By Barbara Myers, Moultrie, Ga. | By signing a Memorandum of Agreement, representatives from Colquitt Regional Medical Center in Moultrie, and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) in Philadelphia, Penn., agreed to develop a feasibility plan and present it for approval to the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) to develop an additional location in South Georgia. The College also operates a school of Osteopathic Medicine in Suwanee, Ga.
Colquitt Regional President and CEO Jim Matney says: “The positive impact this endeavor to establish a location in South Georgia will have on physician recruitment and workforce development will be substantial. Building a premier site for rural medical education has been a long-term goal for Colquitt Regional, and we are glad to partner with PCOM in bringing a campus to this region. I am pleased that our regional academic institutions are interested in enhancing the medical education pipeline. Valdosta State University, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, and Thomas University have offered support for a campus of PCOM.”
Jay Feldstein, DO, president of PCOM, says: “We look forward to bringing our college’s 117 years of experience in educating physicians and health sciences professionals to the South Georgia area. This Memorandum of Agreement, signifying our mutual respect and trust, begins the extensive process with our accrediting agency to make this possibility come true within the region. We enthusiastically look forward to a successful outcome for all.”
William Craver III, DO, dean and chief academic officer of Georgia Campus – Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (Ga-PCOM) in Suwanee, says: “We are excited to enter into formal discussions and planning with Colquitt Regional Medical Center, as well as local and regional business, healthcare and education stakeholders to develop an additional location.”
The new endeavor would help the college further fulfill its stated focus “to recruit and educate students from Georgia and the surrounding states, to retain graduate osteopathic physicians, pharmacists, biomedical scientists and other healthcare professionals, and to serve the health needs of the region,” Craver says.
PCOM is a private, not-for-profit, multi-program institution, focused on health sciences education, which was founded in 1899 in Philadelphia. Eleven years ago, the college established a branch campus in Suwanee, just north of Atlanta. Known as Ga-PCOM, the 1,000+ student campus offers the doctor of osteopathic medicine degree, the doctor of pharmacy degree, as well as graduate degrees in biomedical sciences and physician assistant studies.
Ga-PCOM, which has conferred more than 1,100 degrees to date, was formed to respond to the acute need for more healthcare providers to serve Georgia and surrounding states. Graduates are encouraged to serve the underserved and where the need is greatest – inner cities and rural areas with severe provider shortages. Today, students participate in third and fourth year clerkships, some in the South Georgia area, as part of the curriculum.
With more than 5,000 annual applications for its osteopathic medical program, the Suwanee campus now accepts 135 medical students each year. When it began, Ga-PCOM accepted 80 students into its first class. In 2010 the campus applied to COCA for a substantive change to increase its class size which was approved and met all accreditation standards with commendations.
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