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OU-COM graduates
continue to choose
primary care
specialties
More
than 63 percent of
this year’s
graduates to
practice
in Ohio
By
Richard Heck
(ATHENS, Ohio)
More than one-half
of this year’s
graduating class at
the Ohio University
College of
Osteopathic Medicine
(OU-COM) will be
entering primary
care residencies
this summer, bucking
a national trend for
new physicians to
choose specialty
medical fields.
Of the 108 new
OU-COM medical
students who will
receive their
doctorates of
osteopathic medicine
during the 32nd
Commencement
exercises on
Saturday at
Templeton-Blackburn
Alumni Memorial
Auditorium, 63
percent enter
residency programs
in Ohio.
Within the next 15
years, some health
care experts predict
that the nation will
experience a serious
shortage of
physicians who
practice primary
care, which
traditionally
includes family
medicine, internal
medicine, and
pediatrics, and
sometimes includes
OB/GYN.
“Primary care
physicians are
desperately needed
in this country, yet
the number of
physicians going
into primary care
continues to
decrease,” said
OU-COM Dean Jack
Brose, D.O. “At
OU-COM, we remain
committed to
recruiting and
encouraging students
who want to practice
in all fields, and
particularly primary
care.”
Since its inception
in 1975, OU-COM has
specialized in the
recruitment,
training and
placement of primary
care physicians.
More than half of
the medical school’s
2,675 practicing
graduates serve as
primary care
physicians, and 60
percent practice in
Ohio. That makes
OU-COM number one in
Ohio, and near the
top ten nationally,
in medical schools
that graduate
physicians who
choose primary care
specialties. OU-COM
graduates are also
more likely to
practice in
under-served rural
areas.
The keynote speaker
at this year’s
ceremony is Leonard
H. Calabrese, D.O.,
director of the R.J.
Fasenmyer Center for
Immunology at the
Cleveland Clinic and
head of the clinical
immunology section.
He specializes in
immunodeficiency
diseases including
HIV and hepatitis C
infection, which are
subjects of both his
clinical care and
investigation.
Among his many
awards and honors,
Dr. Calabrese holds
the R.J. Fasenmyer
Chair of Clinical
Immunology at the
Cleveland Clinic
Foundation. When he was awarded
the Theodore F.
Classen, D.O., Chair
in Osteopathic
Research and
Education in 2008,
he became the first
dual-chair holder in
Cleveland Clinic
history.
He received the
Phillips Medal of
Public Service from
OU-COM, and the
Cleveland Clinic’s
Bruce Hubbard
Stewart Award for
Humanistic Medicine. He was named
an honorary alumnus
of OU-COM in 2007.
In addition to his
duties with the
Cleveland Clinic,
Dr. Calabrese is a
professor of
medicine at the
Cleveland Clinic
Lerner College of
Medicine of Case
Western Reserve
University and vice
chair of the
Department of
Rheumatic and
Immunologic
Diseases. He has
lectured nationally
and internationally
on the subjects of
HIV, immunology and
rheumatology and is
the author of more
than 300 published
peer-reviewed
articles, book
chapters and
reviews.
For the first time,
OU-COM will stream
the Commencement
ceremony live via
web broadcast. The
live feed can be
viewed at
http://www.oucom.ohiou.edu/Commencement2011/video.htm,
beginning at 10 a.m.
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