The total impact that LECOM had upon Florida in 2013 is $160.8 million; an estimable figure for a institution less than a decade old.

Exhibiting astonishing growth, the economic impact of LECOM Bradenton is 168% higher than the economic impact for this campus only five years ago. LECOM Bradenton supports and sustains more than 288 jobs in Florida.

As the Bradenton campus has expanded, the employment impact has grown by 80%.

Over $3.6 million in government revenue was generated by LECOM in 2013 alone.

Tripp Umbach estimates that LECOM graduates who receive training in Florida and who establish practices in medically underserved areas throughout the state have an additional annual impact of $63.9 million in health care cost savings.

Seeking the betterment of health care in the state, LECOM committed to building a dental group practice in DeFuniak Springs. The outreach group-practice located in the Florida panhandle will provide extensive clinical experience for students while simultaneously ensuring that families in need will have access to affordable dental care.

In recent years, burgeoning local government needs in Erie have resulted in municipal requests for financial assistance from LECOM, with

One recalls that it had been more than 26 years since the opening of a new medical school in Pennsylvania when LECOM welcomed students in 1993. Until then, no new American college of medicine had been opened to educate medical students since the early 1980s. When founded, LECOM sought to meet the increasing demand for Primary Care physicians in Pennsylvania with a goal of becoming an efficient and effective educational operation with a superlative and innovative comprehensive curriculum of osteopathic study.

LECOM generously covering costs of such infrastructure items as street lights and public library building developments.

While the requests from local government entities are met with a philanthropic vision by LECOM leadership, it is important to note that the total economic impact that LECOM and the Millcreek Health System (MHS) has upon the Greater Erie Area includes the direct operational impact of $102.9 million and the indirect impact of $82.4 million amounting to a total overall economic impact of nearly $185.3 million.

Fast forward to 2013 as the total impact that LECOM had upon Pennsylvania was recorded at $368.6 million, making the LECOM impact upon Pennsylvania more than the national impact in 2009. The impact LECOM has upon Pennsylvania has increased by more than 63% since 2009 while supporting and sustaining more than 1,810 jobs in the state.

LECOM and MHS sustain and support 1,595 jobs in the Greater Erie Area.

Economic impact upon the state of Florida is similarly impressive. Twelve years after beginning operations in Erie, LECOM established one of the first branch campuses in the history of the osteopathic profession.

LECOM Bradenton, like its Erie counterpart,

The incandescent impact that LECOM has upon the place of its genesis is both uplifting and inspiring. The lesson that LECOM, like Thomas Jefferson, made abundantly clear is that of placing the economy among the first and most important virtues. For LECOM, its unremitting commitment to medical education and to community health care has formed the core of that virtue; a virtue that national, state, and local leaders would do well to emulate.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 23

moderate to severe Crohn’s disease. The medication is used by those patients who have not responded well to conventional treatments. Radwan is now a national spokesperson for Humira.

In 2008, Radwan saw nine different specialists within a three-week span and during that time, no physician was able to diagnose him properly.

Three months later, and after losing nearly 100 pounds, Radwan was diagnosed with a severe case of Crohn’s disease by Dr. Amar Deshpande of the University of Miami Hospital. Radwan had granulomas not only in his intestines, but also throughout the entire GI tract, esophagus, and mouth.

Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, and even to malnutrition. Inflammation caused by Crohn’s disease can involve different areas of the digestive tract. Radwan also was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

It was then that Radwan was prescribed Humira and he began his road to recovery.

His experience was a deciding factor in his pursuing a pharmacy career. “I never thought that a medication could have such an impact on a person’s life,” stated Radwan.

As a national voice for Humira, the third year student spoke to 900 people at the Abbvie National Conference. His 20 minute talk focused upon the way in which Humira saved his life. Radwan also is featured in an AbbVie commercial and a global brochure. He was invited to speak at the Conference by Elaine Sorg, R.Ph., AbbVie Vice President of United States Immunology.

LECOM BRADENTON PHARMACY STUDENT IS NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON FOR CROHN’S DISEASE DRUG

LECOM School of Pharmacy student, Ahmed Radwan (P4) was invited to speak at AbbVie (formerly Abbott) Pharmaceuticals National Conference in Orlando in February of 2014. Radwan spoke about the way in which the drug, Humira, saved his life.

Humira is a prescription medicine used to reduce signs and symptoms, and to achieve and maintain clinical remission in adults with

24 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

“Ahmed’s story is unique because health care professionals who have personal experience living with chronic disease can relate to patients in a powerful way to help them through many aspects of the disease, ranging from emotional to practical,” said Sorg. “AbbVie is committed to making a remarkable impact in the lives of the patients whom we serve,” she continued. “When we are fortunate enough to have patients like Ahmed share their personal stories, not only do we, at AbbVie, gain insight into the needs and challenges of patients living with inflammatory bowel disease, but it inspires us to do all that we can to provide resources beyond our medication to help them on their journey to wellness,” she remarked.

LECOM is delighted to see this dedicated scholar renewed in health and finding wellness. He is an inspiration to those who may otherwise be bowed by such an affliction and he is a testament to the LECOM spirit.

year found LECOM climbing to #5 for Primary Care graduates and #3 for lowest tuition.

LECOM CONTINUES TO SHINE AS U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT HIGHLIGHTS MEDICAL COLLEGES

With the 2009 U.S. News and World Report ranking, LECOM moved to #2 for lowest tuition, remaining #5 for Primary Care graduates and #1 for size.

The Primary Care graduation ranking is based upon a percentage of graduates who enter primary care. With a class size of more than 500 medical graduates, LECOM (using a straight number calculation) actually graduates the most Primary Care physicians as compared to all schools.

This year, once again, LECOM was ranked fourth nationally for producing the most Primary Care residents.

With one of the most affordable tuition costs offered by highly regarded medical colleges, LECOM additionally boasts a faculty-student ratio of four to one. The medical school has 2,447 full- and part-time faculty on staff. For the class of 2013, well over half of the graduates from the medical school at LECOM who applied to residency programs were admitted to their first choice.

The 2014 edition of U.S. News and World Report: Best Medical College Rankings shows LECOM continues to improve its reputation among the nation’s leading medical schools. #1 Medical Colleges Over 1000 Students #2 Lowest Tuition Among Private Medical Colleges #2 Most Applied-to Medical Colleges #4 Colleges Graduating the Most Primary Care Physicians #51for Primary Care rankings among all medical colleges

U.S. News and World Report has released its Best Medical School rankings for 2014 - and standing out prominently at the top, is the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine is no stranger to noteworthy U.S. News and World Report rankings. The magazine contacts 153 medical colleges for its annual ranking process. This year, 144 of those schools contacted replied both to the Research and to the Primary Care ranking surveys.

The Report, read across the span of several years, serves as an overt analysis of the resounding success and growth of LECOM. In 2007, LECOM was listed at 115 in the overall Primary Care ranking; and the school placed in the top ten for the rate of Primary Care graduates (#9). LECOM was recognized for the fifth lowest tuition among private medical schools. That year also found LECOM ranked as the fifth largest medical school in the country.

At that time, (during the 2006 academic year), LECOM Bradenton had only three classes of medical students in session.

The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine has been steadily climbing the U.S. News and World Report rankings. Among all medical colleges, LECOM rose from #63 in 2011 to #51 in 2014. LECOM still boasts the second lowest tuition cost and it is the very lowest in cost of non-government subsidized private medical colleges.

LECOM recognition by peers, college deans, and hospital Directors of Medical Education (DMEs), continues to grow robustly.

Consistently, LECOM has been graduating primary care physicians, offering the lowest tuition among private medical schools, and placing among the top schools for attracting applicants.

Of the top ten medical colleges receiving the most applications, LECOM ranked second.

There are several implicit messages gained by reviewing the facts and figures offered in the U.S. News and World Report. It is clear that osteopathic medical education is in the health care vanguard and it is doubly clear that LECOM offers an estimably ranked and superlative medical education at an affordable cost.

Echoing a maxim oft stated by Benjamin Franklin: “if you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone” indeed a truism as applied to LECOM.

In 2008, with the final Bradenton class matriculation, LECOM moved to #1 as the largest medical school in the nation. That same @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 25

DO DAY ON THE HILL PRESSES LEGISLATIVE AGENDA Attention paid to details results in excellence.

LECOM has made this truism readily apparent; and nowhere was their student-centered voice focused more intently than it was during the March 2014 gathering of DO Day on the Hill.

As a late winter chill nipped the air, more than 100 DOs joined 1,100 osteopathic medical students from across the country to assemble in Washington, D.C. to serve as worthy advocates for the medical profession.

Waves of white coats colored Capitol Hill as students and DOs convened with their Senators and Representatives. The attendance at the event was the second-highest in the history of DO Day. Rachel C. Powers, OMS1, Luna Y. Liu, OMS1, Antonio Imbarlina, OMS2, and Morli Gandhi, OMS1, were among the many LECOM students to participate in DO Day. LECOM was well-represented as the student contingent from all three campuses focused upon two pivotal issues during meetings with elected officials and Health Legislative Assistants (HLAs): ensuring the future physician workforce and reforming medicare physician payments.

26 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

LECOM students urged the House and Senate to continue funding the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program beyond 2015.

The program allows primary care residents to train in community-based settings such as Teaching Health Centers. Residents from such settings are likely to practice in rural and medically underserved communities, a goal entirely in keeping with the LECOM mission.

Rachel C. Powers, OMS1, noted that ensuring funding of the THCGME program is critical.

“We have to be proactive and to monitor what happens in Congress,” she said.

Other LECOM students, including Luna Y. Liu, OMS1, agreed that adequate funding for the THCGME program is essential. “As students, we want to know that a sufficient number of positions will be maintained,” she commented.

While meeting with Members of Congress or their Legislative Aides, attendees focused upon the repeal of the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula and upon increasing support for Graduate Medical Education (GME).

Clearly, the topics of SGR repeal and GME growth were central to the medical group as

DOs and students provided evidence to their legislators that the U.S. physician shortage will worsen significantly as millions of newly insured patients enter the health care marketplace under Obamacare.

As physicians have faced uncertainty related to looming cuts to their Medicare payments, Congress has spent more than $150 billion on short-term “patches” because costs have exceeded SGR targets. “These band-aid fixes have been extremely costly, and yet they have failed to truly address the issue,” said Antonio Imbarlina, OMS2 and LECOM Chapter Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA) Political Affairs Officer.

Imbarlina and the other participating LECOM students urged passage of the SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act, which would have permanently rescinded the sustainable growth rate formula used to calculate physician payments in Medicare.

The legislation also would have allowed for a transition from the current fee-for-service model to one emphasizing quality over volume, and allocate bonuses to physicians meeting performance thresholds.

Reforming Medicare physician payment is an

(Top): A number of students from LECOM’s campus at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pa., traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in DO Day on Capitol Hill. Front: Martina Risech (OMS3). Middle row, left to right: Kristie Schmidt (OMS3), Connie Lorenzo (OMS2), Joelle Potts (OMS2), and Lukas Delasos (OMS2). Back row, left to right: Jacob Dodd (OMS2), Michaela Krajmerova (OMS2), and Dominic Marino (OMS2).

(Right): Cody Pollack (OMS2), Shane Stegen (OMS2), Brentley Frossard (OMS3), and Brock Aldrich (OMS3), second from right) were among the LECOM-Erie students to participate in DO Day on Capitol Hill. The students and Cory Ondler, DO (far right), a 2010 LECOM graduate, met with U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania.

important issue for medical students, “in part because of their high levels of indebtedness upon graduation,” Imbarlina said. He estimates that his loans will exceed $150,000.

“Student loan debt, along with the lack of a long-term solution related to Medicare physician payment, tends to drive some graduates away from primary care and toward higher-paying specialties,” Imbarlina said. “During residency, our compensation is limited,” he added. “The United States already has a shortage of primary care physicians, and it seems as if we’re moving farther along in the wrong direction,” he observed.

“The recent agreement among the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM), and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) establishing a single accreditation system for graduate medical education programs only has added to the degree of uncertainty,” Imbarlina cautioned.

The SGR repeal issue proved to be a noteworthy subject since physicians have been encouraging lawmakers to repeal the SGR for more than a decade. Regrettably, the SGR

repeal attempt failed once again, resulting in yet another temporary “doctor fix” that merely recalibrates spending outlays, but does nothing to permanently resolve the issue. A 1997 measure was intended to contain Medicare spending. Yet, each successive year has found the actual costs of practicing medicine exceeding the SGR targets.

The bill (SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act), had bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, however politicians stalled haltingly on the fiscal perspective, since spending never truly is cut. Monies spent in one area simply detract from other expenditures - called “offsets” - and therein rested the most significant challenge for those serving in Congress. The result this year was no different from that of previous attempts to solve the SGR matter; and the “fix” is in for at least another session of Congress.

Aware of the political drama unfolding within the legislative chambers, LECOM students were grateful for the opportunity to experience a first-hand look at Washington politics. “It was exciting to have so many student doctors together and to observe the discussions and the process by which change happens,” said Morli Gandhi, OMS1.

All told, the entire politically charged excursion was a grand experience for LECOM participants, and notably, it came about as a result of months of organization and planning.

SOMA Political Affairs Officer, Imbarlina began coordinating LECOM participation in DO Day in August of 2013. In light of the intense preparation and planning required to facilitate the trip, he was pleased with the number of LECOM students who took the time to participate in the event. “I think that the numbers show that the next generation of physicians is paying attention to the future of health care, and that we care about the students who will follow us,” he said.

DO Day provided a forum during which representatives from LECOM and the whole of the medical profession spoke out for their own rights to clearly articulate to national legislators the needs of the medical community. It remains crucial that lawmakers understand the resounding and unified voice of an indispensable profession. LECOM students can attest to the fact that a letter to a legislator has far less effect than does a serious group of white coat-clad future physicians taking their cause to The Hill.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 27

LECOM BOARD SCORES HIGHLIGHT SUPERLATIVE EDUCATION LECOM students taking national medical and pharmacy Board Examinations consistently have maintained a first-time pass rate at, or above, the national averages. Indeed, in some cases, 100% of the students tested have passed the exams!

These facts wholly and irrefutably support and elucidate the gleaming imprimatur of quality education that is offered at LECOM. LECOM students have achieved these superlative test results by rigorously maintaining professional and educational standards as inculcated by the school.

To help ensure success, the College has implemented a host of programs, educational paradigms, and learning tools to assist students in passing the licensing examinations.

One such educational test-strengthening device can be found in the Excel Program (“Extra Curricular Enhanced Learning”).

Dr. Kim Moscatello, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Director of the Directed Study Pathway, has worked on the Excel (as in “Excellence”) Program to aid students in preparation for the Medical Boards. The program is designed to help raise the bar of academic excellence; and it is structured whereby faculty meet with students on a weekly basis to cover information in an active learning style. The Excel meetings consist of between 30-50 students on average per week, with approximately six faculty members working with them to examine difficult and challenging concepts. The meetings are held jointly with first and second year students.

Faculty do not lecture during these meetings; 28 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

Pass Rate COMLEX Level 1 0

20

40

60

80

LECOM Bradenton

100%

LECOM Erie/Seton Hill

96.2%

LECOM Bradenton

97.4%

LECOM Bradenton

LECOM Erie/Seton Hill

99.1%

LECOM Bradenton

98.4%

National

82.6%

LECOM Erie/Seton Hill

84.7%

0

20

40

60

80

100

National

91.9%

LECOM Erie/Seton Hill

87.9%

LECOM Bradenton

85.3%

LECOM Bradenton

92.8%

National

86.5%

National

91.5%

LECOM Erie/Seton Hill

89.8%

LECOM Erie/Seton Hill

93.4%

National LECOM Erie/Seton Hill

National

LECOM Bradenton

97.2% 86.7% 91.2% 94.7% 89.4%

LECOM Erie/Seton Hill

94.4%

LECOM Bradenton

94.1%

2013

92.8%

100

LECOM Bradenton

100%

2013

2013

National

95.7%

80

2012

LECOM Erie/Seton Hill

90.6%

60

LECOM Bradenton 2012

2012

National

40

2011

91.8%

2011

2011

National

93.2%

20

Pass Rate COMLEX Level 3

2010

LECOM Erie/Seton Hill

87.6%

0

2010

2010

National

100

Pass Rate COMLEX Level 2

National LECOM Erie/Seton Hill

92.2% 95% 94.5%

LECOM Bradenton

97.6%

National

95%

LECOM Erie/Seton Hill LECOM Bradenton

94.7% 97.4%

The above charts represent the first time pass rates for each of the COMLEX exams taken from 2010 to 2013.

rather they help to facilitate the various activities upon which the students are working.

Activities have included: team competitions, group and individual practice multiple choice questions, workshops, jeopardy-style games, and even mock board exams for the first year participants. Participants include a wide range of students, from those who simply require a bit of extra help, to those at the very top of the class. Because the group sessions are active, each student can derive from the session precisely that which he or she may require.

During the spring, the MSII class will focus upon board review in response to student requests from those who regularly attend the meetings.

Indeed, the importance of these scores cannot be overstated. Why? Dr. Christine Kell, LECOM Associate Dean of Preclinical Education and Professor of Microbiology explains that, “with the increasing number of medical students, competition for residencies also has increased. Students need to take

the exams very seriously. Some residency programs will not even consider a student with a failure on any of the board exams,” she emphasized. Unquestionably, the mission of education at LECOM is preparing osteopathic physicians, pharmacy practitioners, and dentists through programs of excellence in education. Dr. Kell explained that the focus of the LECOM Medical School curriculum is to provide to students the knowledge that they need to become excellent osteopathic physicians. Such preparation also enables them to be successful on board examinations.

Dr. Kell noted further that students will be tested throughout their careers. “Performance on board examinations serves as an indication to residencies (residency programs) of a student’s ability to be a self-directed learner who will be successful on licensure exams,” she concluded.

data about the LECOM test outcomes and national comparisons are delineated in the accompanying graph.

LECOM lauds the educational prowess and commitment to preparing well-trained and capable scholars that is exhibited by the faculty and staff at each of the campuses.

The enduring focus upon the student, above all else, becomes evident in a review of these testing outcomes.

If, as the adage goes, the “proof is in the pudding,” the banquet of board score success offers a pleasant feast for LECOM.

Accreditation standards require that colleges post test scores online and that they make available related testing information.

Key @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 29

THE HILL IS ALIVE WITH ACCOMPLISHED GRADUATES As the sound of Pomp and Circumstance greeted the Class of 2014 at Seton Hill, a number of graduates with interesting stories to share emerged from the assemblage.

Hailing from California, LECOM at Seton Hill graduate, Lindsay Cassey, DO, is the first in her family to attend college. Her medical degree from LECOM allows her to fulfill her dream of practicing family medicine with a concentration upon the underserved and women’s health issues.

Before attending medical school, Dr. Cassey worked for Woman, Infants, and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC), encouraging low income mothers to start and to continue to breastfeed. Her focus upon volunteerism found her both working for the American Red Cross and journeying to Honduras to teach basic sanitation techniques to the rural population.

“My experience at LECOM was good and challenging. It was difficult to move so far away from my support network in California 30 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

and to learn to deal with snow and humidity,” states the recent graduate. “I didn’t even know what an ice scraper was before I arrived in Pennsylvania,” she laughed. “Although I enjoyed my education in climate, I was glad that LECOM had a clinical site in San Diego so that I could be closer to home for rotations.

“I relished the PBL format at LECOM, as it was nice to have fewer lectures and a more collaborative learning environment - and I loved the low LECOM tuition as compared to so many other medical schools,” the new doctor announced. Dr. Cassey now proceeds to residency at the Valley Consortium for Medical Education, in the Sacramento area. She is delighted to begin work about an hour away from her family homestead. “I’m very excited to move back to Northern California to be closer to my family and to be able to give back to the region where I grew up,” affirmed Dr. Cassey.

I was able to learn in a way that appealed to me and Seton Hill was a wonderful campus with many locations to study that were outside and in the sun, which greatly appealed to me because I run off of solar energy,” offered Dr. Cranney.

Nathan Cranney, DO, combined a host of unique passions into his medical training at LECOM. The new doctor minored in Ballroom Dancing, Philosophy, and Japanese while in undergraduate school. “While at LECOM,

He travels to the General Surgery Department of the East End Health Alliance Program in Southampton/Riverhead, New York with a hope of returning to practice in southwestern Pennsylvania.

He takes his residency program at Fort Hood, Texas Family Practice as a Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) scholar. The HPSP requires a three year residency in the military with at least a subsequent four years in service upon completion of the residency “I may stay in the Army for 20 years if I find that I love the experience there,” explained Dr. Cranney or I may choose to work somewhere quite rural, as long as there is sun,” clarified the doctor.

LECOM at Seton Hill graduate, BenFauzi ElAttrache, DO, is a state champion in Karate.

Lindsay Cassey, DO

Nathan Cranney, DO

BenFauzi El-Attrache, DO

Louis Lazzara, DO

Jennifer Lynn Silvis, DO

Alyssa McKenna, DO

Brian Nguyen, DO

Kai Schlingmann, DO

A Pennsylvania Karate State Champion for four years, Dr. El-Attrache is a 3rd-Degree Black Belt.

The physically adroit physician was graduated Summa Cum Laude in an accelerated program from the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg with a bachelor’s of science degree.

Louis Lazzara, DO, was a Navy engineer on a nuclear submarine before taking on the medical mantel. He also worked for many years as an electrical engineer and project manager.

Dr. Lazzara volunteered with the Boy Scouts as a den leader and scout master for many years, devoting hundreds of hours of his time to the organization. Dr. Lazzara is grateful to LECOM for preparing him very well. He plans an internal medicine residency at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia. There, he will practice in the Navy with the hope of becoming a hospitalist.

Until LECOM opened its Seton Hill campus location (about 2 miles from Dr. Lazzara’s home), he had all but given up his dream of pursuing a medical career.

“I started in the Navy out of college, I continued in the Navy Reserves, and now, thanks to LECOM, I head to a naval hospital for residency,” commented Dr. Lazzara.

I have not always been a runner, but, running helped me through medical school, and I did much of my studying while on the treadmill and listening to audio files,” she avers.

Yet another Black Belt graduate from LECOM at Seton Hill, Alyssa McKenna, DO, takes fitness and the osteopathic philosophy of whole-body wellness to its fullest potential. As a Master Black Belt she also has completed two halfmarathons, three triathlons, and a sailing race across Lake Michigan.

Brian Nguyen, DO, is interested in a career in pediatrics with a special focus upon developmental and behavioral pediatrics. A younger brother, Ron, with Down Syndrome influenced his career choice. While at LECOM, the volunteer-oriented graduate received a grant from a “Special Olympics Healthy Athletes” program funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Nguyen conducted research with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute and in 2011, the scholar’s research was presented at the Family Medicine Education Consortium NE Region and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians Research Day in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

“LECOM gave me the opportunity to become a doctor after having had a completely different career at GE where I worked on quality improvement initiatives,” explained the grateful physician.

“LECOM valued my career experience when considering me for a spot in the class of 2014” she noted.

Dr. McKenna will be in family medicine residency at Heritage Valley Health System in Beaver, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Nguyen also volunteered with Special Olympics during his time in medical school.

-Continued on Page 39 @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 31

Pictured above is the Reimold family at the baptism of Mary Claire. Front row from L-R: Dierdre holding Emma, Jenny holding Mary Claire, Nolan, Shamus. Back row from L-R: Mary, John Jr. and John Sr.

FAMILY, FAITH, AND FORTITUDE SHAPE LECOM 2014 GRADUATE LECOM Class of 2014 graduate, Shamus Reimold is no stranger to success stories. His two brothers are professional athletes and his sister is a professional actress! Hailing from a family of notably high achievers, Shamus Reimold, DO has his own purposed plan; one wrought from a well-taught, lovingly parented, and decidedly close family.

age thanks to their mother, Mary Reimold, who, along with her husband, John, raised four solidly successful children brimming with personal achievements.

Shamus Reimold, graduates with the Class of 2014 after completing his clinical rotations at Grove City Medical Center and UPMC Horizon in Sharon, PA.

All of the Reimolds succeeded remarkably in the field of sports, making it to the state levels during their days at Kennedy Catholic High School.

His sports-famed brother, Nolan Reimold, garnered outfielder status with the Toronto Blue Jays. His eldest brother, John, plays European basketball for Americale of Luxembourg.

Although Greenville, PA native, Shamus played high school basketball, he chose to pursue a strictly academic calling by turning his attention to pursuing his medical degree at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Equally notably, sister Dierdre, is listed in the cast for Wolf of Wall Street and she enjoys globe-trotting kudos as a magazine cover model.

Shamus comments that he and his siblings enjoyed a fabulous childhood and coming-of32 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

“We were raised with an attention to goals and values beyond the tangible,” explained Shamus.

Author, Somerset Maugham once commented: “the common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and selfcomplacent is erroneous; on the contrary, for the most part, it makes them humble, tolerant, and kind;” and Maugham’s words could not be

more aptly applied to the close-knit Reimold family.

Truly, in large measure, such successes may be traced back to the foundation of parenting.

“I protected their childhood,” mother, Mary, noted in a recent interview.

Moreover, Shamus expounds that faith kept their lives centered and focused. “It was important to keep our lives about more than just momentary attainments,” he remarked.

The family’s strong Catholic faith found Mary teaching theology at Kennedy Catholic School for more than a decade. “Remaining faithcentered allowed everything else to find its proper place,” the LECOM scholar stated.

After graduation, Shamus will begin a residency in Ophthalmology at Millcreek Community Hospital. He continues his family success stories as he answers his medical calling and he continues the LECOM family story of success with this, and each, subsequent attainment.

want to return to our roots and to practice in the area after we graduate,” explained Bryan as he outlined the twins’ goals. Keenly aware of the estimable reputation of LECOM in the full complement of medical training and the education of osteopathic principles, the brothers are certain that the superlative skills that they attained at LECOM will serve them well as they venture into the underserved medical areas of their bucolic homestead.

“Going through medical school with an identical twin was a great experience and a challenge for both of us, but I feel that sometimes it was a greater challenge for the physicians and patients with whom we worked,” noted Brandon. The twins rotated through many of the same hospitals and therefore, they worked with the same physicians. During their internal medicine rotations at Clarion Hospital, they were on the same medicine service. “I’ll never forget a particular patient who had suffered from a minor stroke that had caused diplopia and ataxia. I saw the patient early the next morning, and she was doing quite well. Her double vision symptoms had subsided,” recalled Brandon. “Bryan and I were making rounds later that morning and, upon entering herroom, the patient gasped. She thought that her diplopia had returned and that she was having another stroke. It took some convincing to reassure her that she was, in fact, seeing double - but it wasn’t from a stroke, she was seeing identical twins,” chuckled Brandon.

Brandon Doverspike, DO

Bryan Doverspike, DO

DOVERSPIKE DUO

Dedicated to Practicing Rural Medicine in their Hometown Class of 2014 LECOM Medical School graduates, Brandon and Bryan Doverspike plan to return to their Western Pennsylvania hometown after completing theirrespective residencies. Brandon will be entering family medicine after finishing his residency at Clarion Hospital. Bryan is pursuing an OB/GYN practice and he will be in residency at York Memorial Hospital.

The Porter Township natives are successful LECOM graduates and one of the few sets of identical twins ever to have attended LECOM. The scholarly pair graduated in 2006 from Redbank Valley High School in New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with a firm and focused determination to attend LECOM. “We

The Doverspike twins realize that their time at LECOM will serve as the last time during which they will be together as they go their separate ways in residency.

“We owe so much to LECOM for all that we have attained and it would be our dream to return to the New Bethlehem area to practice and to share those skills,” said Brandon. The twins are sons of Debra and Kevin Doverspike and their family roots in the Township of Porter extend to the close-knit community that they call home.

At LECOM, they received the exceptional training, knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed for each of the siblings to achieve their highest potentials. Now, they will take those many tangibles back to their beginnings where they will truly make a difference in the place that they call “home” - and their hearts will follow.

There is something special in the telling of this story of two identical twins that makes it more than just an interesting tale of remarkable birth pattern. It is, moreover, an account of a scholarly journey of experiences and sensitivity to human emotions that recommends it so highly as a tale of inspiration and dedication to the place of one’s birth; and that place will be doubly blessed with a pair of practicing physicians. @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 33

MOMENTS OF ADVERSITY DEFINE LECOM GRADUATE’S CALLING LECOM at Seton Hill graduate, Christopher Bonn’s story is a sobering one; a story with a life altering genesis that will resonate with all Americans for generations to come.

In 2001, Bonn was a sophomore in college. He had been working as an EMT in South Amboy, New Jersey while carrying out his studies.

At 8:00 a.m. on September 11, Bonn was scheduled to be in class, but as the news of disastrous attacks on American soil disseminated throughout the campus, he received word from school officials that all classes were canceled. The campus police closed the school and everyone was instructed to seek safety. On the way home, Bonn drove to pick up his three younger sisters at their respective schools.

As expected, Bonn’s Emergency Dispatch Center paged all available providers, requesting that they report to base and provide mutual aid to the FDNY and to other NYC paramedic services.

That “aid” turned out to be urgently needed medical care; and immediately, his agency deployed numerous ambulances to assist with the rescue effort in lower Manhattan. Due to the close proximity of northern New Jersey to Manhattan, a large number of police, fire, and EMS units involved in the rescue were dispatched from the northern New Jersey area. Much of the New York City infrastructure was crippled since many high tech radios used by the NYC police and fire departments relied upon antennas that had been located atop of the World Trade Center.

Bonn found his moment of adversity at Ground Zero in Manhattan; where he served for two separate days on September 11 and September 34 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

13, 2001. There, amidst the horrific scene of death and devastation, he raced to provide Pictured is Christopher Bonn, DO (R) with his father Douglas J. Bonn, PhD (L). medical care both to persons rescued from the wreckage and track at LECOM and he favored learning to firefighters and urban search and rescue through clinical correlation with case studies personnel who had been injured in the line of relating to course material. “Having spent duty. many years working with the trauma team in an active Level I trauma center, I found my “I have not been back to the site since,” noted clinical background well-suited to the PBL Bonn. format,” commented Bonn.

Clearly, as a life altering and reality altering moment of truth for the young medic, Bonn eagerly stepped up to the challenge. For Bonn, the memories of that terrible September scene will long serve the purpose of his calling.

As one turns toward the light of all that is possible, the shadows of such calamitous days dissipate, yet they shape the person that one is to become. At that point, one learns that all for which one lives is to make life less difficult for others.

Making his way through those harrowing days and weeks proved Bonn’s resolve and passion for medicine; a resolve and passion that would bear itself out in his successful accomplishment as a LECOM medical student.

During his time at LECOM, Bonn explained that he found the medical program to be challenging in a very positive way. The heavily-structured environment instilled in the students a sense of professionalism that few medical students from other schools demonstrate.

Bonn followed the Problem-Based Learning

The new physician will be undertaking a traditional rotating internship at Meadville Medical Center in Meadville, Pennsylvania and he will be applying to emergency medicine residencies during the following year. “I have been an active EMS provider since 1999, including working part-time in Pittsburgh and in its surrounding municipalities,” stated Bonn. “My last full-time job prior to starting at LECOM was as a flight paramedic on an EC135 helicopter in Philadelphia” he noted.

Bonn was also a member of the EMS faculty at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital EMS Training Center.

Because so much of his adult life has been shaped by his public safety background, Bonn - as a physician - plans to continue actively in training and oversight of pre-hospital medical providers (EMTs and paramedics).

Unquestionably, the moments of adversity and the way in which Christopher Bonn has so triumphantly served to help others through its devastation defines the purposed heart of this LECOM graduate.

Join the LECOM Family of Physicians Treating Erie’s Families We are the physicians of the Clinical Practices of LECOM. Our goal is to provide our patients with the very best osteopathic, whole person care – mind, body and spirit – for a lifetime of optimal health.

You can become part of the osteopathic profession’s only Academic Health Center led by the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.

We’re currently looking to to hire physicians for Obstetrics/Gynecology, Urology and General Surgery for our growing practices.

Please contact Dennis Styn at (814-868-2504 or dstyn@lecom.edu to learn more about available opportunities.

THE CLINICAL PRACTICES OF

LECOM LAKE ERIE COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE

COMMUNITY IS OUR CAMPUS

Medical Students Travel to Uganda

Pharmacy Students Assist With Drug Take-Back

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine students (l-r) Adam Dworkin, Caitlin Blaskewicz, Marissa Sanderson, Kira Benson, Serine Banczak, and Tom Schoenhofen recently returned from an international mission trip to Uganda. Earlier this summer, members of the DO Class of 2017 also made service trips to Honduras, Tanzania, and Peru.

Kristen Whitney, P3, and Justin Horne, P3, of the LECOM campus in Erie recently assisted with a Drug Take-Back. Such events help prevent the misuse and abuse of unused and unwanted prescription drugs by providing the public with a safe and environmentally conscious means of disposal.

Medical Students Host Healthy Living Fair

Students Visit YMCA Kids Club in Erie

Alicia Shontz, P2, was among the students from the LECOM Erie campus to participate in a Healthy Living Fair that LECOM hosted as a kickoff to National Osteopathic Medicine Week. The students distributed information on health-related topics, offered free screenings, and gave demonstrations of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMM).

Larissa Wertalik, OMS2, is among the many LECOM students to regularly visit with children at the YMCA Kids Club in Erie. On a recent visit, the children were able to learn about medical instruments and how they are used with patients.

36 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

COMMUNITY IS OUR CAMPUS

Students Provide Blood-pressure Screenings

LECOM Students Participate in Operation Prom

LECOM first-year medical students Andrew Carney and Spencer Threw met Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle during LECOM’s spring training day at the Pirates. LECOM students offered blood-pressure screenings to fans in attendance.

Todd Leibowitz (OMS1) is carted away by Bayflite personnel after being “injured” in a simulated drunk driving crash during the LECOM annual Operation Prom event at Bayshore High School in Bradenton. Held during prom season, the event emphasizes the dangers of drinking and driving.

LECOM Bradenton Hosts High School Students

Dental Students Teach Proper Flossing

Frank Biondolillo Jr., son of Frank Biondolillo, DO (’97), dissects a sheep’s heart during LECOM’s Medical Science Academy summer program. Biondolillo was among 40 high school students to participate in the program, which is taught by current LECOM Bradenton medical students.

Second-year dental students Pooja Sandesara and Kaycee Wilcox taught proper flossing technique to students at Orange Ridge Bullock Elementary School during the LECOM School of Dental Medicine’s Youth Tooth event.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 37

NOTES

FACULTY NOTES College of Medicine.

Jack D. Caldwell, PhD, has been promoted from Associate Professor of Pharmacology to Professor of Pharmacology.

Beth A. Callihan Ricci, DO, MS (MedEd), has been promoted from Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine/Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine to Clinical Professor of Family Medicine/Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine.

Gregory Coppola, DO, Patrick Leary, DO, and Christopher Rial, DO, presented a clinical case study: Rib Pain in A Marathon Runner at the American College of Sports Medicine Conference in Orlando, Fla. Irv Freeman, PhD, JD, Vice President for LECOM at Seton Hill, was recently appointed to the Research Review Committee of American Mensa, Ltd., on which he previously served from 1997 to 2010. Freeman chaired the Committee from 2004 to 2008 and received the Distinguished Service Award in 2007 for his accomplishments in that role. Dr. Freeman also has been reappointed for an additional one-year term to the American Bar Association Special Committee on Bioethics and the Law. Alice Hudder, PhD, has been promoted from Assistant Professor of Biochemistry to Associate Professor of Biochemistry.

Jessica Huerta, DO, LECOM Sports Medicine Fellow, presented a clinical case study: Hip Fracture in A Marathon Runner at the American College of Sports Medicine Conference in Orlando, Fla. Julie K. Freeman, JD, has been elected to the Council of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Education Law Section and has been appointed to the Editorial Board of The Journal of College and University Law. Jonathan Kalmey, PhD and Randy J. Kulesza, PhD, co-authored an article that was published in Medical Science Educator: “Gross Anatomy Forums: Synthesizing, Assimilating and Applying Clinical Anatomy”.

Randy J. Kulesza, PhD, has been promoted from Associate Professor of Anatomy to Professor of Anatomy.

Ross Longley, PhD, has been promoted from Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology to Professor of Microbiology and Immunology.

Regan Shabloski, DO, has been promoted from Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency 38 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

Medicine to Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine.

College of Medicine – Bradenton Campus

School of Pharmacy

Kristen Balkam (OMS3) received a $1,000 scholarship from the Sun Coast Osteopathic Foundation.

Kimberly Burns, JD, has been promoted from Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences to Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Janene Madras, PharmD, has been promoted from Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice to Professor of Pharmacy Practice.

Rachel Ogden, PharmD, has been promoted from Assistant Professor or Pharmacy Practice to Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice.

Nina Pavuluri, PhD, has been appointed as Assistant Dean for Assessment and has been promoted from Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences to Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Stephanie Peshek, PharmD, has been appointed Director of Curriculum.

Katherine Tromp, PharmD, has been appointed Director of the Distance Education Pathway.

Alejandro Vazquez, PharmD, has been appointed Director of Student Promotion and Graduation.

Arianna Gianakos (OMS3) presented a paper at the European Society for Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy Conference in The Netherlands, Amsterdam May 1417. Gianakos’ paper is titled: Lateral Tibial Osteotomy for Accessing Lateral Osteochondral Lesions of the Talus in Autologous Osteochondral Transplantation: Functional, Radiographic, and T2 MRI Analysis.

Brooke Johnson (OMS3) received a $1,000 scholarship from the Sun Coast Osteopathic Foundation.

Camilo Mohar (OMS4) received a $1,000 scholarship from the Sun Coast Osteopathic Foundation.

School of Pharmacy – Erie Sorana Pisano (P3) has a case vignette published in the April 2014 issue of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Student Newsletter.

STUDENT NOTES

Christopher Sedgwick (P3) was appointed to the American Pharmacists Association - Academy of Student Pharmacists Communication Standing Committee that reviews, evaluates, and contributes to Association publications regarding relevance and value to student pharmacists.

College of Medicine – Erie Campus

School of Pharmacy – Bradenton

Kelly Paschke (OMS3) presented an oral abstract at the American Society of Nephrology Annual Meeting in Atlanta. The abstract is titled “Potential Application of Exhaled Breath Monitoring in Renal Replacement Therapy.” She also co-authored: “Breath analysis in pulmonary arterial hypertension,” published in the Chest Journal.

Sanita Boateng (P4), Sharmin Chowdhury (P4), Julie Krapfel (P4), Io Leong (P4), and Danielle Moore (P4) won first place in the clinical case poster competition for their poster entitled: Comparison of Treatments for Hepatitis C Virus in Genotype 1 Patients.

Aaron Taylor (OMS4) is engaged to Joy Sadaly.

The couple has an Aug. 15 wedding date at Lake Shore Country Club in Erie.

College of Medicine – LECOM at Seton Hill Elsia Yoo (OMS2) was chosen as a recipient of the Dr. Andrew David Bagby Family Medicine Scholarship. Established by Dr. Bagby’s parents, the Latrobe (Pa.) Family Medicine Residency, and the Latrobe Area Hospital Charitable Foundation, the scholarship is designed to support students interested in family medicine.

In addition to the scholarship award, Yoo will participate in a four-week program with the family medicine residency program at Latrobe Hospital.

Kenneth Gordon (P4) received the United States Public Health Services (USPHS) award for Excellence in Community Service.

Marcelle Issa (P4) was selected for a onemonth summer internship in Dijon, France. Issa worked with a research team at the University of Burgundy, focusing upon cardiovascular pathophysiology and pharmacology.

Alena Korbut (P2) received a $1,500 scholarship from the American Association of University Women.

School of Dental Medicine Bradenton Namra Amin (D3) and Tatyana Pustylnik (D3) had their abstract: The Significance of Including Oral Health Education in the Doctoral Curriculum – An Interdisciplinary Approach to Promote

NOTES Oral Health accepted by the American Dental Education Association Women in Leadership International Conference. Amin and Pustylnik will present their abstract at the Conference Sept. 14-16 in Barcelona, Spain.

Desiree McMullen (D2) received a $3,000 scholarship from the Indian River State College Foundation in Fort Pierce, Fla.

ALUMNI NOTES Class of 2003 Thao T. Doran, DO, has joined Hartford (Conn.)

HealthCare Medical Group as a family medicine practitioner, specializing in adolescent and adult medicine.

Class of 2005 Benjamin L. Shaw, DO, was selected by the St. Bernards medical staff as the 2013 “Living the Mission” Physician Award. Dr. Shaw serves as Medical Director of the hospitalist program at St. Bernards in Jonesboro, Ark.

Class of 2006 Jennifer (Kick) Teeter, DO, has been named Team Physician for the Canadian Lacrosse Association and the National Team Program.

Class of 2008 Heather Kurtis, DO, is Associate Program Director for Internal Medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. William E. Kyle, DO, has joined the practice of Dr. John T. Ward at Memorial Health University Physicians Legacy Center in Okatie, S.C. as an internal medicine physician.

Class of 2009 Jillian Edwards, DO and Tooba Fayyaz, DO, have joined Cape Regional Physicians Associates in Cape May Court House, N.J.

Darshdeep “Ishu” Singh, DO, M.S. Med. Ed., has joined Bayhealth Orthopaedic Surgery of Dover, Del. and Milford, Del. Dr. Singh completed both an osteopathic traditional internship and orthopedic residency at Millcreek Community Hospital in Erie, Pa.

Class of 2011 Jeffrey G. Moore, DO, has been appointed Associate Chief Resident at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Department of Anesthesiology.

Jonathan Vitale, DO, a third-year family medicine resident at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago was featured on the American Osteopathic Association website for a promotional advertisement titled “Real DOs.” Matthew L. Fruzza, DO, has joined Woodland (Calif.) Healthcare as a pediatrician.

Class of 2013 Heidi Ochs, DO, was among nine nominees for the Annual Graduate Level -1 Award presented by the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association.

Adam Kichler, DO, was among nine nominees for the Annual Graduate Level -1 Award presented by the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association.

Matthew Madurski, PharmD, has accepted a position as a unit-based clinical staff pharmacist at the main campus of the Cleveland Clinic.

Carrie Ann Burgess, PharmD announces her engagement to Thomas Bruss. The couple will marry on Aug. 30 in Boardman, Ohio.

Class of 2014 Brittany Hall, PharmD, announces her engagement to Myers Miller. A September 2015 wedding is planned.

Brian Nguyen, DO, completed the 26.2-mile Lehigh Valley Health Network Via Marathon.

Matthew Zarraga, DO, announces the opening of Z-Roc Dermatology in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Class of 2010 Laura Kohlhepp Nelson, DO, married Drew Nelson in Chippewa Falls, Wis. on July 6, 2013.

Dr. Kohlhepp Nelson is an emergency medicine physician at St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem, Pa. Joshua Pagano, DO, began a forensic psychiatry fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C. in July.

The LECOM Connection is proud to report about the accomplishments of our graduates, faculty, and students. Often, we learn about these achievements through news reports. We appreciate The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine being mentioned in the articles and we ask that you note that you are a LECOM graduate, student, or faculty member when submitting news articles to your local media.

-Continued from Page 31 “My experience at LECOM taught me to be a strong, independent thinker,” noted Dr. Nguyen; lessons that will serve him well as he undertakes his Pediatric Residency at the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority at Michigan State University.

LECOM at Seton Hill graduate, Kai Schlingmann, DO, serves on the Board of the American Osteopathic Foundation as one of two student representatives nationally. “I had an outstanding experience at LECOM, a school that has provided to me the resources to empower myself to become a lifelong learner,” stated Schlingmann. “Through the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Pathway, I felt that I excelled in my clinical rotations because I was comfortable applying my PBL education to the care of real patients,” he recognized.

Dr. Schlingmann is preparing for an Emergency Medicine residency at Aria Health in Philadelphia. “My goal in medicine is to provide high-quality care to all patients whom I encounter because high-quality care is patientcentered, empathetic, evidence-based, and up to date” he noted. Dr. Schlingmann hopes to pursue academic medicine with a view toward educating future physicians in the osteopathic philosophy.

Jennifer Lynn Silvis, DO, returned from Afghanistan (as Medical Service Corps Officer) two weeks before medical school began and she noted that she still was “demobilizing” when school started. An emergency room and trauma medic in Afghanistan, the new graduate experienced truly challenging events.

“LECOM is a very military-friendly institution; the other students, faculty, and staff were very supportive,” reflected Dr. Silvis. who has matched into General Surgery at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

“For the past 11 years, I have grown up with the Pennsylvania Air National Guard and they have provided to me the opportunity to become a doctor. I plan to remain in the Guard as a physician,” stated the successful soldier. Dr. Silvis recently has been appointed to a flight surgeon position.

Indeed, the Hill was alive with jubilant delight as the new medical professionals stepped from the nurturing halls of LECOM inculcation onto the bright and hopeful path of their noble and purposed calling. LECOM heartily congratulates the triumphant Class of 2014.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 39

UPCOMING LECOM EVENTS 2014 August 4

Classes begin College of Medicine Class of 2017 all campuses

August 7

Millcreek Community Hospital Golf Tournament, Lakeshore CC, Fairview, Pa.

August 7 - 9

School of Pharmacy Erie Orientation – Class of 2017

August 11

Classes begin School of Pharmacy Erie

August 11

Master of Science in Medical Education Classes Begin

August 11-15

Summer Primary Care CME Conference, Atlantic City

August 13 - 15

School of Pharmacy Bradenton Class of 2017 Orientation

August 18

Classes begin School of Pharmacy Bradenton Class of 2018

August 19 - 22

LECOM and Chautauqua Institute Health Care Forum, Chautauqua, NY

September 3

Post Baccalaureate and M.S. in Biomedical Sciences classes begin

September 17

U.S. Constitution Day

September 20

Pharmacy Career Day, Bradenton

September 20

LECOM Erie White Coat Ceremony

October

Pharmacist Month

October 4

LECOM at Seton Hill White Coat Ceremony, Greensburg, Pa.

October 11

LECOM Student Scholarship Fund Dinner and Auction Gala, Bradenton

November 1

LECOM Erie Scholarship Auction

November 26 - 28

Thanksgiving Break

December 4

LECOM Bradenton Osteopathic Medicine Hospital Day

December 22

Semester ends College of Medicine (all campuses, School of Pharmacy and School of Dental Medicine Bradenton semester ends

December 22

School of Pharmacy Erie, third-year students holiday break

40 LECOM CONNECTION | SUMMER 2014 | LECOM.edu

2015 January 5

Second semester begins: College of Medicine (all campuses), Post Baccalaureate and Master of Science, School of Pharmacy and School of Dental Medicine Bradenton

January 19

Martin Luther King (Freedom) Day

January 24

White Coat Ceremony, Bradenton

February 9

Second semester begins first- and second-year students School of Pharmacy in Erie

March 6 - 8

LECOM Primary Care 2015 CME Conference, Findley Lake, NY

March 25 - 27

Spring Break, School of Pharmacy Bradenton

April 9

LECOM at Seton Hill Osteopathic Medicine Hospital Day

April 10

LECOM Erie Osteopathic Medicine Hospital Day

April 19 - 25

National Osteopathic Medicine Week

May 15

Last day of classes, College of Medicine second-year students (all campuses), School of Dental Medicine and School of Pharmacy Bradenton

May 22

Last day of classes, College of Medicine first-year students (all campuses)

May 25

Memorial Day

May 28

Class of 2015 Erie School of Pharmacy Commencement Award Lunch

May 29

Class of 2015 Erie College of Medicine Commencement Award Lunch

May 31

Erie Commencement – Class of 2015

June 4

Class of 2015 Bradenton School of Pharmacy Commencement Award Lunch

June 5

Class of 2015 Bradenton College of Medicine Commencement Award Lunch

June 7

Bradenton Commencement – Class of 2015

July 24

Semester ends for first-year students School of Pharmacy Erie

August 8

Semester ends for second-year students School of Pharmacy Erie

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 41

LECOM

PR ESENTS

PRIMA RY C ARE 2 014 IN ATL ANTI C C I T Y , NJ AU G 10-15 LECOM Erie

Summer Primary Care in Atlantic City, NJ offers a unique learning experience for physicians and health care professionals seeking the opportunity to learn the latest information on medical advancements and treatment options. LECOM clinical faculty will present topics from the perspective of a primary care physician.

Fees:

Standard Registration: $1,585 Adjunct Faculty: $1,385 *Please contact the LECOM CME office, (814) 860-5125 for your registration code.

Registration Only: $450 Standard and Adjunct Faculty Registration includes CME fee, five (5) nights lodging at The Borgata Hotel, breakfast for two (2) Monday through Thursday, plus Monday night dinner for you and a guest.

SUMMER CME CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

Visit LECOM.edu/CME to register.

LECOM anticipates AOA CCME approval for 20 Category 1-A Credits. All lectures will be held between 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. allowing time for afternoon activities around Atlantic City.

For questions about registration, please contact the LECOM CME office at (814) 860-5125 or cme@lecom.edu

Help the students of today... become the physicians of tomorrow.

The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine continues growing rapidly, attracting some of the brightest candidates for the College of Osteopathic Medicine, School of Dental Medicine and School of Pharmacy. While LECOM maintains the second lowest private medical school tuition in the country, these students face mounting debt as they complete their education.

Each year, the college conducts fundraisers only for the purpose of providing scholarships to our students. Through these efforts and support from the LECOM community, LECOM students were awarded $2.7 million in scholarship aid last year.

Your support of the LECOM Student Scholarship Fund will help deserving students fulfill their dreams of becoming physicians, dentists and pharmacists.

Donate online at lecom.edu/scholarship-fund or by sending your contribution to: LECOM Student Scholarship Fund 1858 West Grandview Blvd.

Erie, PA 16509

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