Bradenton Research Day Poster Award Winners Mark Probative Discovery

Rounding out the deeply penetrating purpose of a superlative education, unmatched clinical care, and unflagging community service, research comprises a key component of the LECOM mission.

The LECOM Bradenton Interprofessional Research Day 2023, boasted a plethora of submissions offered by participating physicians, faculty, and students.

The College takes great pride in the assiduously honed scholarship put forth by the student participants as well as by their mentors.

LECOM extends its hearty congratulations to the winners of the LECOM Bradenton Research Day 2023 Poster Sessions and it offers grateful acknowledgement to the judges of the poster presentations and especially, to the students and faculty mentors for their quality submissions.

Many compelling, probative, and revealing pieces of work were showcased during the event with the following presentations being awarded prizes.

Based upon a rigorous evaluation by faculty judges, the following posters were selected for the 2023 Awards:

1st Place: $500

Allison Hawkins, Class of 2026

Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Steiner, Ph.D.

Title: Exploring the Importance of Translational Quality Control in Gram Negative and Gram Positive Bacteria

2nd Place: $300

Terrence Ahlin, Class of 2024

Faculty Mentor: David Boesler, D.O.

Title: Enhanced Imaging of Individual Retinal Pigmented Epithelial Cells In Vivo with Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy

Joint 3rd Place: $100

Ross Gillan, Class of 2025

Team: Kassidy Webber, Gabrielle Bachtel and Yasmine Ezzair

Faculty Mentors: Anupam Bishayee, Ph.D. and Nicole Myers, D.O.

Title: Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment for Chronic Inflammatory Diseases: Progress, Pitfalls, and Promise

Joint 3rd Place: $100

Kassidy Webber, Class of 2025

Team: Blake Delgadillo, Ante Rebic, Brian Handal and Adam Dann

Faculty Mentor: Paul Danahy, M.D.

Title: Salvage Treatment for Periprosthetic Humeral Nonunion; A Case Report

Congratulations to the LECOM Bradenton Interprofessional Research Day Poster Award winners!

Anticipating the Annual LECOM Student Scholarship Auction Galas: Fanning the Winds of Fortune for Scholars and Scholarship

Andrew Carnegie, famed steel magnate and philanthropist, revolutionized steel production in the United States. Carnegie built plants throughout the nation, using innovative technology that facilitated manufacturing. During each step of the process, Carnegie ensured that he owned all that was needed to create the best steel: the raw materials, the trains and ships for product transport, and even coal mines to drive the furnaces with abundant fuel.

This beginning-to-end strategic plan placed Carnegie in the vanguard of the industry, allowing him to become one of the most prolific benefactors in American history.

Carnegie Steel Corporation became one of the largest steel organizations in the world, fueling the economy and shaping America; and its namesake became known as one of the Builders of the Nation.

Often, there exists a striking similarity among the leadership styles of great visionaries, for it is the well-considered strategic plan and the bold vision that combine to form the foundation of successful endeavors. Those familiar with the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) need not look far to observe the similarities here referenced.

At LECOM, much has transpired in its three decades of exceptionalism - education, enrichment, character, and community - all within the prophecy of a prescient body of educators and physicians whose idea of the possible has transformed the economic tapestry of the region for the betterment of its graduates and the greater community.

Much like Carnegie’s steel nexus, the LECOM Founders, under the guidance of President and CEO, John M. Ferretti, D.O., developed a nexus of medical education and healthcare in the form of the only osteopathic academic health center in America. Together, LECOM and LECOM Health provide all of the means of production, educating scholars at the highest level across four campus locations using innovative, student-centered Pathways unique to LECOM; training within its fulsome network of clinical sites, and graduating superlatively trained and wholly capable healthcare professionals prepared to enter the medical arena of the 21st century.

Within this framework, funding of future graduates has been a pivotal nugget at the core of the LECOM mission.

Boasting one of the lowest medical school tuitions nationwide, LECOM has held fast to the mission of supporting its medical scholars by offsetting the cost of their education. Since 1994, LECOM has distributed more than $40 million in scholarships to deserving students, including more than $20 million during the last five years alone.

The Annual LECOM Student Scholarship Galas are the chief generators of resources that are used to assist students in defraying and offsetting the cost of their medical education. Each year, LECOM raises almost $4 million dollars in scholarship aid for deserving scholars. In a time during which there is an increased need for primary care physicians, the need for successfully graduated medical practitioners is felt now more intensely than ever before.

LECOM makes a significant impact upon student lives each day, improving the student experience through education, advocacy, fundraising, and the hands-on nurturing of positive professional outcomes.

Compounding the plentiful results of events, such as the Annual Galas, the LECOM Student Scholarship Fund has received significant investment support as a result of prudent Auction Gala partners with like-minded organizations.

There is no doubt that LECOM students and their families recognize, in a tangible manner,

Continued from page 10 the way in which LECOM dedicates itself to student success.

Decades have tested the LECOM commitment – doubted by their peers who scoffed at the founders’ vision of establishing an osteopathic medical school in the early 1990s, pressed by the resistance of the allopathic community to osteopathic medicine, and sharpened by the current events in the healthcare climate – LECOM has never wavered in its single-minded focus to educate the next generation of healthcare providers and to better each community that it has come to serve.

It has achieved this noble goal through a steadfast drive to fan the winds of fortune, ever directing them toward LECOM scholars and ensuring bold and sustainable student success.

As its thirtieth anniversary year presents itself to a welcoming multitude, LECOM remains invigorated, buoyed by its enduring purpose, and keeping ever at its core the success of each student who crosses its threshold.

Join with the College in anticipation of the Annual LECOM Student Scholarship Auction Galas and Dinners - October 14. 2023 in Sarasota, Florida and November 11, 2023 in Erie, Pennsylvaniacelebrating 30 years of LECOM!

Flashback FridayHighlighting Our LECOM Family

For thirty years, the successful journey of our scholars has been our passion. Medical education excellence and a steadfast pledge to community betterment have underpinned a legacy-making goal that has positioned the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) as the largest medical school in the nation and as its only osteopathic academic health center.

It has become a truism that while other things may change us, LECOM starts and ends with family. The College has adhered to its enduring practice of treating our family like friends and our friends like family.

This credo is palpably applicable in the realm of our cherished alumni.

A refuge in an ever changing world, our alumni family strives in union to seek purposeful and noble goals: to heal the sick, to cure disease, to strengthen the elderly and the infirm, to bring health and wellness to our communities and neighbors, both at home and abroad. Generations of family members have found an educational home at LECOM, and as our alumni, we are proud to count you among them.

As a continuing tribute to our alumni family, LECOM is celebrating its 30th anniversary year with a series highlighting the success of our graduates.

Each week, the series, entitled Flashback Friday, introduces a LECOM healthcare professional - our alumni - to the world of social media. The graduate is introduced onscreen and he or she then takes a few minutes to tell the audience about his or her accomplishments, current position, favorite LECOM class, and any other interesting personal details.

As you make a difference in the betterment of your communities, do not forget that just as you are part of our story, your educational home is part of your story. We encourage you to hold fast to those ties that bind and share a moment or two with us on Flashback Friday.

LECOM looks forward to hearing from you soon! Join us!

LECOMThe Right Choice for a New Age

With the burgeoning number of medical schools now seemingly inundating potential students with options, just what is it that places the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) decidedly at the pinnacle of the list?

Of all methods used in determining “the best” of multiple options, a long-revered set of widely accepted indicators of excellence has been the gold standard.

LECOM has an extraordinary record due to its recognized faculty, innovative and top-rated curriculum, multi-skilled and high-accomplishing graduates, supportive student scholarship reserve, superlative match rates and board scores, and universal distinction. It has the one of the lowest tuitions in the United States, providing unparalleled value for exceptional medical training.

Given its recognized name and renowned stature, a prospective student should rely upon the gold standard of medical education when assessing options.

However, eclipsing these key determining factors, one added aspect definitively sets LECOM apart from the rest: The LECOM family spirit! It is an intrinsic value that is the crowning glory of a valued professional degree. This is the unshakable through-line of the possible, an institutional organization that fully supports each and every one of its students as they become part of the ever growing family of LECOM.

Throughout its three-decade history, that sense of family and community has propelled the journey of a great institution of medical education. Student success is at the very center of all LECOM undertakings, and THAT is the defining hallmark of a successful professional future in medicine!

LECOM has developed a proud sense of tradition. As scholars engage in their academic journey and professional pursuits, each will do so knowing that they are experiencing moments and creating memories that are shared across generations. Upon graduation they join one of the most passionate and purposed alumni networks in the world.

To those with an interest in the medical profession, with the heart of a healer, and with a passion to make a difference, we say:

“Join us — we cannot wait to welcome you!”

LECOM Class of 2023

Robed in Honor, Crowned with Light

The lamp of learning is burning brightly at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) as the 27th LECOM Commencement Ceremonies were held on May 28, 2023 in Erie, Pennsylvania and on June 4, 2023 in Bradenton, Florida.

Two ceremonies in Erie took place, one at 10 a.m. and the second at 2 p.m. at the Erie Insurance Arena in the downtown area of the city. Likewise, Bradenton hosted a 10 a.m. and a 2:30 p.m. ceremony with both events held at the Bradenton Area Convention Center in Palmetto, Florida.

The School of Pharmacy highlighted the Erie morning ceremony as 140 students in the Class of 2023 received degrees. That session included 11 Distance Education graduates who chose to participate in the Erie event.

In addition, 131 Masters Degrees were conferred by the School of Health Services Administration (SHSA) and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS). The conferred degrees include the Masters in Health Services Administration, Masters in Public Health, Master of Science in Biomedical Ethics, Master of Medical Science, Master of Science in Biomedical Science, and the Master of Science in Medical Education.

Two graduates received Ph.D.s in Anatomy Education while two others received their Ph.D. Degree in Medical Education. More than 2,000 guests attended the 10 a.m. Commencement. Some 350 graduates and nearly 3,000 family members and guests gathered for the afternoon ceremony to see degrees conferred upon the College of Medicine Erie and Seton Hill scholars.

One week later, LECOM Bradenton graduated its 17th Class as degrees were conferred upon the College of Medicine, School of Health Services Administration, and Graduate School of

Biomedical Science scholars.

A total of 175 new DOs celebrated during the morning session, bringing the total number of graduates in the Class of 2023 to 525 across all LECOM campuses. In addition, 118 Masters Degrees were conferred upon accomplished scholars with six Ph.D.s in Healthcare Administration included in the tally. Those six scholars were the first to receive doctorates conferred by the School of Health Services Administration.

Dental Medicine Graduates at the LECOM Bradenton Commencement.

The Master’s Degree candidates at Bradenton included 71 scholars in the Masters of Medical Science Program, 18 students in the Masters in Public Health Program, five candidates in the Master of Science in Biomedical Ethics Program, and 24 scholars in the Masters in Health Services Administration Program. Finally, three LECOM Bradenton scholars received the Master of Science in Medical Education Degree.

The 2:30 p.m. Commencement Ceremony in Bradenton saw 112 Doctor of Pharmacy Degrees conferred upon deserving scholars, including 18 of those who graduated in the School of Pharmacy Distance Education Pathway. This event marked the 13th LECOM Bradenton graduating class in Pharmacy.

Also receiving degrees were 103 scholars in the

Commencement is a special day for graduates and their families.

Continued from page 15

School of Dental Medicine, the eighth commencement for that discipline since welcoming its first class in 2012.

At the conclusion of the four Commencement Ceremonies, LECOM welcomed more than 1100 new alumni to its ranks. Since opening its doors in 1992, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine has continued to produce the finest professionals in the healthcare arena, each of them prepared fully to meet the challenges of 21st century healthcare.