LEWISBURG, W.Va. — The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine received high marks following a recent accreditation.
The Higher Learning Commission gave the Lewisburg-based school an excellent review, according to WVSOM President James Nemitz.
“Basically we’ve met all of their criteria and they’re not requiring any monitoring reports which means essentially they could find anything wrong with us,” Nemitz told MetroNews. “The accreditation only affirms what we’re doing.”
The HLC report, which followed a comprehensive site visit in May, notes the school’s cohesiveness and mission.
“Everyone here understands and embraces the mission of serving West Virginia and providing physicians for rural area,” Nemitz said. “We are the number one school in the state, region and nation for the placement of doctors in rural areas and we are extremely proud of that.”
Earlier this week, WVSOM along with Charleston Area Medical Center announced an expansion of SOM’s campus at CAMC in Charleston. The school will essentially be sending more doctors to Charleston for their clinical training in their third and fourth years. They will train at CAMC General, Memorial and Women’s and Childrens Hospital.
Nemitz said the CAMC partnership has worked well over the years and he’s looking forward to the expansion.
“It’s a proven training model to provide physicians for West Virginia. We’ve shown that. We’ve demonstrated that,” Nemitz said.
WVSOM has other training partnerships in other parts of the state.
The expanded partnership with CAMC will include a curriculum and accredited faculty determined by the school, as well as space CAMC will find for the campus. Students from the school’s South Central Region will also be allowed to use CAMC’s Simulation Center.
Students will also have opportunities to use research support services, and faculty members will have access to CAMC’s faculty development programs.
“Charleston Area Medical Center has had a role in the clinical training of caregivers for a very long time,” CAMC chief executive officer David Ramsey said. “CAMC wants to participate in more educational programs in an effort to recruit and keep the best health care providers in southern West Virginia.”