The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine has formed a partnership with a cancer research laboratory through its campus in Spartanburg, S.C.

The newly renovated 7,500-square-foot laboratory is located at the Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute, an entity of the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System.

With an open-floor design to facilitate shared resources, the laboratory offers “significant opportunities for continuing medical education and research” at VCOM’s  Carolinas campus, the Blacksburg school said in an announcement.

The facility, which cost $2 million, is a shared investment between Spartanburg Regional and VCOM.

“We are excited to move forward in this new partnership, working with Spartanburg Regional and the Gibbs Cancer Center and Research Institute to conduct research and promote health for humankind,” Dr. Timothy Kowalski, vice dean of the Carolinas campus, said in the announcement.

Opened in 2011, VCOM’s Spartanburg location has about 320 students.

A single, universal education system for newly minted physicians entering their first jobs as interns and residents is being developed as the governing bodies for osteopathic and allopathic doctors team up to train medical school graduates.

For the nation’s physician workforce, it’s a big deal and it will have an impact on the hundreds of doctors being trained in the Roanoke region. Those most affected will likely be osteopathic doctors who graduate from places such as the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Blacksburg.

For years, osteopathic doctors, those designated with a D.O., have had two options for training after they graduate medical school: They could either enter programs governed by the American Osteopathic Association, or they could join their allopathic colleagues, those with the more recognized M.D. credentials, in one of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education programs.

Many doctors of osteopathy bounced between the two programs, doing a one-year internship in a program accredited by the AOA, then signing up for residency governed by the ACGME. Or doing an osteopathic residency program and then seeking a specialty fellowship accredited by ACGME.

Under the unified system that will be developed between now and July 2015, all of those programs will merge and have one identical accreditation process. Many of the details still need to be worked out, but Dr. Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, dean of VCOM, said it will improve the quality, cost and consistency of medical education in the country.

“The end result is, it will benefit the country … to have one system working and tasking for one goal of higher quality, more efficient health care,” she said.

She added that the unified system could also improve efforts to create new educational opportunities, because hospitals that seek to host these programs will only have to follow one accreditation standard instead of picking between the two, or following two separate set of guidelines. Finally, she said it will make evaluating the effectiveness of medical education better.

“This is a watershed moment for medical training in the U.S,” said Thomas Nasca, CEO of ACGME, in a news release.

If my email inbox is any indication, a lot happened during my week off. While I sort through the tips and press releases, I thought I would point out a few stories as a way to begin catching up:

• The Virginia Department of Health confirmed, as of  Tuesday, five cases of West Nile Virus in the Commonwealth. Meanwhile, the state public health officials have joined the national plea for people to avoid mosquito bites as a way to prevent the disease. Among the health department’s hints are to use insect repellent, wear long sleeves and pants at dusk and dawn, and eliminate  standing water to deter mosquito breeding areas from forming in your yard.
• The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine announced plans to open a second branch campus. The latest addition to the private Blacksburg-based school will be in Alabama and is expected to open by 2015. The  college’s first branch campus welcomed its second class in South Carolina earlier this summer.
• A community health survey released last week by Carilion Clinic revealed some local residents need better access to medical care, more nutritious food, increased health education and opportunities to build their physical fitness. The findings didn’t surprise those who conducted the survey, my colleague Neil Harvey reported. Read the entire executive summary.
• Finally, if you missed it, I posted an entry earlier today on Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Virginia’s plans to open four four medical offices as a way to begin providing health care directly to Medicare recipients.

The 10th class at VCOM in Blacksburg. (Photo courtesy of VCOM)

The tenth class has arrived at the Blacksburg campus of the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Meanwhile, the college’s “Carolinas Campus” is welcoming its second class of students in Spartanburg, S.C.

Classes have begun for all 350 new students, so it seems an appropriate time to share some of the statistics for the entering class.

The college now boasts it is the largest medical school in the Southeast for new enrollment.

Of that class, 188 students will be in Blacksburg while the rest will be in South Carolina.

Women represent 55 percent of the class.  It”s worth noting considering last year females represented 46 percent of enrolled osteopathic medical students.

The second class at VCOM's Carolinas Campus. (Photo courtesy of VCOM)

In keeping with VCOM’s mission to focus on the need for physicians working in rural Appalachia, 74 percent of the class hails from an Appalachian state.

Student came for earning degrees at several Virginia schools including Virginia Tech, James Madison University and the University of Virginia. But other top “feeder schools” included Clemson University, Penn State and the University of Florida.

The 2012 graduating VCOM class. (Photo courtesy of VCOM)

The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine graduated its largest class ever Saturday with 180 students earning degrees.

Nationally, the number of students graduating from osteopathic medical colleges grew 9 percent this spring, with about 4,500 earning degrees, according to the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.

And the number of physicians with a DO instead of a MD attached to their names is expected to continue to increase. Read more »

Liberty University is moving forward with its plans to open a medical school by the fall of 2013 with the hiring of a dean.

Dr. Ronnie Martin, who was most recently an associate and vice dean at Blacksburg’s Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, will preside as dean over the development of the new school.

Like VCOM, Liberty is seeking to open an osteopathic medical school, with accreditation from the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.

The Virginia Tobacco Commission recently approved a $12 million grant to support the opening of the medical school as part of a larger plan to develop a Center for Medical and Health Sciences at the university’s campus.

Liberty Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said in a recent university publication, that Liberty will encourage its medical students to begin their careers in underserved communities in Southwest Virginia and is considering a student loan forgiveness program as an incentive.

Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever and Syphilis are just a few of the conditions I saw mentioned while glancing through some of the letters written by a family of physicians who practiced in the Shenandoah Valley during the 19th century.

An exhibit of the letters is on display at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine through Dec. 17. The exhibit called, The Henkel Physicians: A Family’s Life in Letters, is billed as offering “a glimpse into the daily lives of men of medicine” in the region.

Besides sharing details about patients and their outcomes, the collection also sheds light on the social and home life and how one family experienced the Civil War. One of the final letters of the collection even discusses the testimony of the Henkel physicians gave in a murder trial.

You can also read the accounts online.

The traveling exhibit was developed and produced by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health and curated by Jim Labosier. It will be on display outside the VCOM Library on the second floor at 2265 Kraft Dr. in Blacksburg.

Screengrab of www.choosevirginia.net

The Virginia Department of Health launched a new website, www.choosevirginia.net, aimed at recruiting needed health care workers to the Commonwealth.

The aim is to use the site as a way to provide job information, resources and programs to potential and existing health care professionals, said Aileen Harris, who has helped to lead the sites creation for the health department.

Harris said the site is a pilot effort that was funded with a $10,000 grant from the Virginia Statewide Area Health Education Centers Program.

The site is aimed at everyone from high school students interested in careers in health care to working nurses, doctors and other health professionals. The state is asking anyone with interest in the the health field to register. Read more »

A group of New River Valley doctors’ bid to open a new health center in Blacksburg with federal dollars was unsuccessful.

The group, led by the Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems with help from the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, was seeking to open a new federally qualified health center, similar to New Horizons Healthcare in Roanoke. Read more »

Photo courtesy of VCOM

The 162 members of the inaugural class of the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine – Carolinas Campus are now attending classes.

Students arrived at the new branch campus, in Spartanburg, S.C., for orientation last week and have since started classes. Check out the eager medical students in the photo to the left sent to me by the college’s spokesman William King.

Nearly 40 percent of the students at the branch campus are from North Carolina or South Carolina, according to King. Read more »