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Research Education

“ There is a strong movement from the college of medicine backed up by the
Osteopathic Heritage Foundation to prepare our students to be the ones that change
the face of medicine,“ — Sonsoles de LaCalle, M.D., Ph.D.

Education is the common thread that runs through all research
growth at OU-HCOM. The value of early and ongoing immersion in
research for medical students is critical to scientific discovery, for
predoctoral and postgraduate education and for undergraduate students
in all other health professions.

“There is a strong movement from the college of medicine backed
up by the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation to prepare our students
to be the ones that change the face of medicine,“ said Sonsoles de
LaCalle, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical sciences and
director of advanced studies.

The college considers research training critical for all physicians,
as physicians daily translate biomedical research into clinical
practice. Most of OU-HCOM’s students will go back to their home
communities, and each will address unique needs and differences.

“Those of our students who have the desire and the ability to conduct
and interpret research will have the means to do it,” Dr. de LaCalle
said. “There are some people who are passionate about what we can do
differently, how we can practice medicine better. We have physicians
in training who ask themselves, ‘How can these techniques that I have
learned be better applied or tweaked in a way that will meet the needs of
this individual, not just a population, but the person in front of me right
now?’ This is very important because one size does not fit all.”

The intellectual infrastructure for research education will be expanded
throughout the college, including the new campuses. Funding from the
Osteopathic Heritage Foundation’s gift and additional resources from
Ohio University and OU-HCOM mean that a combined $70.5 million
will be invested over the next 15 years to support research education
opportunities across the full continuum of medical education.

“We want to create a lot of options so our medical students have the
ability to graduate with what I call a D.O. Plus,” Biknevicius said. “To be
competitive and to get into residency programs, you often have to show you
have something else going on. It could be a research fellowship, or it could
be a D.O. plus a certificate in something like diabetes research or
global health.”

A new dual-degree Master of Health Sciences program (D.O./
M.S.) is being created that would allow medical students to explore a
research topic while obtaining their D.O. Similar to the D.O./Ph.D.
that already exists, the Master of Health Sciences program will provide
further options for advanced study and research in biomedical sciences
and such health-related disciplines as global health, community health,
the history of medicine and epidemiology, among others.

Existing programs such as our Research and Scholarly
Advancement Fellowships and the CORE Research Office are being
expanded through the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation’s gift. With
two additional campuses, the college will ensure that students at
all locations participate in powerful research experiences and that
research education, research program development and hands-on
opportunities for medical students, residents and other clinical faculty
members remain a priority.

“If we’re running big labs that are research active, student
involvement is just going to fall into place. If we have the grants and
we have the scholarly activity, we’ll be able to engage students in world
class research,” said Dr. Clark.