LECOM Connection Fall 2015

THE

LECOM

ONNECTION

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine FALL 2015

PGA TOUR and LECOM Health Announce New Web.com Tour Event

LECOM.edu

Ever prepared to lead in the area of promoting health and wellness, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) and the PGA TOUR have announced that LECOM will become the title sponsor of a new Web.com Tour event at Peek’n Peak Resort in Western New York.

With the LECOM Health Challenge, LECOM is delighted to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the PGA and the Web.com Tour to encourage and to highlight the full spectrum of health and wellness. The young Web. com Tour professionals share a meritorious distinction with LECOM scholars as both groups exhibit indefatigable commitment

and unyielding dedication in the pursuit of their career goals.

The PGA TOUR, one of the most respected professional sports organizations in the world, and LECOM, the largest medical college in the nation, take deep pride in this venture. Proceeds from the tournament will benefit the LECOM Student Scholarship Fund, as well as supporting other charities in Chautauqua County, New York and in the Greater Erie, Pennsylvania area.

Superlative osteopathic medical training, civic virtue, conviction, and sharply-honed character make LECOM graduates pillars of

human purpose in the intimate structure of society. On the course, gamesmanship and team play affirm this laudable objective.

LECOM, as the title sponsor of this estimable sporting event, yet again, demonstrates its unswerving commitment to educational advancement as it supports scholarships for LECOM osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, and dental students through its Student Scholarship Fund and fundraising endeavors that reinforce the noble calling of osteopathic medicine.

LECOM is proud to feature this, and many noteworthy stories, in the pages to follow.

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine 1858 West Grandview Blvd.

Erie, PA 16509 814-866-6641 • www.lecom.edu

John M. Ferretti, DO President/CEO Thomas J. Wedzik Chairman of the Board of Trustees Silvia M. Ferretti, DO Provost, Senior Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs John D. Angeloni, DO Vice Provost, Clinical Professor of Family Medicine, Bradenton Hershey Bell, MD, MS (MedEd) Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the School of Pharmacy Anton S. Gotlieb, DDS, MS Dean of the School of Dental Medicine Robert George, DO Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Bradenton Pierre Bellicini Institutional Director of Communications and Marketing Eric Nicastro Assistant Institutional Director of Communications and Marketing Lori Denny Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing, Bradenton Rebecca A. DeSimone, Esquire Chief Writer/Editor-in-Chief

The LECOM Connection invites you to contribute to our publication. If you have news of alumni achievements, research or student activities, please contact the Communications & Marketing Department, at (814) 866-6641, or e-mail communications@lecom.edu.

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John M. Ferretti, DO - President/CEO 04 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Exemplars of Health and Wellness The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best. ~ Epictetus As our Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) family welcomes the new classes to the fold of its ever-expanding network of exceptionalism and as the lambent glow of our superlative educational offerings radiates across the largest osteopathic health center in the nation, I welcome personally this opportunity to share a few words of insight with our scholars, alumni, faculty, staff, and larger readership.

At LECOM, our educational paradigm embraces whole body care. Verily, the osteopathic tradition is founded upon the ability of the human body to heal itself; upon the comprehensive and fundamental notion of whole person wellness, and upon the truism that mind, body, and spirit are linked harmonious and inextricably bound.

Given the foregoing then, it follows that a LECOM Connection magazine featuring, on its cover, the LECOM sponsorship of the Web.com PGA Tour would be entirely in keeping with a paradigm through which the osteopathic objectives of health and wellness are achieved.

Yet, I wish to take that general assessment to a more probative plain; to elucidate the value, not only of the sport of golf, the PGA Tour, and the profoundly important partnership upon which the LECOM sponsorship (the LECOM Health Challenge) is predicated, but to articulate the deeply valued benefit of achieving and maintaining health and wellness through sports.

LECOM Health consistently promotes healthful lifestyles; those that lead to longer, fuller, and more fulfilled lives. Sports and fitness are essential to maintaining wellness, whether one is power-walking around the block or swinging the four iron on a professional fairway.

This pledge to healthful living, to whole person wellness, and to the unflagging promotion of fitness illuminates and guides our mission, so much so that we opened the

most advanced and innovative fitness and wellness center in the region. Augmenting a plethora of educational advancements, LECOM has been an active purveyor of community enrichment, promulgating health and wellness for all. With the 2009, opening of the John M. and Silvia Ferretti Medical Fitness and Wellness Center, the College founded a medically integrated wellness center that not only serves the fitness and medical education needs of LECOM students and employees of LECOM Health, but also provides a facility that offers to the populace of Erie County an opportunity to pursue a better quality of life through disease prevention and wellness.

Further demonstrating the LECOM Health commitment to capacious and multifaceted wellness, the premier LECOM Sports and Orthopedic Medicine group provides a complete range of orthopedic, sports medicine, and integrative medicine services to the everyday athlete, as well as to varsity, college, and professional players. Our doctors serve as the team physicians for the Erie BayHawks of the NBA League, the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League, and for the varsity athletes of Mercyhurst University.

Fitness, health, and wellness are companioned unquestionably with sports.

Indeed, the entire educational model dovetails with the instructive principle that sports affords an ideal opportunity for any athlete (professional or non) to develop life-skills such as character, teamwork, honor and fair play, excellence and hard work, discipline, overcoming adversity and failure, resiliency and perseverance, joy and humility, respect, maturity, unselfishness, personal responsibility, goal setting, preparedness, citizenship, and the importance of developing a competitive spirit.

All of these attributes engender success and survival skills, and all are direct benefits and consequential outgrowths of sports.

Collectively, health and wellness begins with an understanding that the principle nature of physical activity, athletics, sports, and physical education form an integral part of the educational process, presenting innumerable opportunities to achieving skills that last a lifetime. They embody an extension of our societal mores; social interactions fostered by the sports experience further enhance the benefit of sports to athletes and nonathletes alike.

The striking parallel between these dedicated golfers who will be featured in the PGA Tour through the LECOM Health Challenge and our own assiduous medical students is evident; all of them are devoting extraordinary time and indefatigable effort into achieving their career goals.

Thus, as the cover reveals, LECOM Health takes bold strides yet again to serve as an unabashed exemplar of comprehensive wellness as it further advances a culture of fitness, health, and wellness by becoming the title sponsor of the LECOM Health Challenge.

The responsibility to demonstrate and to develop these vital health benefits and to strengthen and refine these virtuous character attributes through sports should never be discounted. The indispensable lessons and the intrinsic value of sports along with the quantifiable health benefits are acquired through competition, through physical challenge, through personal mastery, through increased skill development, as well as by performing to the best of one’s abilities. These are preponderant hallmarks, equally applicable to good scholarship as they are to good sportsmanship. LECOM Health understands that success relates to the effort committed to realizing one’s personal potential. Indeed, for those seeking health and wellness as a new way of life, and for those seeking the calling of a lifetime - LECOM Health stands as a luminous exemplar.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 05

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER STORY pg 10 ......

PGA TOUR and LECOM Health Announce New Web.com Tour Event

The recent announcement that LECOM will become the title sponsor of a new PGA and Web.com Tour event at Peek’n Peak Resort in Western New York furthers the role of LECOM as an unabashed leader in advancing the powerfully healing principles of osteopathic medicine.

This international event spotlights the LECOM Health Challenge in collaboration with notable partners from New York and Pennsylvania to emphasize the significance of health and wellness in the field of sports.

The LECOM Health Challenge will highlight the full spectrum of health and wellness through a multifaceted sporting event that will garner international media coverage as it benefits the LECOM Student Scholarship Fund.

FEATURES pg 12 ...... pg 20 ..... pg 24 ..... pg 30 .....

LECOM Opens Senior Living Center LECOM Board Scores Incoming Student Profiles Closing a Door, Lifting a Lamp

DEPARTMENTS pg 34 .....

Community is Our Campus

pg 36 .....

Faculty, Student, and Alumni Notes

MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine is to prepare students to become osteopathic physicians, pharmacy practitioners, and dentists through programs of excellence in education, research, clinical care, and community service to enhance the quality of life through improved health for all humanity. The professional programs are dedicated to serve all students through innovative curriculum and the development of postdoctoral education and interprofessional experiences.

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CREDOS OF OUR CALLING •WISDOM•

Who is wise?

One who learns from all men. ~The Talmud

“Wisdom” long has been said to form the driving force of all virtues - for without it, every act that one undertakes risks foundering upon the shores of folly.

Each deed that involves effecting a decision, no matter how seemingly trivial, requires some application of wisdom - the judicious application of knowledge.

Wisdom is the capacity to think and to act by combining the attributes of knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight. The Ancients regarded wisdom as one of the cardinal virtues, cultivating its benefits as a habit or disposition to perform any action with the highest degree of competency and aplomb. Under any given circumstance, wisdom implies possession of knowledge blended with the sagacity of experience, prudence, temperance, and foresight.

To become wise, it is imperative to develop an understanding of people, things, events, situations, and to possess the willingness, as well as the ability, to apply perception, judgement, and action to an optimal course of action. Often, wisdom requires control of one’s emotional reactions (called by the Ancients: the “passions”) such that the valued principle prevails to determine one’s actions.

Wisdom forms the disposition to seek out the truth and to couple that truth with an optimum judgment to reach the wisest course of action in pursuit of the best result.

As an academic institution, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) advances the virtue of wisdom in its every undertaking; cultivating it in the classroom; encouraging it in community projects; and pressing ever forward to increase the depth, breadth, and wholeness of character among its student body.

LECOM fills and nourishes the character as it educates, serves, and elevates humankind in developing to prudence, sagacity, and discernment, those who would pursue its noble mission.

Always, there will exist those to voice disapproval and to proclaim wrong the path of the wise. Always too, there will exist difficulties that tempt one to believe the critics correct. Wisdom is a distinctive attribute that does not allow one to shrink from taking the correct course of action even though such action may meet with resistance, ridicule, or retaliation. It is an intrinsic quality by which a heart and a soul of focused integrity is promulgated through fully contemplated action.

As medical practitioners, all come to seek wisdom. To set a prudent course of action and to follow it to its end, necessitates wisdom; a virtue that prospers through effort and commitment, through determined understanding, through pain and loss, sweat and tears.

Yet, companioned with wisdom are accompanied the greatest goods and the most prodigious triumphs of healing.

LECOM leaders hold the venerated virtue of wisdom in high approbation as its essence propels LECOM progeny toward the purposed calling of medicine; elevating intellectual, moral, and ethical understanding to imbue within that progeny a vision of the cherished pinnacle of human attainment.

For this reason, the LECOM Connection highlights WISDOM as a “Credo of Our Calling.” @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 07

A Shared Heart and a Kindred Spirit Defines LECOM Family For almost a quarter of a century, your journey has been our passion. Excellence in medical education coupled with an unabashed commitment to community have formed the hallmark of a legacy-making mission that has established us as the largest medical school in the nation and as its only osteopathic academic health center.

With an ever-expanding health and wellness network, LECOM sets the standard in the medical education arena and it forms the very paradigm of exceptionalism in the health and wellness field.

Other things may change us, but we start and end with family. Through all of our undertakings and attainments - our family, your family, the “family” - is the word essential to the core of caring - and it is central to all that is LECOM. We have adhered to the time-honored practice of treating our family like friends and our friends like family.

As a social unit, the family is the compass that guides us. It is our inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when, occasionally, we falter; the rock that stays steady, the only institution that works.

Family is not simply flesh and blood; rather it is the heart, the support through the toil, the encouragement through the times of friction, the steadfast cement that binds us together. The bond that links family is not one of blood alone, but that of a shared purpose and of a profound joy in each other’s life.

Indeed, the family is the nucleus of civilization; the school of duties founded upon love, respect, and understanding.

It must be cultivated, as is a garden, with time, effort, and imagination; each summoned constantly to keep the relationship flourishing and growing. In every conceivable manner, the family is the link to our past and the bridge to our future.

Our family of students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community partners enables us to learn from the past, to treasure the present, and to plan boldly and confidently for the future.

Our family - the LECOM family - embodies a group of closely connected persons learning, working, and striving together - seemingly under one roof; it is surely a convenience, sometimes a necessity, often a pleasure, and always, exalted as an admirable ideal.

A haven in a struggling world, our family strives together to achieve great and noble accomplishments - to heal the sick, to cure disease, to strengthen the elderly and the infirm, to bring health and wellness to our communities and neighbors, both at home and abroad.

Through service and gratitude, respect and understanding, learning and caring, trusting and confiding, “family” means giving and receiving moral support in times of challenge; it means offering reassurance in times of doubt; holding a hand in the face of uncertainty; giving compassion in the face of calamity; or sharing a joy that would have a lesser meaning in solitude.

Family provides the ties that bind and bolster us with reassuring comfort, yet at the same time, that set standards and demand that their “children” live up to them. Strong families are grounded in

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a code of conduct, morality, and values, plus a judicious amount of encouragement and support. Erosion of family values undermines character; a cohesive family builds character, commitment, and selfworth - and strong families build strong nations and stronger tomorrows.

The LECOM family is building a strong tomorrow through the students and educators who cross our threshold each day; through the alumni and supporters who understand that the future does not end with momentary success; through the community partners who recognize the value - both intrinsic and palpably tangible - that education, health, and wellness transmute to a region.

Families consider responsibilities as they ponder the possible; upon a base of steady satisfaction, they maintain certain weighty cares, brooding over their bliss with a solemn brow, as, to those who follow, they advance the promise of a bright future.

The stories found on the following pages in this issue of The LECOM Connection will introduce to you to some integral members of our LECOM family. You will come to know generations of family members who have found an educational home at LECOM. You will meet faculty who have shined brightly and become acquainted with dedicated staff who call LECOM their family.

For family, as time has shown, means more than a shared last name; it is a matter of a shared heart and a kindred spirit - a heart and spirit that defines: The LECOM Family.

LECOM SHINES LIGHT UPON THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE FOR OLDER ADULTS LECOM Named to Receive HRSA Grant

professionals with proficiencies in nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and social work. Gannon University, Penn State - Erie, Mercyhurst University, Edinboro University, and community partners such as LifeWorks Erie will create a regional network that fully integrates its partners in an interprofessional collaborative plan to provide better care to the growing older population of the region.

Through LIGHT, LECOM Project Director, James Lin, DO, has enlisted collaborating partners: LECOM Health, including Millcreek Community Hospital, Medical Associates of Erie, Lifeworks Erie and LECOM Senior Living Centers; Lake Erie Consortium for Osteopathic Medical Training (LECOMT); Pennsylvania Department of Aging; Erie, Crawford, and Warren County Area Agency on Aging (AAAs); Erie County Health Department; Pennsylvania Department of Health; Gannon, Edinboro, Mercyhurst, and Penn State Universities; Rotary; the Alzheimer’s and the Diabetes Associations of NW Pennsylvania to assist rural populations throughout the entire Northwest Pennsylvania area encompassing Erie, Crawford, and Warren counties.

LECOM, as the only osteopathic academic health center in the nation, is ideally suited to address the challenges of the growing elderly communities through a strategic and sustainable approach that covers diverse settings from acute care to senior housing.

The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) is pleased to announce the receipt of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program Grant.

This is a glistening moment when LECOM stands proudly at the very threshold of its mission to broaden and to better, to shape and to sustain, to teach, to train - and to care for the communities that it serves.

The receipt of this venerable grant and its estimable stipend is deeply humbling.

LECOM is one of only 44 universities in the nation that has been named to receive the HRSA Grant. In this grand attainment, LECOM stands shoulder-to-shoulder, companioned by other top educational institutions including Yale, Johns Hopkins, and Duke. The HRSA Grant constitutes a luminous achievement for LECOM since the award is one of the most substantive to be received by any academic institution in the region.

The HRSA Grant will provide nearly $2.2 million dollars over three years to LECOM in tangible resources to support quality care for older Americans. The Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program seeks to improve quality of health care by changing clinical training environments into integrated geriatrics and primary care delivery systems.

These systems focus upon seniors who are uninsured, isolated, and medically vulnerable.

To meet the goals of the Grant, LECOM is introducing LIGHT: Lake Erie Integrated Geriatric Health Team that intends to prepare 7000 health care workers with the skills and comprehensive understanding necessary to care for an aging population.

LECOM stands unabashedly in the vanguard in the training and educating of interprofessional teams of health care experts. In addition to training medical, dental, and pharmacy students, LECOM is supported by an amalgam of allied health

By effectively leveraging the unquestionably solid infrastructure, experience, and resources of the numerous clinical care and social services entities within the LECOM Health network - a large, multiorganization health system in Northwest Pennsylvania that already has made substantial investment in geriatric health care infrastructure - LIGHT will use program funds to achieve three sustainable specific aims: (1) to prepare diverse providers of geriatric health care to be practice leaders; (2) to enhance existing geriatrics curricula and training programs; and (3) to enhance and deliver health promotion and disease prevention programs in diverse settings. 
LECOM is profoundly honored to mark this venerable achievement as LECOM Health and its network of partners look forward with resplendent enthusiasm to continuing to lead and LIGHT the way in the field of geriatric health care.

PGA TOUR and LECOM Health Announce New Web.com Tour Event at Peek’n Peak Resort The PGA TOUR and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) have announced that LECOM will become the title sponsor of a new Web.com Tour event at Peek’n Peak Resort in Western New York, entering a four-year agreement that begins in 2016.

The LECOM Health Challenge will be played at the Peek’n Peak Upper Course during the week of July 4, 2016, with a similar timeframe of play to be offered in the 2017 through 2019 tournaments. A weeklong schedule of events will include a Pro-Am on Wednesday, July 6, 2016, followed by four official rounds of tournament competition from July 7-10, 2016. The tournament purse of $600,000 offers a considerable award to the winning professional.

“We are delighted to partner with the PGA TOUR and the Web.com Tour to encourage health and wellness,” stated John M. Ferretti, DO, President and CEO of LECOM.

“There is no better example to highlight wellness than these young Web.com Tour professionals, who, like our LECOM students, commit an extraordinary amount of work to achieve their career goals,” the LECOM President furthered.

Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC) will serve as the host organization of the LECOM Health Challenge. Proceeds from the tournament will benefit the LECOM Student Scholarship Fund, as well as other charities in Chautauqua County, New York and in the Greater Erie, Pennsylvania area.

“While LECOM offers one of the most affordable tuitions in the nation, students still graduate with significant indebtedness,” noted Dr. Ferretti. “We deeply appreciate that the LECOM Health Challenge promises to help these students by providing scholarship dollars from the tournament proceeds,” he remarked.

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“It is with great enthusiasm and excitement that we announce that the PGA TOUR and professional golf are returning to Chautauqua County,” said Kevin Sanvidge, CEO of CREDC. “Six months ago, Vice President of Marketing, Michelle Turner moved economic development in a new direction. Her first assignment was to contact the PGA TOUR and in a very short time, she has brought this magnificent event to fruition,” stated Sanvidge.

Golf Channel will televise the event (in high definition) in the United States. The tournament will be available for viewing in 192 countries and territories, having a potential reach of 93 million households via PGA TOUR international broadcast operations.

“It has been a pleasure collaborating with three top-notch organizations during the last few months – the PGA TOUR, one of the most respected professional sports

Pictured from L to R: Kim Scott, Owner of Scott Enterprises; Nick Scott, Sr., President & Owner of Scott Enterprises; Mary Eckert, President of Millcreek Community Hospital; Silvia Ferretti, DO, Provost, Senior Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs for LECOM, John Ferretti, DO, President and CEO of LECOM; Nick Scott, Jr., Vice President & Owner of Scott Enterprises; Alison Scott, Executive Director of Marketing & Owner of Scott Enterprises; Chris Scott, Vice President & Owner of Scott Enterprises

organizations in the world; LECOM, the largest medical college in the nation; and Scott Enterprises, owners and operators of several award-winning properties (including our host venue, Peek’n Peak Resort in Clymer, New York),” commented Michelle Turner. “Each of these partners has made a commitment to the region in this collaborative effort as we continue to grow and to strengthen our economy,” concluded the CREDC Vice President of Marketing.

“From the moment that we purchased Peek’n Peak Resort in 2011, it was our desire to return the PGA TOUR to the Peek,” said Nick Scott, Sr., President and owner of Scott Enterprises. “It is a pleasure to work with the PGA TOUR, LECOM, and the CREDC to create a memorable tournament and to generate new economic vitality in our region,”Scott said.

The PGA Tour previously conducted the Nationwide tournaments at Peek’n Peak

Resort from 2002-2007. Current PGA TOUR champions who competed at Peek’n Peak during their Web.com Tour careers include new Open Champion, Zach Johnson; FedExCup Champions, Brandt Snedeker and Bill Haas; two-time Masters Champion, Bubba Watson; and PGA Championship winner, Jason Dufner.

“The Web.com Tour enjoyed six very good years in the Western New York/Erie, Pennsylvania region not so long ago,” said Bill Calfee, President of the Web.com Tour.

“We return in 2016 with a new team of partners committed to having a significant charitable and economic impact on the area, and providing new PGA TOUR memories courtesy of the next generation of golfers who will be walking in the footsteps of Zach, Brandt, Bill, Bubba, and others. We look forward to getting started immediately with our partners, LECOM, the CREDC and Peek’n Peak Resort, and then making a splash upon return of the Web.com Tour

next July,” the Tour President affirmed.

The Web.com Tour is “The Path” to the PGA TOUR, with all 50 PGA TOUR cards for the following TOUR season passing through the Web.com Tour annually. Since the inception of the TOUR in 1990, it has graduated 356 golfers to the PGA TOUR, with alumni winning 414 TOUR titles, including Johnson’s Open Championship and Jason Day’s win at the RBC Canadian Open.

LECOM, as the title sponsor of this estimable sporting event, demonstrates yet again its unswerving commitment to educational advancement as it supports scholarships for LECOM osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, and dental students through its Student Scholarship Fund and fundraising endeavors that reinforce the noble calling of osteopathic medicine.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 11

LECOM OPENS SENIOR LIVING CENTER G ​​​​​​​​​​​ reat accomplishments begin with great vision; great vision requires bold action. ~ Aristotle The LECOM Senior Living Center is the manifestation of a magnificent vision that wholly embodies the next generation of care for older adults and that heralds the beginning of an innovative center of excellence for adult nursing care.

Thus it was with a snip of a ceremonial ribbon that LECOM Health officials and community leaders opened the 151,000-square-foot skilled nursing facility. LECOM Institute for Successful Aging welcomed key LECOM Health administrators, the Erie Regional Chamber, the Growth Partnership and other community leaders for the official

celebration of the grand event.

The Center, which cost $42 million to build and furnish, transferred Millcreek Manor residents into its state-of-the-art facility in June. Pleasant Ridge Manor-East residents relocated to the new living environs later in the month. More than 100 people have moved into the new Senior Living Center, with applications being accepted for additional residents.

After two impregnably solid decades of unremitting dedication to exceptionalism in the field of medical education coupled with the very same staunchness to its

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commitment to community service, LECOM has proven itself a trailblazer in providing comprehensive health and wellness.

The five floor facility is built to accommodate 138 residents who will live in private rooms, grouped in “neighborhoods” of 18 rooms throughout four of the five levels. The Senior Living Center draws together an amalgam of stimulating and innovative, patient-centered health care opportunities and advances the education of future physicians, pharmacists, and dentists.

Now that everyone is settled into their new private suites, the staff is prepared to take

new admissions. Each suite is furnished and equipped with consideration for the resident’s privacy, comfort, accessibility, and need for space. Every neighborhood provides a feeling of home for the residents starting with activities of daily living areas that have kitchens, dining rooms, largescreen TVs, computer stations, and Wi-Fi connectivity. A full calendar of activities is available for residents to enjoy if they choose.

The LECOM Senior Living Center far outshines the standard in senior residences and, as with the prior community offerings undertaken by LECOM – such as the multimillion dollar John M. and Silvia Ferretti Medical Fitness and Wellness Center – the LECOM Senior Living Center is the undisputed gem in the crown of adult care options.

For its residents, the LECOM Senior Living Center provides the feel of home while simultaneously ensuring a superlative level of care for the growing elderly population in the region. “The Center is in keeping with the LECOM mission and its historical focus upon osteopathic medicine and caring for the whole person – mind, body, and spirit,” explained James Lin, DO, Vice President of Senior Services and Adult Living and Director of the LECOM Institute for Successful Aging.

“We are delighted because the LECOM Senior Living Center will establish us as the only health system in Northwestern Pennsylvania that is able to provide a true continuum of care. Our goal is not simply adding years to seniors’ lives, but adding life to their years,” he affirmed.

“Living” - the central word in the moniker of the new facility - is underscored by every well-conceived detail and attentive appointment found throughout the glistening structure.

The LECOM Senior Living Center creates more than 200 employment positions. As a further benefit, both to the educational expansiveness at LECOM and to the community at large, the facility will allow the medical, pharmacy, and dental students at LECOM to work in a collaborative setting and to learn more effectively the complexities associated with the care of the elderly.

Undisputedly, the next generation of senior living care starts and ends with the LECOM

Senior Living Center. LECOM has ever responded to the needs of the community, and the comprehensive design and layout of the living accommodations within the Center exemplifies the compassionate care of a leader in health and wellness.

Understanding that many older adults in residential living situations wish for more privacy, LECOM ensured that each of the residents of the facility will enjoy private rooms with ensuite bathrooms. The living spaces have been thoughtfully designed with the all-inclusive requirements of the residents in mind; offering superior comfort, privacy, and abundantly ample living quarters. Rooms are arranged in 18-bed units that are established as neighborhoods.

This small community living arrangement allows staff to know residents more intimately.

In addition, each floor offers communal dining and activity areas – features that allow residents to better know their neighbors and to create ease of access for staff to better support the individual needs and interests of each resident. Each “neighborhood” offers well-equipped, living room-styled areas for group activities, for dining, and for meeting guests outside of the patient rooms.

A dedicated rehabilitation area for physical, occupational, and speech therapy attends to the osteopathic philosophy and to the whole body wellness aspect of the Center.

A geriatric clinic, housed on the first floor for aid in diagnostic and treatment services will allow patients to avoid unnecessary travel to outside physician offices. As a further benefit, physician services are available at all times. The on-site pharmacy makes medications available to residents, thereby decreasing the number of delays and treatment errors usually associated with other care facilities. Medication dispensing is available in the private resident rooms and delivered at bedside. This procedure increases confidentiality, decreases errors, and obviates the need for the heavy medication carts so frequently observed in traditional nursing facilities.

A full-service pharmacy, spa, beauty salon, and restaurant address a range of needs and wishes of the residents. The offerings allow residents and family to share in normal, routine activities that they may have enjoyed previously in their relationships.

to Millcreek Community Hospital protects residents from inclement weather if the need arises for auxiliary hospital visits; and the close proximity of the Center to MCH will allow for a continuum of care if residents require acute hospitalization and transitional care.

First-rate offerings are the standard at the LECOM Senior Living Center with every detail thoughtfully considered. Festive meals and special hosting of activities will enhance the quality of life for the population.

On-site security personnel are in place to provide peace of mind; the existence of physical barrier security, such as security locks and elevator limitations, further secure the facility. Ceiling lift mechanisms are available in resident rooms such that those residents who experience difficulty in ambulation will have the support of state-of-the-art equipment to gain mobility.

In addition, the staff will not be exposed to injuries associated with the lifting of patients. Ceiling lift mechanisms are installed in the therapy gym as well as in the common bathroom spa. Emergency generators serve all of the skilled nursing home functions, ensuring that all systems will be maintained during any electrical outage.

LECOM has ever committed the great use of its existence in selfless and magnanimous dedication to creating something that will outlast it. Each great accomplishment begun with great vision and furthered by bold action has been guided by the pledge that the institution has made to the well being and advancement of all who have come within its sphere. This pledge has changed countless lives for the better. In each endeavor, LECOM has set sail away from the safe harbor of the commonplace, into the vast oceans of possibility and purpose. The journey has been requiring of profound courage, of tempered patience, and of unflagging persistence. Yet, on the warm summer day in 2015, when the LECOM Senior Living Center welcomed its first resident, the sincerest joy found in the service of others, the poignant and boundless delight in a purposed mission, and the knowledge that a happy and healthful home exists for those in the golden years of life, was revealed as a beacon for all to know.

Geriatric outpatient services will be available for enabling and expediting added care.

An indoor corridor connecting the facility @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 13

LECOMT - The Vanguard of Osteopathic Training Unless you teach, neither you, nor osteopathic medicine will survive. ~ Andrew Taylor Still, MD, DO Learning is a lifelong process of remaining abreast of change; the most pressing task of which is mastering the ability to learn. For scholars at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), that learning does not end upon being graduated from this venerable institution. Rather, it is with that very achievement that one is expected to continue the learning process; broadening and deepening with each passing year an already attained wealth of knowledge and

proficiency in medical understanding.

As the new LECOM physicians transition into their residency programs, it is incumbent upon them to build upon that solid base of medical knowledge. The Lake Erie Consortium for Osteopathic Medical Training (LECOMT) assists physicians in furthering their medical education through in-network hospital education programs for residents.

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LECOMT is a well-developed nexus - a consortium of hospitals - linked closely with LECOM. Through this sound alliance of osteopathic training sites that strive to strengthen medical education, LECOMT is committed to preparing physicians and to providing programs of predoctoral and postdoctoral training. Through curriculum and faculty development, trainee evaluation, and by using a wide variety of modalities that improve physician training at hospitals,

LECOMT Osteopathic Postdoctoral Training Institution (OPTI) graduates apply their LECOM proficiencies to hands-on residency programs. LECOM maintains consistently strong relationships with these participating hospitals. These relationships ensure that LECOM remains ever able to provide highly capable, well-prepared, and wellqualified resident physicians to countless communities.

Since 1998, LECOM has been an American Osteopathic Association (AOA) accredited Osteopathic Postdoctoral Training Institution, and one unquestionably committed to improving graduate medical education and training.

LECOMT was developed through the focused efforts of the Millcreek Health System, which includes LECOM, Millcreek Community Hospital, Millcreek Geriatric Education and Care Center, and the ambulatory care clinics associated with Millcreek Health System - now the expansive network known as: LECOM Health.

Unifying the many strengths of its hospital partners, the LECOMT vision simplified the task of determining the organizational direction and it established realistic and welldefined goals that have propelled LECOMT to the pinnacle of postgraduate training.

Deborah Lee-Sanko has been the Executive Director of LECOMT since the inception of the Program in 1998. The ability to provide a network of common goals to improve osteopathic education is just one of the many LECOM benefits. “Prior to the OPTI, every residency was on its own,” the Director explained. “Once the consortiums were born, a network of shared ideas, shared resources, and a collaborative of education gained momentum,” she expounded.

LECOMT allows residency programs to maintain an enhanced structure, developing a better and more stimulating learning environment. Instead of individually cultivating physicians, there now exists a highly-focused educational assemblage.

Deborah Lee-Sanko emphasizes that LECOM has been particularly dedicated to residency development. Beginning with one hospital, five residency programs, and 45 residency positions in 1997, the LECOMT network has grown exponentially.

Today, there are 47 hospitals, 124 training

programs, and 1,409 approved GME positions that are part of the purposeful nexus.

Beyond residencies, LECOMT also has expanded internship and fellowship programs. Through its unstinting dedication to residents, LECOM-affiliated hospitals actively seek out LECOM graduates to serve as their physicians. This practice assures a consistent learning path, one maintained in a familiar hospital.

Among the multiplicity of internships, residencies, and fellowships, these impressive figures also boast 1,291 physicians participating in student and graduate level education.

Through this consortium of hospital programs, LECOMT is able to serve physicians and the communities in which they work, a benefit that proves “especially helpful for smaller communities,” LeeSanko explained. “LECOMT has assisted community hospitals in starting residency and and fellowship programs, often serving to fill the physician shortage gap,” furthered Lee-Sanko.

By encouraging ongoing learning throughout a student’s career, and both during and after residency, the LECOMT mission cultivates successful results. In fact, many former residents from the LECOMT Program now are passing on their knowledge as they teach future physicians the key principles of osteopathic medicine through this consortium.

Through a broad range of open exchange and partnership; through consistently determined effort; and by ever adapting to changes within the health system, LECOMT has blended its many strengths to form a consortium wholly committed and unswervingly dedicated to elevating the standards of osteopathic medical training.

The cycle of teaching and learning ultimately creates more competent physicians.

training for osteopathic physicians, LECOM eagerly is prepared to enter the next century as the consummate leader in academic excellence.

With one of the most affordable tuition costs offered by highly regarded medical colleges, well over half of the graduates from the medical school at LECOM who applied to residency programs were admitted to their first choice.

Opportunities abound for osteopathic students as LECOMT provides to them a variety of internship and residency programs.

Post-doctoral programs are available at LECOMT-affiliated hospitals in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Arizona, Florida, Michigan, and Indiana.

Physicians contribute significantly to the education of LECOM osteopathic medical students. The College has developed a network of nearly 1,200 physicians who make a commitment to teach medical students in their hospitals, clinics, and practices. This genuine devotion to advancing the osteopathic principles of whole body health care underpins the core of a sound and robust education and one that superlatively leads the field.

LECOM supports those dedicated teaching physicians by providing Faculty Development Workshops, Continuing Medical Education Conferences, and through the LECOM Master of Science in Medical Education Program.

Those who succeed in the rigorous journey of medicine, those who triumph in the health care profession and who find the purpose of this noble calling, understand that success is a tale of obstacles overcome – and for every obstacle overcome, LECOM stands prepared to advance the standard in the vanguard of osteopathic training.

The LECOM Consortium became a recognized name in the health care arena through an aggressive application of its intrinsic ability to embrace the uniqueness of each program, each institution, and each instructor. Indeed, respecting and advancing this remarkable uniqueness and diversity brought unparalleled creativity to the planning process.

Ever striving to improve the quality of @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 15

Listed below are the 110 AOA approved/ applied for residencies and fellowships.

Also listed are the 15 AOA approved/applied for osteopathic internships that make up LECOMT

Residencies Dermatology

Alta Dermatology Residency Training Program, Mesa, AZ Dermatology Residency of Orlando, Maitland, FL St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, Far Rockaway, NY Tri-County Dermatology Residency Training Program, Cuyahoga Falls, OH University Hospitals Regional Hospitals, Richmond Heights, OH

Diagnostic Radiology

Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY

Emergency Medicine

Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown, PA Memorial Hospital, York, PA Saint Vincent Hospital, Erie, PA St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital, Boardman, OH St. John Medical Center, Westlake, OH University Hospitals Regional Hospitals, Richmond Heights, OH UPMC Hamot, Erie, PA

Family Medicine

Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY Clarion Hospital, Clarion, PA Community Westview Hospital, Indianapolis, IN Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown, PA East Liverpool City Hospital, East Liverpool, OH Forbes Hospital – Allegheny Health Network Medical Education Consortium, Monroeville, PA Guthrie/Robert Packer Hospital, Sayre, PA Manatee Memorial Hospital, Bradenton, FL Meadville Medical Center, Meadville, PA Memorial Hospital, York, PA Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, Niagara Falls, NY Our Lady of Lourdes, Binghamton, NY PinnacleHealth Harrisburg Hospital, Harrisburg, PA Samaritan Medical Center, Watertown, NY St. John Medical Center, Westlake, OH St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, Far Rockaway, NY

St. Petersburg General Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL United Memorial Medical Center, Batavia, NY University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center, Elyria, OH University Hospitals Parma Medical Center, Parma, OH University Hospitals Regional Hospitals, Richmond Heights, OH UP Health System – Marquette, Marquette, MI UPMC Horizon, Farrell, PA Washington Health System, Washington, PA Westchester General Hospital, Miami, FL Wright Center Community Based – Family Medicine, Erie, PA

St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, Far Rockaway, NY

General Surgery

Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital, Boardman, OH

Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown, PA Memorial Hospital, York, PA PinnacleHealth Harrisburg Hospital, Harrisburg, PA St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, Far Rockaway, NY UPMC Horizon, Farrell, PA

Internal Medicine

Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown, PA East Liverpool City Hospital, East Liverpool, OH Lakeland Ranch Medical Center, Lakewood Ranch, FL Manatee Memorial Hospital, Bradenton, FL Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA Northside Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL Sacred Heart Health System, Pensacola, FL Samaritan Medical Center, Watertown, NY St. John Medical Center, Westlake, OH Trinity Health System, Steubenville, OH University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center, Elyria, OH University Hospitals Parma Medical Center, Parma, OH University Hospitals Regional Hospitals, Richmond Heights, OH Wellington Regional Medical Center, Wellington, FL Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, Scranton, PA Internal Medicine-Emergency Medicine: St. John Medical Center, Westlake, OH

Ophthalmology

Florida Osteopathic Education Institute (FOEI), New Port Richey, FL Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, Far Rockaway, NY

Orthopedic Surgery

Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA University Hospitals Regional Hospitals, Richmond Heights, OH York Hospital, York, PA

Otolaryngology/Facial Plastic Surgery (ENT)

Pediatrics

University Hospitals Regional Hospitals, Richmond Heights, OH

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Mercy Medical Center, Rockville Centre, NY University Hospitals Regional Hospitals, Richmond Heights, OH

Proctologic Surgery

Community Westview Hospital, Indianapolis, IN

Psychiatry

Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY Centerstone of Florida, Inc., Bradenton, FL Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA

Fellowships Adult and Pediatric Allergy and Immunology

University Hospitals Regional Hospitals, Richmond Heights, OH

Cardiology

Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY Northside Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, Scranton, PA

Child/Adolescent Psychiatry (can be

completed as a residency or a fellowship): Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA

Neurology

Critical Care Fellowship

Obstetrics/Gynecology

Endocrinology

UPMC Hamot, Erie, PA Memorial Hospital, York, PA

16 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

*Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY

Gastroenterology

Gynecology/Oncology

Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown, PA Lakeland Ranch Medical Center, Lakewood Ranch, FL Manatee Memorial Hospital, Bradenton, FL Meadville Medical Center, Meadville, PA Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA Saint Vincent Hospital, Erie, PA Samaritan Medical Center, Watertown, NY St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, Far Rockaway, NY St. Petersburg General Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL University Hospitals Regional Hospitals, Richmond Heights, OH Westchester General Hospital, Miami, FL York Hospital, York, PA

Hospice and Palliative Care

Listed below are the 45 member hospitals/ office-based programs within LECOMT.

Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY Clarion Hospital, Clarion, PA Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA

Geriatric-Family Medicine

Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, Scranton, PA

Geriatric-Internal Medicine

Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, Scranton, PA York Hospital, York, PA

University Hospitals Parma Medical Center, Parma, OH

Integrative Medicine

Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA

Maternal and Fetal Medicine

PinnacleHealth Harrisburg Hospital & Maternal Fetal Medicine of Central Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA York Hospital, York, PA

Nephrology

University Hospitals Parma Medical Center, Parma, OH

Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine/ OMM

Millcreek Community Hospital/”Plus One” Residency Training in NMM and OMM, Erie, PA St. John’s Episcopal Hospital/”Plus One” Residency Training in NMM and OMM, Far Rockaway, NY

Pulmonary-Critical Care Fellowship

Arizona

Alta Dermatology Residency Training Program (office-based), Mesa, AZ

Florida

Dermatology Residency of Orlando (officebased), Maitland, FL Florida Osteopathic Educational Institute (FOEI) (office-based), New Port Richey, FL Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, Lakewood Ranch, FL Manatee Glens (office-based), Bradenton, FL Manatee Memorial Hospital, Bradenton, FL Northside Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL Sacred Heart Health System, Pensacola, FL St. Petersburg General Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL Wellington Regional Medical Center, Wellington, FL Westchester General Hospital, Miami, FL

Indianapolis

Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA

Community Westview Hospital, Indianapolis, IN

Sports Medicine

Michigan

Manatee Memorial Hospital, Bradenton, FL Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA PinnacleHealth Community General Osteopathic Hospital, Harrisburg, PA St. John Medical Center, Westlake, OH University Hospitals Richmond Medical Center, Richmond Heights, OH

Internships

Allegheny Health Network Medical Education Consortium, Pittsburgh, PA Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY Clarion Hospital, Clarion, PA

Far Rockaway, NY St. John’s Riverside Hospital, Yonkers, NY United Memorial Medical Center, Batavia, NY

Ohio

East Liverpool City Hospital, East Liverpool, OH St. Elizabeth Health Center, Boardman, OH St. John Medical Center, Westlake, OH Tri-County Dermatology Residency Training Program (office-based), Cuyahoga Falls, OH Trinity Health System, Steubenville, OH University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center, Elyria, OH University Hospitals Parma Medical Center, Parma, OH University Hospitals Regional Hospitals, Heights, OH

Pennsylvania

*Allegheny Health Network Medical Education Consortium, Pittsburgh, PA Clarion Hospital, Clarion, PA Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown, PA *Forbes Hospital – Allegheny Health Network Medical Education Consortium, Monroeville, PA Guthrie/ Robert Packer Hospital, Sayre, PA Meadville Medical Center, Meadville, PA Memorial Hospital, York, PA Millcreek Community Hospital, Erie, PA Penn Highlands Healthcare, DuBois, PA PinnacleHealth at Community General Osteopathic Hospital, Harrisburg, PA Saint Vincent Hospital, Erie, PA The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education (Scranton-Temple), Scranton, PA UPMC Hamot, Erie, PA UPMC Horizon, Farrell, PA Washington Health System Washington Hospital, Washington, PA Wright Center Community Based, Erie, PA York Hospital, York, PA

UP Health System - Marquette, Marquette, MI

New York

Arnot Ogden Medical Center, Elmira, NY Mercy Medical Center, Rockville Centre, NY Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, Niagara Falls, NY Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital, Binghamton, NY Samaritan Medical Center Graduate Medical Education, Watertown, NY St. John’s Episcopal Hospital,

*Forbes Hospital is listed separately from Allegheny Health Network Medical Education Consortium, although it is a hospital within the Consortium. The hospital count, therefore, is based on the entire Consortium and considered as one (1) hospital.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 17

Knowledge Multip LECOM Takes CME to Sarasota Florida

Whoever increases his knowledge multiplies the uses to which he is enabled to turn the gift of his Creator to his own benefit and partakes in some degree of that goodness which is the highest attribute of Providence itself. So said, President and statesman, John Quincy Adams as he described the inexorable value of the pursuit of knowledge.

The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) exemplified the wise words articulated by the sixth American President as the College hosted the second of two, yearly continuing medical education events. Summer Continuing Medical Education Program (CME) in Sarasota drew knowledge-seeking medical professionals and students to the Hyatt Regency to deepen, broaden, and further develop their understanding of, and proficiencies in, various medical and practice-related areas.

The noteworthy event - held from August 17 to 20, 2015 - attracted assiduously analytical Florida physicians, including many LECOM alumni and students. Alumni comprised 38% of the physicians in attendance; while current LECOM Bradenton students also took an active interest in the four-day seminar.

LECOM holds two such events annually, as each March, more than 200 physicians

assemble for the Primary Care CME Conference at Peek’n Peak Conference Center in Western New York. During the ensuing summer or fall, LECOM offers a more intimate destination event welcoming up to 50 physicians, such as the one recently held in Sarasota.

Previous Summer CME conferences were held in Hawaii, the Dominican Republic, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Niagara Falls, Ontario. The CME programs provide up to 20 Category 1-A AOA CME Credits for DOs. The CME programs also offer the equivalent AMA credit for other health care professionals: MDs, nurses, and physician assistants. Many state licensing boards require a minimum of 20 Category 1-A CME credits for license renewal, and these programs supply sufficient credit hours to attain that objective.

Silvia M. Ferretti, DO, LECOM Provost, Senior Vice President, and Dean of Academic Affairs, served as the Program Moderator. She made clear the estimable and mission-driven objectives of the wellreceived event.

Louise Del Negro, DO, (LECOM 2003) Medical Director for the U.S. Central Command Clinic at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida commented, “The summer program topics were highly pertinent to

18 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

my practice and they were of excellent quality and content. The location of the Conference offered a beautiful environment and it was well worth the trip. There were ample opportunities provided for hands on OMM technique training, which supplied a welcomed review for me. The Conference was very well organized, with plenty of interaction time for questions to be posed to the presenters. I highly recommend this summer program for all Primary Care physicians and I intend to return for future updates. Thank you LECOM.” That message was echoed repeatedly by those in attendance, evidencing clearly that LECOM is wholly dedicated to the philosophy of osteopathic medicine that entails a comprehensive approach to health care and to the prevention of disease. An integral part of the LECOM mission focuses upon conducting educational activities related to caring for the sick, the injured, the infirm, and the elderly, as well as to the promotion of health. The Continuing Medical Education Department advances that mission with avidity, and it is committed to providing the resources and facilities necessary to offer medical education opportunities to the physicians of an ever expanding community. Through the CME Department, LECOM provides quality, costeffective continuing education programs for its local, regional, and graduate physicians.

plied The LECOM Continuing Medical Education Program is proud to use its own faculty and graduates as lecturers. This practice is dually beneficial as it encourages students to attend the programs, thereby enhancing and enlarging their growing educational foundation; and it familiarizes them with one of the ways that they will continue their education as future physicians.

LECOM also uses the forum of the CME Conference to thank its valued Preceptors who so willingly and altruistically take on new students in their third and fourth years of medical study.

It is with an enormous debt of gratitude that LECOM offered an august slate of distinguished speakers who presented topics at the recent event.

The Conference faculty featured: Jennifer Brackney, DO (LECOM 2001); Certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology. She is affiliated with VA Pittsburgh Health System and she serves as Clinical Faculty in the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh.

Gregory Coppola, DO; Director of LECOM Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine Fellowship. He serves as a Clinical

Professor for LECOM and he is an integral part of the LECOM Sports Medicine Fellowship Program.

Carmine D’Amico, DO; Certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiology. He is a Clinical Associate Professor of Cardiology at LECOM, specializing in Non-Invasive/Nuclear Cardiology and Invasive/Interventional Cardiology.

Anthony Ferretti, DO, MHSA; Board Certified in Orthopedic Surgery. He is a Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at LECOM and he serves as Team Physician for Mercyhurst University, the Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League, and the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League.

Richard Ferretti, JD; LECOM General Counsel specializing in the areas of labor and employment law and corporate compliance. He was graduated from the Duquesne University Law School and he is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania.

John Gallagher, DO; Certified in Diagnostic Radiology. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Radiology at LECOM. Danielle Hansen, DO, MS, MHSA (LECOM 2005); Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics. She is Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at LECOM and

Vice President of Acute Care Services at Millcreek Community Hospital.

Philip Miller, DO, MS (LECOM 2006); Board Certified in Family Medicine and Neuromuscular-skeletal and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine. He is Course Director for Osteopathic Principles and Practices at LECOM Bradenton.

Jeffrey Myers, JD; LECOM Associate General Counsel specializing in areas of labor and employment law and in corporate compliance. He was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and he is dually licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and Florida.

Nicole Temofonte, DO (LECOM 2001); Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology. She is an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Course Director for the History and Physical Examination Course at LECOM at Seton Hill.

LECOM looks forward to probing the depths of understanding and to furthering the boundaries in the optimal practice of medicine as it continues to offer superbly designed programs and seminars to discerning knowledge-seekers.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 19

LECOM BOARD SCORES

Alleviating the Symptoms by Treating the Whole Patient

By Christine Kell, PhD

A 27-year-old male presents with complaint of tachycardia, increased blood pressure, and inability to sleep. What induced these symptoms? If the student is a secondyear medical student, it may be because someone mentioned: “The Boards.” Why does a test designed to measure minimal competency strike up such anxiety in students? And, what can the school do to alleviate some of the fear?

The National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) first began testing medical students in 1935. The current structure of the Boards was instituted in 1995. The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) describes the COMLEXUSA exams as “an examination series with three levels that serve as pathways for candidates to obtain their osteopathic medical license after graduation.” The three levels measure student progress towards licensure as an osteopathic physician.

Understanding the importance of the Boards and of the anxiety felt by many students, LECOM takes very seriously its preparation of students for all levels of the Boards. Each year, the school receives an annual report showing where LECOM at Erie/Seton Hill and LECOM Bradenton rank in each level in relationship to the other 30 osteopathic schools. To add to the importance, accreditation standards for colleges of osteopathic medicine require each school to publish the first time pass rates for each exam. This allows pre-medicine students to compare college rankings before applying to medical school.

Over the years, LECOM medical students

and graduates have performed well on the Boards and recently they have ranked among the very best prepared osteopathic medical students in the country. This past year, LECOM ranked among the top ten colleges for performance on the Boards.

LECOM Erie/Seton Hill ranked fourth out of 30 schools and LECOM Bradenton ranked fifth for COMLEX-USA Level 1. This test typically is taken by students at the end of their second year when they have completed the didactic portion of their education. The majority of questions on this exam are targeted to address Scientific Understanding of Health and Disease Mechanisms – basic knowledge that students should know at the end of their basic science coursework.

For COMLEX-USA Level 2 -Cognitive Evaluation (CE), LECOM Bradenton ranked second and LECOM Erie/Seton Hill ranked third. Level 2 exams are taken at the beginning of the fourth year when students have gained some expertise in completing a History and Physical Examination of patients; these are students more engaged in the clinical side of medicine.

The COMLEX-USA Level 2CE is more heavily focused upon History and Physical Examination and Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Students also must successfully pass the COMLEX-Level2 Performance Evaluation (PE) that evaluates their clinical skills. LECOM always has required students to successfully pass COMLEX-USA Levels 1, 2CE, and 2PE as a graduation condition. In 2008, the Standards for Accreditation of Osteopathic Medical Schools were changed to require

20 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

passage of the Level 1, 2CE, and 2PE for graduation.

LECOM Erie/Seton Hill surpassed all other osteopathic medical schools on the third and final level, and LECOM Bradenton also ranked among the top ten best scoring schools. COMLEX Level 3 is administered after a student has been graduated and has started residency. The substance of the third examination focuses more heavily upon the clinical practice aspects of medicine with Management being the higher percentage; but a significant portion of the exam also is distributed over Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, History and Physical Examination, and Diagnostic Technologies.

So, given the foregoing, why would a basic competency exam induce such stress in a medical student? Even though the exam is designated to measure minimal competency, residency directors use the scores as one of the many factors in determining which scholars they will invite for interviews and the way in which they will rank these students for the residency match. The competition for residency slots is intense, and this intensity subsequently fuels the drive for students to excel on Levels 1 and 2 of the COMLEX-USA exams.

As Benjamin Gough, one of the fourth-year students, stated, “These exams are the key that opens doors (or closes them) and they are determinative as to what students will be doing as a career for the rest of their lives, so I believe strongly that performing well should be of utmost importance to students.”

The time that it takes to complete each

Level 1 Level 2 CE Level 2 PE Level 3

LECOM Bradenton 5 2 9 9

98.9%

97.66%

LECOM Erie/ Seton Hill

LECOM Bradenton

LECOM Bradenton

Level 1 Level 2 CE Level 2 PE Level 3

LECOM Erie/ Seton Hill 5 6 N/A 8

96.42%

National Average

97.84%

Pass Rate for COMLEX Level 3

97.39%

LECOM Erie/ Seton Hill

LECOM Bradenton

LECOM Erie/ Seton Hill 4 3 14 1

92.62%

National Average

97.4%

Pass Rate for COMLEX Level 2

97.5%

LECOM Erie/ Seton Hill

National Average

Pass Rate for COMLEX Level 1

93.86%

LECOM Bradenton 1 1 N/A 1

LECOM’s ranking compared to all 30 osteopathic schools for percent pass rate for first

LECOM’s ranking compared to all 30 osteopathic schools mean score for first time

time takers of COMLEX.

takers of COMLEX.

exam is an added factor that students seek to master. Accordingly, with each subsequent level achieved, such concerns appear to bear less impact upon the student. LECOM graduate, Mark Kauffman, DO, stated: “each time one takes the Boards, they seem easier in that one is now accustomed to the fatigue of the lengthy exams and one knows precisely what to expect.”

Another factor that may attribute to increased stress involves the high level of indebtedness that a student incurs during medical school. LECOM seeks unremittingly to combat this stressor by offering the second lowest tuition rate of all private medical schools. Combined with its offering of a superlative education in preparation for the Boards, any tensions surrounding the test-taking period are tempered by LECOM instilling that confidence of preparation and support. Thus, as students pass the COMLEX exams, they successfully advance in school and subsequently into residency programs.

What is the significance of the numbers?

The pass rate confirms that LECOM students are very well prepared for the exams. The LECOM curriculum thoroughly covers that which the NBOME requires

and that which will produce a competent osteopathic physician. Level 1 is a reflection of the success of the Preclinical Curriculum in all Pathways and on all campuses. Level 2 CE and PE are further reflections of the Preclinical knowledge, plus the success of the Clinical Curriculum. Students are learning the competencies required at all of the core rotation sites regardless of the location or the size of the hospital. Level 3 is taken after the students have been graduated; but key to this test is that the foundation of knowledge and the necessary clinical skills have been provided during the LECOM undergraduate medical curriculum.

The students have gained life-long learning skills that allow them to be successful as they enter their chosen profession.

Since COMLEX is a minimal competency exam, the mean should suggest an indication of degree of competence at each level. Therefore, the LECOM mean score rankings in the top quarter of schools nationwide illustrates that LECOM student performance on all levels of COMLEX suggests the students are not just meeting the requirements, moreover they are exceeding them.

The faculty in Preclinical and Clinical settings have equipped the students with the sound

and solid foundations needed to enter a variety of residencies. The mean suggests that the LECOM scholar is very competent and each student should be competitive for any residency to which he or she may wish to apply.

The other measurement - one not reflected in these scores - but one very important for the students, their parents, and their significant others, involves the Match.

LECOM is estimably successful in matching students to residencies. The Match rate for 2015 was 99%.

LECOM is the largest medical school in the nation; yet the medical school faculty members unstintingly provide guidance and offer aid to any student who struggles so that he or she can meet that noble goal of becoming an osteopathic physician. Any student at risk is identified early in his or her academic career so that additional support can be provided to that student to ensure his or her success. On any of the campuses, a LECOM student is never a number, rather a person who was identified as a good candidate to become an osteopathic physician. The LECOM administration, faculty, and staff hold close and dear a deep and personal commitment to the success of every student. @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 21

LECOM CREATING LIVABLE COMMUNITIES Chautauqua Welcomes Third Year of LECOM Sponsorship

Pictured above is Kathleen Sebelius, former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Aristotle once said that “the work that man does shapes him, but the purpose that man has defines him.�

No words carry more fitting resonance than those evocative of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), for few, more resoundingly undertake a proactive role in coupling leadership and learning with community service and unstinting economic magnanimity. All are indispensable attributes that, when combined, generate a perfect storm of positive results. LECOM has demonstrated, time and again, that courageous, skillful leaders take up the mantle to bring about societal betterment.

As the largest medical school and the only osteopathic academic health care center in the nation, LECOM has committed itself to setting the paradigm in health care leadership; and for decades, it has added to an impressive rotogravure of superlative results. With many weighty issues continuing to dominate the health care

climate across the nation, the fall issue of the LECOM Connection spotlights the role that LECOM plays to meet unabashedly the vicissitudes of our time. The multifaceted aspects of the health care field necessitate a complete awareness and analysis, for indeed, they are issues for the ages.

It was, to that very point, that LECOM - for the third consecutive year - sponsored the program week ending the 2015 Season at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York. Week Nine of the 2015 Forum (August 24-28, 2015) drew lecturers and noted attendees from across the nation as thousands gathered in Chautauqua to attend lectures about profoundly probative topics central to better living and public wellness.

Most specifically, this year, the theme highlighted livable communities; expanding beyond healthful habitats to include business, transportation, and the region.

LECOM has sponsored the final week of the Chautauqua Institution summer season

22 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

for three years, 2013-2015. In the prior two years, LECOM provided physicians who spoke to current health topics in areas of geriatrics, physical fitness, nutrition, and integrative medicine. This year, LECOM physicians presented topics associated with promoting more healthful and livable communities, and the way in which to attain them.

Irrefutably, no stranger to promoting more healthful and livable communities, LECOM is possessed of a bastion of expertise and a demonstrable history in developing livable communities across the region and beyond. From the Medical Associates of Erie (MAE) - a network of physician offices located in Erie County, to the John M. and Silvia Ferretti Medical Fitness and Wellness Center, and the LECOM Senior Living Communities - comprised of the new LECOM Senior Living Center and of three independent living communities: Parkside

- Continued On Page 39

On Everyone’s Short List LECOM Solidly Positioned at Top of U.S. News and World Report Medical College Rankings

U.S. News and World Report has released its Best Medical School rankings for 2015 - and positioned prominently at the top - once again - is the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM).

LECOM is no stranger to estimable U.S. News and World Report rankings. This year, the magazine contacted 156 medical colleges for its annual ranking process. The Report, read across the span of several years, serves as an overt analysis of the unremitting success and expansion of LECOM. LECOM steadily has been ascending the U.S. News and World Report rankings and those who are familiar with the Report history will recall that in 2007, LECOM was listed at 115 in the overall Primary Care ranking; and the school placed in the top ten for the rate of Primary Care graduates (#9). In that year, LECOM was recognized for offering the fifth lowest tuition costs among private medical schools. That Report issue also found LECOM ranked as the fifth largest medical school in the country. At that time, (during the 2006 academic year), LECOM Bradenton had in session only three classes of medical students. In 2008, with Bradenton classes in full matriculation,

LECOM moved to #1 as the largest medical school in the nation; climbing to #5 for Primary Care graduates; and #3 for lowest tuition.

This year, once again, LECOM maintained its leadership position across several key areas in the Best Medical Schools rankings (see comparison graph); remaining #1 in size; and #2 both in lowest tuition and in most applications submitted seeking acceptance.

LECOM boasts the very lowest tuition cost of non-government subsidized private medical colleges; a defining distinction that also pairs with its superlative education reflected in consistently high Board Scores.

Another category highlighted by U.S. News and World Report centers upon the Primary Care graduation ranking. That ranking is based upon a percentage of graduates who enter primary care. By percentage calculation, LECOM advanced to fourth in the nation for graduating Primary Care physicians. However, with a class size of more than 500 medical graduates, LECOM (using a straight number calculation) actually graduates the most Primary Care physicians as compared to all schools.

The 2015 edition of U.S. News and World Report: Best Medical College Rankings shows that among the leading medical schools in the nation, LECOM has continually advanced its estimable leadership position in key areas, ranking: #1 Medical Colleges Over 1000 Students; #2 Lowest Tuition Among Private Medical Colleges; #2 Most Applied-to Medical Colleges; #4 Colleges Graduating the Most Primary Care Physicians; #51 Primary Care rankings among all medical colleges. offered by highly regarded medical colleges, LECOM maintains a particularly personalized faculty-student ratio. Consistently, well over half of the graduates from the medical school at LECOM who apply to residency programs are admitted to their very first choice.

Consistently, LECOM has been graduating primary care physicians, offering the lowest tuition among private medical schools, and placing among the top schools for attracting excellent applicants. Such constancy of outcomes is not simply a statistical trend, rather it is the intended result of a visionary strategic plan and an innovative educational paradigm.

The implicit message gained by reviewing the U.S. News and World Report facts and figures remains clear: osteopathic medical education stands solidly in the health care vanguard and it is doubly clear that LECOM is the unabashed leader in that field superbly ranked and offering superlative medical education at a most affordable cost.

With one of the most affordable tuition costs @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 23

INCOMING STUD Brittany Colosimo Hailing from the South Hills of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, first year Erie medical student, Brittany Colosimo completed her undergraduate degree in molecular biology at Westminster College; and last year, she completed the Post Baccalaureate Program at LECOM. She chose LECOM because of its exemplary reputation and its overwhelming support of the community. She believes deeply in giving back and in performing community service and she is eager for that very opportunity while she performs her studies at LECOM. While growing up, Brittany spent considerable time with her grandmother who had cerebral palsy. Brittany accompanied her grandmother to many of her medical appointments and she was impressed with the doctors’ empathy toward her grandmother as the ailing woman struggled to cope with her debilitating disease. Brittany was inspired by the profession – the dedication and effort shown by her grandmother’s physicians resonated with Brittany.

Witnessing the “selfless efforts of those medical professionals offered to a complete stranger” inspired Brittany and she decided that medicine was her calling too.

Brittany is a professionally trained singer and she has always enjoyed music. Although it has been a significant part of her life, she now views it as a hobby and as an outlet. Her first love always has been science and medicine. When asked who has influenced her life the most, Brittany explained that “each and every family member and friend has supported me on my journey. I would not be here today without every one of them,” she averred.

Major John (Scott) Donoughe It is no doubt a truism that the brave man carves out his fortune, and every man is the son of his own works.

That axiom holds true for first year Erie medical student, Major John (Scott) Donoughe, a former U.S. Army Brigade Aeromedical Physician Assistant who is following the passion of his calling at LECOM. Scott, a dedicated member of the United States Army who plans to transition into the Navy once he completes his medical residency believes that personal gratification is attained through service to others and through personal sacrifice. That deeply held belief has wholly shaped and defined his career - and it is that very credo which prompted his decision to attend LECOM. Evidencing his commitment to service and sacrifice, Scott received countless awards during his ten-year military career, including Bronze Stars, numerous medals, commendations, and badges.

Selected for company command as the first physician assistant to command in the oldest active duty regiment in the Army - the famed 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Scott understands the importance of leadership. One of the primary reasons that he welcomed the opportunity to attend LECOM centers upon the way in which the school creates and molds capable leaders.

Scott became interested in LECOM after he discovered the Accelerated Physician Assistant Program (APAP) which would afford him opportunity to become an osteopathic physician in an accelerated time frame. Coupled with superlative curriculum and education at LECOM and the benefit of his being close in proximity to his family, LECOM was the clear educational choice.

Leadership, sacrifice, and dedication - all LECOM hallmarks that underpin the courageous calling of this medical student.

24 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

UDENT PROFILES Kristin Day Incoming LECOM Erie medical student, Kristin Day - a 2015 graduate of Clarion University (with a 4.0 grade point average) - is answering her calling. Her goal of becoming an orthopedic physician has driven her to excel. Beyond her stellar grade-point average, Kristin is a three-time NCAA Division II National Champion swimmer and she was the Capital One NCAA At-Large Academic All-American of the Year. Along with her degree in chemistry from Clarion, Kristin has accumulated quite a few trophies. She won the Elite 89 Award, which recognizes the top student-athlete at a championship event. Kristin also was named the CSCAA NCAA D-II Female Diver of the Year.

Kristin’s passion for athletics propelled her desire to become an orthopedic physician.

“When I was younger, I was a gymnast with elbow issues,” she explained. “My orthopedic surgeon truly helped me to return to health, and that event inspired me to look into this field,” Day explained.

Kristin’s decision to receive her medical education from LECOM derives from a variety of factors, including the exceptionally high LECOM pass rate and the ability of the College to fully and properly prepare future physicians. “A couple of physicians whom I shadowed told me of the great LECOM environment,” Day elaborated.

Kristin’s goal to become to an orthopedic physician, just like the one who inspired her when she was young, is within reach; and bolstered by the LECOM commitment to exceptionalism, it seems that she cannot miss.

Joseph Miller Sarasota native and first year medical student, Joseph Miller, attended Florida Southern University where he received a scholarship to play baseball. At FSU, he played the position of starting catcher for three years.

While attending FSU, Joseph earned Capital One Academic All-American Honors and he served as an executive member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Joseph also was involved in the Student Government Association, Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Fraternity, and he was a brother of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.

Some of his most profound influences in life have been those of his parents, who continuously encourage Joseph to do his very best. “They did not have the opportunity to go to college,” explained the grateful scholar and, “they have taught me to work hard and to set and attain goals,” favoring those pursuits that are most rewarding.

With music as one of those favorite pursuits, Joseph was able to lead worship for a campus ministry at Florida Southern by playing the guitar and singing in the worship band.

Having played competitive sports for his entire life, and with a considerable focus upon proper nutrition and exercise, Joseph found himself drawn to osteopathic medicine. While in high school, he participated in a Human Anatomy class and instantly, he knew that he wished to pursue a career in sports medicine.

“Because of my faith, I always have had a strong desire to help others in need. While trying to combine my interest in sports medicine with my empathy for others, I was steered toward the medical field - and I have loved every aspect of it,” expounded Joseph. For him, LECOM was the natural choice. With much eagerness, Joseph looks forward to pursuing his calling in the field of Sports Medicine.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 25

Michael Flowers Class of 2019, LECOM medical student and Bradenton resident, Michael Flowers, worked nights in the Emergency Room at Manatee Memorial Hospital to pay for his schooling at New College of Florida where he served as a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Teaching Assistant for lectures and labs.

Michael then volunteered for six years at Tidewell Hospice. There, he assisted the RNs and CNAs as they tended to the many and crucial needs of the patients. Michael deeply enjoyed working in the therapeutic gardens at Tidewell; and, perhaps not coincidently, he wrote his undergraduate thesis on the effects of those therapeutics upon the heart rate and blood pressure of patients. Michael received a scholarship from the Sarasota Garden Club and Succulent Society for his work in horticultural therapy. “Having the last name of Flowers,” chuckled Michael, “made the contest a bit uneven to others,” he concluded with a grin.

Working both with MDs and DOs in the emergency room offered Michael the invaluable opportunity to experience and to compare the way in which the different philosophies influence the practice of medicine; and Michael immediately recognized the key importance of the mind, body, and spirit principles. The Problem Based Learning Pathway at LECOM Bradenton “just seemed to make sense,” in taking his career choice to its highest potential.

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Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment and Functional Anatomy of the Cervical Spine: An International Approach

Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment and Functional Anatomy of the Cervical Spine: An International Approach

Written By: Andrea Orlandi, DO Michele Dalmasso, DO Randy Kulesza, Jr, PhD Text, Images and Videos are © Copyright, The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine

Written By: Andrea Orlandi, DO Michele Dalmasso, DO Randy Kulesza, Jr, PhD Text, Images and Videos are © Copyright, The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine

This innovative publication about Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment of the cervical spine contains detailed anatomy descriptions with illustrations and 85 high definition clips (taken from different points of view) showing various osteopathic techniques divided into five categories: soft tissue, joint mobilization, high velocity-low amplitude, traction and intervertebral disc rehab.

This ebook is published by LECOM and is written from the perspective of both Italian and American physicians.

Download it today for $29.99 on Apple iBooks or Google Play.

For Apple, you must have an iOS device with iBooks 1.5 or later and iOS with 4.3.3 or later, or a Mac with iBooks 1.0 or later and OSX 10.9 or later.

For Google Play, Android OS version 2.2 and above is required.

26 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

EARN YOUR MASTER’S IN HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION DEGREE ONLINE The LECOM MHSA Program will prepare you with the knowledge and skills required to plan, direct, and coordinate medical and health services. With the MHSA degree you will be ready to step into an administrative role in hospitals, health care facilities, public health organizations or private practices.

• Designed to provide working professionals with the skills needed to become top health care administrators; • Over 90% of the courses are delivered Online by experienced faculty members; • 18-month and 24-month programs meet busy professional schedules; • Current LECOM students and alumni are eligible to be awarded a LECOM MHSA Scholarship up to a maximum amount of 50% off the tuition cost*.

LECOM is proud to introduce a distance education program to prepare qualified health care leaders to meet the challenges of 21st Century medicine. For more information, contact us at 941-405-1535 or mhsa@lecom.edu

*Students must apply to the MHSA program prior to enrollment deadline to qualify.

Ceremonial Tradition Thrives as LECOM Presents White Coats to Medical and Pharmacy Students The long-held tradition of the White Coat Ceremony offers one of those golden moments that give rise to the swell of delight and pride. This event venerates one of the highlights of the college year as a commemoration of achievement. The White Coat Ceremony is a time-honored custom at medical schools that serves as a “ceremonial rite of passage” – a pronouncement of a psychological contract that creates a bond of professionalism and compassion in the study and practice of medicine.

On September 19, 2015, medical and pharmacy students at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine marked their transition from classroom study to clinical education in ceremonies held separately at the Warner Theatre, in Erie. More than 400 first-year medical and pharmacy students received white coats during the dual ceremony celebration; an event that denotes the culmination of a triumphant experience for all of the first-year students who have prepared themselves academically and mentally for the challenges that lay ahead of them.

The event signifies a preparedness to embrace their calling. Even though the moment may appear to serve as a capstone at LECOM to a year comprised of hard work, dedication, sacrifice, and success, it also signifies a new beginning to commence with the total immersion of heart, mind, and self into one of the noblest professions upon this earth.

The white coat is a symbol of trust between doctor and patient; of empathy, and of the purity of purpose of the medical professional.

The first White Coat Ceremony at LECOM was convened in 1996; and each year hence, the ceremony recognizes the precious significance of training physicians in the combined attributes of medical knowledge and compassionate care. The two inextricably linked qualities – honed to perfection – result in the finest medically trained and caring medical professionals in society today.

During two ceremonies, LECOM School of Pharmacy students and College of Medicine students pledged - in the presence of their families, faculty members, and peers - to uphold professionalism and competence within their respective practices.

The students now are prepared to embark upon the highest quality in medical education as they begin to work with physicians and pharmacists in clinical courses and practices where they will learn more about the ways in which they may partner with their patients upon a pathway to the betterment of health for all whom they serve.

Two LECOM graduates who once, as students themselves, participated in White Coat Ceremonies served as Keynote Speakers during the September event. Zachary Heeter, PharmD, who graduated with the LECOM Class of 2009, offered impassioned remarks to the pharmacy students. Dr. Heeter is the Director of the LECOM Pharmacy Residency Program at Millcreek Community Hospital and a LECOM Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice.

Dr. Heeter told the new students that the white coat represents the trust that has been built over decades of pharmacists striving to provide optimum care for their patients, by upholding the values that define the white coat: altruism, knowledge, dependability, and professionalism. “When patients enter your pharmacy, see you in the hospital, in the clinic, or within any of the other settings that pharmacists now work, they immediately will associate you with these values,” he expounded. “Do not disappoint them! Make it your goal as a professional to embody these attributes at all times,” he advised.

Michael DiGiorno, DO, LECOM Class of 2000, inspiringly addressed the medical students.

Dr. DiGiorno is an active medical educator at St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, New York, and he serves as a Regional Dean for the LECOM Clinical Campus at St. John’s

28 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

Riverside. Dr. DiGiorno spoke of the way in which LECOM had wholly and superlatively prepared him for post-graduate medical education at a major New York hospital.

The White Coat Ceremony serves always as an opportunity for first-year students to reaffirm the commitment that they made to become competent osteopathic physicians and pharmacists while, at the same time, endorsing the ever-present commitment of LECOM to provide the highest level of academic excellence and clinical training to help its students achieve these fine goals.

With the understanding that Providence directs the hands, hearts, and minds of the men and women wearing the white coats, they set forth to bring their gifts to the larger communities in which they will serve to answer their noble calling.

The Rite Aid Corporation contributes the white coats for the pharmacy students.

The Pennsylvania Osteopathic Medical Association (POMA) provides the white coats and stethoscopes for the LECOM medical students. POMA President, Michael Zawisza, DO, spoke of his experience in building a family medicine practice. He encouraged the students as they begin their medical careers; and he noted that in eight years, they will be the physicians who will direct the future of the osteopathic medicine profession.

LECOM at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, hosted its White Coat Ceremony on Saturday, October 3, 2015, for its first-year Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine students.

The Ceremony was held at the Seton Hill University Performing Arts Center in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. LECOM presented white coats to 110 members of the Class of 2019. As in the Erie celebration, receiving the white coat marks a pivotally important milestone for the Seton Hill campus students as they approach the completion of their first semester preparing to make the transition

from pre-clinical education to more clinical, hands-on training.

LECOM graduate, Dawn Herzig, DO, who participated in the very first LECOM White Coat Ceremony, served as the Keynote Speaker. Dr. Herzig was graduated in the LECOM inaugural commencement in 1997.

To the medical students gathered at the Seton Hill event, Dr. Herzig spoke of the most vital and important focus of their training - the patient. “Please never forget about them,” she urged. “The patient is a fellow human being who comes to you for care. He or she brings with him uncertainty, some anxiety, and the hopeful optimism that you can help him. At times, the patient carries skepticism.

It is your duty to gain the knowledge you need to take care of disease, but it is also your duty to provide the patient with kindness and compassion so that true healing can take place,” she elaborated.

Lisa A. Witherite-Rieg, DO, Trustee-at-Large, represented POMA at the Seton Hill gathering and she presented a stethoscope to each student.

LECOM Bradenton holds its White Coat Ceremonies for the medical, pharmacy, and dental students in Florida in late January.

Whatever the season during which the estimable tradition is celebrated, the same holds true - the profound purpose of an unmatched calling begins with the promise of this day - because these men and women have taken a pledge for the betterment of mankind.

Top photo, pictured from L to R: first-year LECOM Erie medical students, Jessica Boegner, Bryan Bolen, Louis Borgatta, Jonathan Brach, and Eli Bress.

Middle photo, pictured from L to R: first-year LECOM at Seton Hill medical student, Alaina McClarren with her daughter, Scarlett, and husband, Neal.

Bottom photo, pictured from L to R: first-year LECOM Erie pharmacy students, Tyler Negley, Daniel Szabat, Travis Meinders, Nicholas Lombardo, and Shane Fagan.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 29

Closing a Door, Lifting a Lamp Successful Area Dentist Finds Dream Realized at LECOM

30 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

The world is all doors, all choices opportunities to lift the lamp of learning in a place that makes a difference. ~Sophocles Michael Parenti, DMD, DDS, is a dentist at the LECOM Clinical Practices in Erie. He has been an integral part of the LECOM family since the opening of the LECOM Erie Dental Offices in April 2015.

Before joining the LECOM faculty, Dr. Parenti had maintained a private dental practice for more than 32 years, having teamed with his father-in-law and father-inlaw’s father in the family dental practice - a Girard fixture - established in 1915, by their father and grandfather.

Dr. Parenti now brings his wealth of practice experience to the LECOM Dental School team.

After operating a successful and thriving dental office in the Girard area, caring for countless hundreds of patients, and personally growing to become a recognized and respected name in the dental practice arena, one may wonder just what it was that prompted this distinguished dental practitioner to close the practice door to lift the lamp of learning at LECOM. Perhaps, seeking out a challenge, Dr. Parenti decided to pursue a passion - change course and meet a new challenge. Perhaps the venerable medical professional welcomed the chance to become increasingly involved, expansively creative, or further motivated.

Yet, the substantive, more precise reason is found at a more profound and probing level than even the foregoing.

From the time that Michael Parenti was a fourth year dental student, he found that he had a way of connecting with his fellow classmates, often assisting them in the understanding of certain techniques, principles, and procedures with which they were struggling. Similarly, he recalled with admiration the good instructors, who, by their example, guided him as to the many ways in which to approach students in a positive and constructive manner. Stated Dr. Parenti, “Something clicked when helping a classmate with a particular procedure one day, and I thought at that moment, ‘I think that I could be very good at teaching dental students, someday.’ For 32 years, that thought always has been on my mind,” he admitted.

In a small general practice in a small rural town, Dr. Parenti enjoyed seeing patients, many of whom had been coming to the office for generations. The office overhead was fairly low and the multiple doctors shared the expenses of running the business; keeping treatment fees affordable to help the many lower income families in the community. Over the years, the demographics of the area began to change significantly. With newer digital technologies now becoming the standard of care in modern dental practices, dentistry in the 21st century had changed too, especially during the past ten years.

Recently, after Dr. Parenti’s father-in-law retired and Dr. Parenti’s two sons began exploring educational and career options, it was apparent to the veteran practitioner that there would not be a fifth generation family dental practice.

For Dr. Parenti, the flickering glow of the dream deferred began to glimmer with new refulgence. “I think that I could be very good at teaching dental students someday,” came the calling that needed to be answered.

each individual. Sometimes, another person (or in this case, an institution) can share that dream and help it grow to fulfillment; other times, the dream remains a solitary pursuit known only to the seeker. Secret or shared, no matter what it might be, a dream is a potential that never should be discouraged.

So it was for the veteran dentist, who, beyond the talent and the professional passion, exemplified a career, both as a committed dental practitioner and - now - as a member of a team of LECOM dentists who hold high the estimable standards of osteopathic practice and principles.

For decades, Dr. Parenti has consistently proven that a strong mind and a dedicated heart are the necessary elements of one’s purpose. His efforts, through his impassioned vocation, have demonstrated that immortality lies not only in the work that is left behind, but also in the people that his training and skills have touched. Now at LECOM, Dr. Parenti champions the cause of a great institution where his dream will result in the superlative training of a new generation of dental professionals.

Deciding to weigh opportunities to fulfill that calling, Dr. Parenti considered the University of Pittsburgh, Case Western Reserve University, and the University of Buffalo but, it was LECOM that met his vision for the perfect teaching opportunity. “Call it fate, lucky timing, or divine intervention, but some nagging thought motivated me to look into opportunities at LECOM at just the right time. There it was: LECOM was opening a dental school,” mused the doctor.

“For the first time in my life, I scrambled to create a resume and cover letter.

What would the interview be like? Why would I want to give up my autonomy as a business owner to work for someone else? I confided in a few close friends and family and their support was exceptionally positive,” affirmed Dr. Parenti.

“I was growing increasingly enthusiastic about the possibility of playing a part in the training of our next generation of dentists in a brand new, state of-the-art facility. I felt the strong calling to share my ethics, high standards, and practice philosophies with a school that so clearly holds the same mission-driven and penetrating commitment to exceptionalism,” noted Dr. Parenti.

Deep within one’s heart is carried the seed of a secret dream, special and unique to @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 31

of the United States. However, knowing that children best adjust to different cultural and environmental settings before the age of eight, made this time an optimal one for the Misners to embrace this endeavor.

The contemplative parents hope that this awakening journey will help their daughters to more fully appreciate life in the United States by exposing them to other, less fortunate environs.

The medical couple is part of the Comboni Lay Missionaries Program; an iniative that began in the United States in 1994. The organization, based outside of Chicago, has helped to send 55 lay people to eleven countries. The Misner family was drawn to this program because of their deep Catholic faith paired with the way in which the program ideally addresses their needs as a family.

LECOM Alumni Taking a Leap of Faith Proverbs endorses a profound philosophy that one may not have gone where one intended to go, but one ends up where one intended to be. The path that brought Dr. Matt Misner and his wife, Dr. Karissa Misner, to their recent and purposed calling truly is a compelling one.

After months of probative deliberation, the sale of most of their possessions, and the departure from ideal employment positions, Matt and Karissa Misner’s family is about to commence a four-year pilgrimage in medical missionary work.

During the next six months, Matt and his wife, Karissa will undergo training near Chicago, Illinois, preparing themselves and their two daughters to undertake the mission of the Lord in South America.

Although this decision seems a weighty one, and perhaps one that suggests a course unfamiliar to many, Matt and Karissa know that they are doing exactly that for which they are destined.

The foursome will reside outside of Chicago until December. During that time, they will have a few weeks to enjoy the holidays and to say their final goodbyes, after which

they will travel to their designated area (yet undetermined) to carry out their three-and-ahalf year humanitarian offering.

Both LECOM alumni from the Class of 2004, Dr. Matt Misner and his wife, Dr. Karissa Misner, met while attending LECOM in Erie, Pennsylvania. Both physicians have previous experience with humanitarian missions, having completed missionary work while attending medical school.

Upon being graduated from LECOM, the couple relocated to Oklahoma where they have resided until making their decision to commit themselves to the faith-filled purpose of their medical calling.

Now, as members of the extended LECOM family, the Misners recalled the profoundly dedicated charge consistently exhibited

by LECOM in its unremitting service to others - one that the Misner family is wholly advancing.

The primary consideration for the Misners, and the one at the forefront of their minds in their acceptance of this decidedly rigorous challenge was that of exposing their daughters - six-year-old, Lydia and three-year-old, Violet - to a world unlike that

32 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

Motivated and sincere people seldom speak much of their piety; it reveals itself in acts rather than in words, and it has more influence than speeches, homilies, or protestations.

Recalling their LECOM mission trips, the devoted doctors encourage medical students to consider participation in missionary work. Whether it is a tenday mission expedition or a multi-year commitment, all mission work is beneficial, aiding not only the recipient of the aid and care, but also the provider of that care.

“There is nothing like the feeling of helping someone who, otherwise, would not have access to proper care,” explained Dr. Matt.

“I consider it a blessing to serve people who really need our help,” he affirmed.

The Misners are hoping to be placed in Guatemala, Peru, or Ecuador; however to date, they have no idea as to their assignment locale. Nonetheless, the resiliency of love, the foundation of family, and the indelible power of faith have underpinned their commitment to their calling. Providence alone makes one’s path clear, for it is the aspiration of every human being in this beclouded and tempestuous existence to seek and to find his purpose.

Unquestionably, the entire process for the Misner family has proven to be a leap of faith – for in the end, faith is the driving force of all that has purpose.

Pictured above are Drs. Matt and Karissa Misner with their two daughters, Violet, age 3 (left) and Lydia, age 6 (right).

D. Peters, Deputy Director, Department of Police and Security, oversee the sharply honed team - a complement of personnel that serve and monitor West Grandview Boulevard, including the new dental offices; buildings situated upon the former LORD property; the John M. Ferretti and Silvia M. Ferretti Fitness and Wellness Center; the Coffee Culture CafĂŠ; the LECOM Senior Living Center; the Senior Living Communities; the Bayfront Campus; and the offices of the Clinical Practices of Erie. The police are responsible for all of the students and employees who use the LECOM Health facilities.

Security for LECOM Erie includes 29 sworn officers, and 7 security officers, for a total compliment of 36; with the hiring of 8 to 10 additional sworn police officers in the offing.

Only the City of Erie (with 174 police), and Millcreek Township Police (with 61 sworn officers) comprise larger forces. Across campuses of higher education, LECOM Police and Security is, by far, the largest such department in Erie County.

FLOWER OF SAFETY - COMMON SENSE IN UNCOMMON VIGILANCE The door to safety swings upon the hinges of vigilance and common sense. ~Horace

The LECOM Erie Police Department is the third largest police department in Erie County The force is charged with maintaining security on all fronts to insure the paramount safety of, and to provide unparalleled security for students, faculty, staff, and all who fall under the sheltering wing in the LECOM family.

Kevin Goode, Acting Institutional Director of Campus Police and Security, and Clark

LECOM is committed unreservedly to providing to its students a superlative education and that unsurpassed quality entails learning in an atmosphere of unassailable stability. Students, faculty, and staff, (as well as visitors to LECOM) must enter into a safe academic environment.

The Police and Security Departments at LECOM provide that assurance. Although the departments enforce parking rules and assist in various areas on campus, their principal focus and their unwavering pledge is the protection and safety of every person at every LECOM location.

Because LECOM has a number of facilities in multiple locations, each with a large and diverse student and employee population, many of the LECOM locations are staffed around the clock, seven days a week and throughout the entire year without interruption.

Some LECOM security personnel have been dispatched to monitor rather remote or secluded locations; while several locations are necessarily patrolled by more than one officer on a particular shift, or during traditionally busy hours. No matter the time or location, LECOM maintains a stalwart commitment to provide the safest and most protective environment for students, faculty, staff, and visitors.

- Continued On Page 39 @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 33

COMMUNITY IS OUR CAMPUS

LECOM School of Pharmacy Wins PPA Award

Bridging the Gaps Food Drive

The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association (PPA) recently presented the LECOM School of Pharmacy with the 2015 Public Awareness Award during the October 3, 2015, PPA Annual Conference held at the Holiday Inn Harrisburg-Hershey in Grantville, PA. This award recognizes the school that promotes the role of the pharmacist by developing and participating in public awareness and community activities.

The food drive was conducted by students from the Bridging the Gaps to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the program. It was held at various LECOM locations, and at other community sites. The collection was done between April and June, 2015. Two SUV loads of food and personal care items were collected and given to the Erie City Mission. Pictured above is LECOM Erie student Brendan Gallagher (OMS2) and LECOM at Seton Hill student Gresa Sylejmani (OMS2).

Howard Hanna Donates to Safe Kids Erie

Erie Gives

Howard Hanna presented LECOM Safe Kids Erie with a donation of $5,000. The donation benefited the purchase of new bicycle helmets and other safety devices to help fulfill the Safe Kids mission to keep children safe, healthy and out of the emergency room. Pictured above (L-R) Bebe English, Howard Hanna Regional Manager; Patty Puline, Safe Kids Erie; Connie Britton, Howard Hanna Agent; Patty George, Erie Airport Manager

The LECOM Student Scholarship Fund received an infusion of $38,479.74 through Erie Gives. The Erie Community Foundation created Erie Gives as a means of raising money for local non-profits.

Every dollar received from this contribution went directly to student scholarships. Pictured above (L-R) are: Russ Warner, Board Chair of The Erie Community Foundation; Shelly Steinbeck, CFO/COO of LECOM Health Medical Associates of Erie; and Michael L. Batchelor, President of The Erie Community Foundation.

34 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

COMMUNITY IS OUR CAMPUS

LECOM Healthy Smiles

LECOM Erie MASH

Smiling children visited the LECOM Erie Dental Offices. LECOM ASDA students organized LECOM Healthy Smiles, an event that brought parents and children to the dental office for free screenings, dental treatments, and games and activities for kids. Pictured above from L to R, Peyton Williams, Katherine Perez as the Tooth Fairy (D4), and Jason Alter (D4).

Seventy-six students from Erie area high schools: McDowell, Villa Maria Academy, Cathedral Prep, Fort Leboeuf, and Mercyhurst, and from Pittsburgh area high schools: Oakland Catholic and Seneca Valley took part in a week-long summer program designed to familiarize aspiring youths with medical school. The LECOM M.A.S.H., or Medical Applications of Science and Health Program offers a unique opportunity to a select group of high school students to spend one week learning about the world of medicine. Theodore Makoske, MD (center), teaches high school students about anatomy.

Tell Me Something Good

LECOM 5K

Kersten Schroeder, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Director of Community Outreach at the Bradenton campus (pictured right), participated in a WSRQ radio interview with Veronica BrandonMiller (pictured left) from Goodwill Manasota. The show, entitled: “Tell Me Something Good,� was presented by Goodwill Manasota.

LECOM was invited to participate in the program to share information about the school, its mission, community involvement, and the dental clinic.

The LECOM Medical Fitness and Wellness Center held their Second Annual LECOM 5K Scholarship Run/Walk. The Run/Walk is a community event that encourages a healthful lifestyle, promotes physical fitness, and improves the health of the Erie community. There were 212 participants, ranging in age from 8 to 81, who finished the race! All proceeds benefited the LECOM Student Scholarship Fund, which provides financial support for medical, pharmacy, and dental students attending the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. Pictured above is the overall winner, Ethan Louis, age 20, with a time of 16:33. @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 35

NOTES

STUDENT NOTES College of Medicine Erie Campus

Seth Carter (OMS3) represented LECOM at the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Family Physicians Society (POFPS) CME Symposium in August. He is a student member of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP) Board of Governors.

Joshua Kropko (OMS4) presented research at the National Conference on Problem Gambling.

Kuljit Kaur (OMS4) presented a poster entitled: Successful Combination Therapy in the Treatment of Chronic Wounds Refractory to Mono-Therapeutic Methods: A Clinical Case Report at the American Professional Wound Care Association Conference in Philadelphia in March, 2015.

Nicholas Cleveland (OMS2) was selected as the Student DO of the Month for March, 2015.

College of Medicine LECOM at Seton Hill Jun Elegino (OMS2) and Tanush Sahay (OMS2) have been selected as Pittsburgh Schweitzer Fellows; they will focus upon HIV and STD prevention among the homeless Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) youth population in Pittsburgh.

Preston Eibling (OMS4) recently was elected as a Student Editor for Universal Notes.

Krishna Rajaram (OMS2) participated in the 2015 National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK) Medical Student Research Program in the field of Diabetes Research.

School of Pharmacy Bradenton Sarah Stull (P4), Melissa Holehouse (P2), Anna Marsakova (P3), and Ashley Cubillos (P4) became the first LECOM students to win the Patient Counseling Competition at the recent Florida Pharmacy Association 125th Annual

Meeting and Convention in St. Augustine.

Ashley Cubillos (P4), Tenesa Johnson (P4), Jessica Tadych (P4), Thao Luutran (P4), Ngoc Tran (P4), and George Shehata (P4) jointly authored a poster focusing upon Memantine for the Treatment of Depressive Symptoms. The poster won second place in the Student Poster Competition at the recent Florida Pharmacy Association 125th Annual Meeting and Convention in St. Augustine.

Ashley Cubillos (P4), Elizabeth Faville (P3), and Amanda Peebles (P3) won the Quiz Bowl Competition at the Florida Society of Health System Pharmacists 2015 Annual Meeting.

Robbie Fisher (P3) was awarded a $3,000 SNAPhA/Walgreens Diversity Advancement Scholarship at the annual Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNAPhA) Conference.

Gloria Miner (P2) recently appeared in a 60-second health awareness video describing the way in which various health conditions can be dangerous and detrimental to society. The video was placed on YouTube for CARES Outreach.

Elizabeth Faville (P3) was selected for an internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital during the summer of 2015.

John A. Ingoglia (P4) presented a poster at the Florida Society of Health-System Pharmacists (FSHP) 2015 Annual Meeting held in Orlando, FL. The poster was titled: Bevacizumab for the Treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema (DME).

Meaghan Pugh (P2) published an article in a recent edition of The Pulse newsletter sharing the experience she gained while attending the Professional Compounding Centers of America (PCCA) Compounding Bootcamp in Houston, TX.

School of Dental Medicine Bradenton Stephanie Nguyen (D4) received the Robert J. Sullivan Scholarship from the Dental Trade Alliance Foundation.

Jared Schmitt (D3) presented a study in the Journal of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology titled: Impairment of Macrophage Cholesterol Efflux by Cholesterol Hydroperoxide Trafficking:

36 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

Implications for Atherogenesis Under Oxidative Stress.

FACULTY NOTES College of Medicine Bradenton

Colonel (Ret.) Warner D. Farr, MD, coauthored an article entitled: Causes of Death in U.S. Special Operations Forces in the Global War on Terrorism: 2001-2004, published in the Annals of Surgery.

Aleksandr Sinelnikov, PhD, coauthored Epidemiology and Forecast of the Prevalence of Esophageal Cancer in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe at the International Conference on Applied Economics (ICOAE) 2015, in Kazan, Russia.

College of Medicine Erie Randy Kulesza, PhD, was published in Neuroscience 303 2105 with a piece entitled: Abnormal Neuronal Morphology and Neurochemistry in the Auditory Brainstem of FMR1 Knockout Rats. He also was elected to the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) as Chair of Division of Anatomy, Foundational Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Kulesza also received numerous grants.

Patrick Leary, DO, LECOM Sports and Integrative Medicine, presented at the American College of Sports Medicine 62nd Annual Meeting and 6th World Congress in San Diego, CA, in May. Frank L. Buczek, PhD, coauthored an article entitled: Analysis of the Constraint Joint Loading in the Thumb During Pipetting, published in the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, August 2015, Vol. 137. He also coauthored an article entitled: Comparison of Hierarchical and Six Degrees-of-Freedom Marker Sets in Analyzing Gait Kinematics, published in Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 2015.

Mark Terrell, EdD, coauthored an article entitled: Perceptions of the Living Dead: An Assessment of Knowledge and Opinions About Whole Body Donation, its Process, and Willingness to Become Cadaveric Donors in Pennsylvania

NOTES published in Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Clinical Anatomy.

Richard A. Ortoski, DO, was the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Family Physicians Society (POFPS) Conference Co-Chairman as well as one of the speakers at the Conference.

Alice Hudder, PhD, Associate Professor of Biochemistry has applied for a U.S. Patent for an automated, shipboard, rapid-testing system that can detect live organisms in ballast water and reduce the likelihood of new invasive species entering the Great Lakes.

Nikoletta Proudan, DO, coauthored an article entitled: Juxtapositions Between the Somatostatinergic and Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone (GHRH) Neurons in the Human Hypothalamus, published in Neuroscience 297.

College of Medicine LECOM at Seton Hill Mark A. W. Andrews, PhD, Professor of Physiology at Seton Hill, was reappointed for 2015-2016 as an Associate Editor of the Medical Science Educator (Journal of International Association of Medical Science Educators). Additionally, he was newly appointed to the 2015-2016 Advisory Committee for the Journal of the American Osteopathic Associates – Medical Education Component. Dr. Andrews coauthored a feature article entitled: What are the Implications of Implementation Science for Medical Education? published in Medical Education Online 2015.

Justin R. Siebert, PhD, coauthored the review article entitled: Biomaterial Approaches to Enhancing Neurorestoration after Spinal Cord Injury: Strategies for Overcoming Inherent Biological Obstacles, published in BioMed Research International.

School of Pharmacy Bradenton

Institute of Technology while abroad in India. He also moderated an American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) webinar entitled: Enhance Student Learning with Inexpensive Tablet Apps.

Sunil Jambhekar, PharmD, presented a Skype Seminar to the faculty of Nirma University in India. The seminar was entitled: Guidance on Scholarship and Research: Literature Search. He completed a review of a manuscript for American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (AJPE) entitled: Decision-Making and Problem Solving Approaches in Pharmacy Education. He also had a manuscript accepted for publication in the AJPE entitled: Text Analytics of AJPE Article Titles Reveal Emerging Trends in Pharmacy Education in the Past Two Decades.

Katherine Tromp, PharmD; Mark Terrell, EdD and Tim Novak, MSA, coauthored an article entitled: How Distance Programing Can Allow Medical Institutions to Serve New Markets, published in the online newspaper The EvoLLLution.

School of Pharmacy Erie Kristen Gawronski, PharmD, joined the LECOM faculty on August 31, 2015.

Kimberly Burns, JD, provided the Keynote Address at the Erie County Drug and Alcohol Conference. Her remarks were entitled: Addressing Prescription Drug Abuse and Understanding Pharmacy’s Collateral Damage. She also attended the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination/ Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment (FPGEE/PCOA) Review Committee Meeting for the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), and she reviewed two articles for Pharmacist’s Letter.

Bojana Stevich-Heemer, PharmD, was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice.

Ryan Wargo, PharmD, presented Drug and Food Interactions Worth Worrying About at the Florida Pharmacists Association (FPA) Meeting.

Sarah Dombrowski, PharmD, presented Cost Justifying the Pharmacist as a Member of the Health Care Team: Documentation Beyond the SOAP Note, during the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association webinar in August.

Sachin Devi, PhD, presented Informatics and Psychology of Success at the Poona College of Pharmacy and Maharashtra

Hershey S. Bell, MD, participated in the Academy for Academic Leadership (AAL), which held the 2015 Chairs and

Academic Administrators Management Program (CAAMP) on July 30 – August 1, at the Georgia Tech Conference Center in Atlanta, GA.

ALUMNI NOTES Class of 2001

Karin Greenberg, DO, is Medical Director of the Acute Rehabilitation Unit at Ohio Valley Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA.

Class of 2004 Kristin Shaneyfelt, DO, joins the prestigious ranks of the International Association of Healthcare Professionals She specializes in high risk obstetrics and laparoscopic surgery, and she is credited as the first physician to perform a single incision laparoscopic hysterectomy at Hartford Hospital.

Donald J. McMahon, DO, leads the GI Fellowship Program at the Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford, N.J. Dr. McMahon also practices with Kennedy Health, based in Cherry Hill, N.J. Matt Misner, DO, and his family have made a four-year commitment to the Comboni Lay Missionaries Program; he leaves his practice as a pediatrician in Muskogee, OK for Latin America.

Class of 2005 Rebecca Wise, PharmD, was elected as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Boro Women and Family Services, a non-profit social-work agency in southern Erie County, PA that provides free and confidential services to educate and empower families in need.

Jeffrey Brown, DO, cardiologist, has joined Mercy Clinic Heart and Vascular, in Washington, MO.

Class of 2008 Thomas Donkar, DO, has joined the staff of St. Luke’s Hospital-Miners Campus in Coaldale, PA and Estes Surgical Associates.

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 37

NOTES George Adam Jakubek, DO, recently was graduated from residency training in Neurology at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD. This fall, he will begin serving as Chief of Neurology at the U.S. Naval Hospital, Jacksonville.

the comprehensive heart and vascular team at MidMichigan Health in Michigan.

River Medical Center (IRMC) as a member of its multi-specialty group of physicians.

Nathan Formaini, DO, has joined Armstrong Orthopedic Associates in western Pennsylvania.

Susan Overkamp, DO, has joined the Ellington Family Clinic in Piedmont, MO.

Shawna M. Grimm, DO, has joined the surgical practice of Heiskell King Burns and Tallman of Mon General Hospital.

Class of 2010

Christine Rohanna (Lesosky), DO, has been voted in to the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Family Physicians Society (POFPS) Board at the POFPS CME Symposium.

Class of 2009 Timothy Burg, DO, has joined Justin Berthold, DO, (LECOM 2010), to start Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physician Rehabilitation Physicians of Pittsburgh.

John Wohar, DO, joined Heritage Valley Internal Medicine Practice in Beaver Falls, PA, providing comprehensive care to adult patients.

William Burgette, DO, has joined the team at East Ohio Orthopaedics in Dover, OH. Burgette recently completed a fellowship in total joint reconstruction at the University at Buffalo in NY. Jacquelyn Charbel, DO, will be joining the practice of Mid-Michigan Surgical Specialists as a colon rectal surgeon.

Dr. Charbel is currently completing a fellowship in minimally invasive colon and rectal surgery at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, where she received extensive training in robotic and advanced endoscopic surgery.

Jennifer Giordano, DO, has been graduated from the Eastern Carolina University/Vidant Hospital Fellowship Program in the field of endocrinology. She is Board Certified as an internal medicine specialist.

Karl Ziermann, DO, is now seeing Sports and Concussion Medicine patients at Wilmington Health at Porters Neck, in Wilmington, NC.

Kirsten Boughan, DO, is completing her final year of residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where she is specializing in Hematology and Oncology.

She will continue her career at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC where she will complete a one year fellowship in bone marrow transplant.

Jason Matyascik, DO, was the subject of an interview entitled: How I Practice at the Edge of Civilization. Two years ago, in a quest for adventure, Dr. Matyascik took a position in Barrow, Alaska.

Robert A. Zukas, DO, has joined A. O. Fox Hospital in Oklahoma.

Class of 2013 Jackie Olsen, DO, recently was elected as the State Resident Physician Representative for the Connecticut Osteopathic Medical Society.

Class of 2014 Gale Garmong, PharmD, wrote an article about the immunization law change entitled: I’m Here for My Flu Shot. Can My Child Get One as Well? The piece appeared in the Pharmacist Care Blog (2015).

Kathleen Haight, DO, is in an inaugural class of residents at the Brodes H. Hartley Jr. Teaching Health Center at Community Health of South Florida, Inc., Miami, FL.

Class of 2011 Barbara Allyn Behling-Rosa, DO, has graduated from Hofstra North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as Chief Resident. She also started a part-time private practice on Long Island (Melville) NY, and she will be entering the Palliative Medicine Fellowship with North Shore LIG on July 1, 2015.

John Leuenberger, DO, has joined the Lewis County General Hospital, bringing his skills as a family and neuromusculoskeletal medicine physician to the practice. Dr. Leuenberger has received numerous honors and awards, including the United Health Services Mark J. Marmora Award for Excellence in Osteopathic Medicine and Treatment.

Class of 2012 Arpit Mehta, PharmD, is Pharmacy Operations Manager at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia.

Matthew Benenati, DO, has joined Novant Health Surgical Associates in Bolivia, NC.

Lindsay Requa, DO, was the subject of an article by Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital entitled: From Patient to Resident: How Lindsay Requa’s Experience Shaped Her Career.

Jeffrey Martindale, DO, recently joined

Morgan Courty, DO, recently joined Indian

38 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

We are proud to report about the accomplishments of our graduates, faculty, and students. Often, we learn about these achievements through news reports.

We appreciate The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine being mentioned in the articles and we ask that you note that you are a LECOM graduate, student, or faculty member when submitting news articles to your local media.

- Continued From Page 20 at North East, Parkside at Westminster, and The Regency at South Shore - the LECOM commitment to community betterment and livable communities makes the educational colossus the quintessential choice to sponsor the Chautauqua season theme.

A number of the LECOM Chautauqua lectures focused upon examining health factors such as patient environment, emotional issues, and health conditions that affect recovery from an injury or disease.

Physicians spoke about successful aging, and the way in which the growing number of older adults can slow the aging process.

Proper diet, exercise, and various lifestyle choices were discussed. Lecturers included leaders from academic medicine, research, hospitals and wellness centers, as well as from public health philanthropy - all of whom were received enthusiastically by the audiences.

Each week, the Chautauqua Institution attracts approximately 8000 people. From across the nation and across the globe, many of these people are community and business leaders in their own hometowns.

The LECOM-sponsored event was an opportunity to provide a superb educational experience for these visitors.

“We teach our students to take a holistic approach to treating the whole person – mind, body, and spirit. The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine was proud and honored to engage and to enlighten the minds and spirits of the Chautauqua Community,” remarked LECOM President and CEO, John M. Ferretti, DO. The resounding success of the 2015 LECOM sponsorship of Livable Communities Week concluded a tri-season partnership pledge during which, LECOM once again evidenced its credo: not for ourselves, but for others.

For more than 140 years, Chautauqua has been extremely successful in promoting lifelong learning among its thousands of visitors each year.

“LECOM has long been a leader in the advancement and development of the best in human values through a commitment to programs and undertakings that encourage important medical, educational, and serviceoriented excellence in our time and that stimulate a comprehensive community involvement,” noted Dr. Ferretti. Such

- Continued From Page 33 peerless level of expertise and dedication promises excellence and attainment in the teaching of the health care disciplines.

That superlative commitment is key to the LECOM mission as the College continues to be a primary resource that serves to deepen the understanding and to advance medical excellence into communities far and wide by fostering enriching educational experiences such as the the programs that we have presented at Chautauqua,” affirmed the LECOM President.

College police provide a community policing service - this entails involving themselves more actively and investing themselves more personally in the safety and well-being of students, faculty, and staff than would a municipal policing agency. “Although we do handle parking concerns, accidents, and other administrative duties, one is much more likely to see LECOM Police and Security interacting with people than would municipal police. We are, of course, highly concerned for the safety of those on campus, but we are also interested in the success of our community,” affirmed Deputy Director Peters.

LECOM officers receive continuing education and firearms training on at least an annual basis. Called Act 180 Training, the intense program is identical to the training mandated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for municipal police officers.

Many LECOM officers are veterans of municipal police forces; these officers are possessed of years or even decades of training and experience. Nonetheless, all LECOM officers receive ongoing training in LECOM policies and procedures that consistently reflect LECOM values and expectations.

In a world filled with verisimilitudes and tempests, where violent attacks target civilians seemingly on a weekly basis, it is incumbent upon an organization tasked with protecting its precious citizenry to soberly consider its charge. The LECOM Police and Security Department is proud of its safety record; and although it is not expected that an attack would occur at a LECOM setting, in order to be wholly prepared, LECOM officers train with, and carry weapons. Officers are prepared to respond directly to any incident in less than two minutes. LECOM Police and Security work very closely with the local and State Police. This collaborative network provides the exceptional protection and solid wall of safety that those who cross the thresholds of LECOM buildings have come to expect.

Perhaps William Shakespeare sums up best the reassuring message of an ever-vigilant, ever-prepared body of skilled security personnel; for they, compelled to serve and protect, offer the calm and quiet enjoyment of the pursuit of knowledge as, “Out of this nettle of danger, we pluck this flower of safety.”

@1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 39

IN MEMORIAM

LECOM Family Mourns the Loss of Recent Graduate’s Shining Light The LECOM family extends munificent words of solace and solemn tribute in the loss of recent graduate and dedicated physician, Leah Anne Davis, DO. Dr. Davis was graduated from the LECOM Class of 2013, and she was completing her residency near Chicago.

Described as a “beloved daughter, sister, and friend,” the dedicated physician passed away unexpectedly on September 21, 2015. After concluding an emergency room night-shift, Dr. Davis left work; after which, she took a nap from which she did not awaken.

LECOM faculty, classmates, and friends will long remember her as an energetic and vibrant force, both in capability and in compassion, and as a leader in the osteopathic tradition. Possessed of a fulsome and luminous glow of purpose, Dr. Davis was effervescent in her care and calling to medicine.

Born on December 5, 1984, Leah Anne Davis spent the first nine years of her life in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California.

She relocated with her family to San Martin, California where she attended Presentation High School. She was graduated from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts; received a master’s degree from Columbia University; and was awarded her medical degree from the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Davis was in the final year of her residency at the University of Illinois (UIC) Medical Center, pursuing her passion for medicine.

“She was a phenomenal physician and I had the pleasure of having her as one of 40 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

my third-year Emergency Medicine (EM) Residents in the UIC EM Program,” noted fellow LECOM graduate, Melissa Millewich, DO, who had been working with Dr. Davis at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Leah Anne Davis will be remembered for the ebullient light that she has shone into the lives of others. Her passing leaves an immeasurable hole in the fabric of the LECOM family, of which she was a cherished member.

A funeral service was held at Los Gatos Memorial Park, just a few miles from the Santa Cruz Mountains where Dr. Davis grew up.

In lieu of flowers, further donations may be made to the Leah Anne Davis Emergency Medicine Memorial Fund at the University of Illinois (312-996-8622), which will advance the medical causes to which Dr. Davis intended to dedicate her life.

May the light of her all too brief life bring health and healing to others as her mission lives on in that which she leaves behind.

IN MEMORIAM

Donald Vernon Hampton, II, DO Remembering the Enduring Legacy of a Medical Luminary The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) dims its collective lights as the College family takes heavy-hearted note of the loss of Donald Vernon Hampton, II, DO. The absence of this unwavering friend, teacher, mentor, and healer will be felt profoundly and palpably by all who knew him.

Helen Keller once stated that “Life’s true happiness is attained through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” It seems that Dr. Donald V. Hampton lived by that principle. His was a life committed to worthy accomplishment - a testament to action, to mission - to purpose.

Hailing from Madison, Ohio, the remarkable physician, educator, and in a phrase: LECOM legacy, embodied exceptionalism in education. Regrettably, on August 13, 2015, Dr. Hampton passed away at his home.

He was born March 28, 1928, in Euclid, to Donald V. and Helen (Cottrell) Hampton. He completed his undergraduate studies at Miami University of Ohio and he earned his doctoral degree at the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. Donald Hampton married the late Carolyn Walden on August 16, 1952 in Kirksville, Missouri. The couple relocated to Ohio, where Dr. Hampton spent 17 years in Madison as a general practitioner. Prior to joining LECOM, he served on the staff at the former Brentwood Hospital in Warrensville Heights, Ohio.

Until his passing, Dr. Hampton, served as Professor Emeritus of Osteopathic Principles and Practice at LECOM in Erie, Pennsylvania and in Bradenton, Florida.

His was a lengthy resume of achievement, awards, and honors; but more than the estimable litany of successes – each, in and

of itself, noteworthy – came the rich gift of his personal and impassioned commitment to the future of health care professionals.

Dr. Hampton was a committed giver, demonstrating the true heart of a man of medicine. He cared for incalculable patients as a practicing physician. As a hospital doctor at many noted Ohio hospitals, he dedicated the depth of his spirit to serving and to caring for his patients. Offering much to his profession, Dr. Hampton served with devotion, the Ohio Osteopathic Association on the Board of Trustees. His was a life of service to his patients and to his students.

Truly, the impression that Dr. Hampton had upon his students at LECOM remains profound indeed. He gave magnanimously of himself in his positions, both as Course Director and as Clinical Professor. Since 1995, Dr. Hampton conveyed a positive and inspirational message to those who would answer the calling of medicine; for Dr. Hampton hearkened to an age of complete immersion into the field. His was the Greatest Generation; a generation that did not measure dedication by a clock, rather the call to medicine entailed an unremitting life of on-call service and unremitting passion. That passion was personified in Dr. Hampton through his quiet, unassuming, and humble toils. His was a labor of love of a profession – of a calling to better the world in which he lived - to serve and to educate.

During his tenure, Dr. Hampton had the foresight to institute an OMM Department at the Erie and Bradenton campuses. He sacrificed his personal cares to divide his time between each campus and, once classes were established firmly, he traveled between campuses to ensure that standards of excellence were being met. Additionally, over a period of two to three years, he frequently flew or drove to the Seton Hill campus to establish the OMM Program for LECOM students

- Continued On Page 42 @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 41

- Continued From Page 41 there. Dr. Hampton worked assiduously to instill outstanding OMM skills in LECOM students; and he was singularly responsible for the high board scores repeatedly credited to LECOM scholars.

In 2009, Dr. Hampton was the recipient of the prestigious American Academy of Osteopathy - A.T. Still Medallion of Honor. The award recognized Dr. Hampton’s stalwart dedication to the osteopathic profession and his reputation as a superlative clinician and educator. The Medallion of Honor is awarded to deserving members of the Academy who displayed exceptional understanding and application of osteopathic principles and of the concepts that form the extension of those principles.

None of these achievements is coincidence; for each was the result of the focus of Dr. Hampton’s purpose, to his devotion to mentoring, and to the teaching of professional excellence and humanitarianism.

In essence, this Memoriam - indeed, this remembrance - is a tribute to one who exemplified all that it means to be a physician-educator of the highest caliber.

The utmost educational value at LECOM exists as a result of that heartfelt passion coupled with purpose that is exhibited by the best of its educators. Dr. Hampton was such a man – a luminary in his field - and his is an enduring legacy and an integral part of all that is LECOM. Even his last selfless action held osteopathic medicine and LECOM in his heart; for in lieu of flowers, his family has asked that memorials in Dr. Hampton’s name be given to the Student Scholarship Fund at LECOM, 1858 W. Grandview Blvd, Erie, PA 16509 or to Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, 800 W. Jefferson St., Kirksville, MO, 63501.

Dr. Hampton was a vital and foundational thread running through the fabric that has come to form the tapestry of all that is LECOM. The bright color of his spirit and the vibrant cheerfulness that accompanied his presence from classroom to the world at large imbued those around him with his infectious joy. That abundant joy remains his legacy. LECOM collectively extends its deepest and most sincere condolences to the entire Hampton family.

42 LECOM CONNECTION | FALL 2015 | LECOM.edu

Help the students of today . . . . . . become the health care professionals of tomorrow.

The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine continues to expand rapidly; attracting some of the brightest candidates for the College of Osteopathic Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, and School of Pharmacy. LECOM maintains the second lowest private medical school tuition in the country. Yet, medical students face mounting debt as they complete their education.

Each year, the College conducts fundraisers solely for the purpose of providing scholarships to LECOM students. Through these efforts and with support from the LECOM community, LECOM students were awarded $3.7 million in scholarship aid during this current academic year.

Since beginning the LECOM scholarship fund, the College has awarded more than $17 million to dedicated scholars.

Your support of the LECOM Student Scholarship Fund will help deserving students to fulfill their dreams of becoming physicians, dentists, and pharmacists.

Donate online at lecom.edu/alumni or by sending your contribution to: LECOM Student Scholarship Fund 1858 West Grandview Blvd.

Erie, PA 16509

The

LECOM St u de n t S c h o la rs h i p Fu nd

PRIMARY CARE

CONFERENCE

MARCH 4-6, 2016

2016

PRESENTED BY:

Primary Care 2016 offers a unique learning experience for physicians and health care professionals seeking to learn the latest information about medical advancements and treatment options. LECOM faculty and guest lecturers will present topics pertinent to primary care physicians as well as to specialists.

Primary Care 2016 will focus upon health problems commonly seen in the offices of primary care physicians. The objective of this three-day seminar is to provide participating physicians with information about new medical advancements in order to increase the scope of treatment options available to primary care physicians and to enhance the physicians' existing knowledge of topics that will be covered. Following Primary Care 2016, the physician should be able to apply this new medical information in diagnosis and treatment, thus improving patient care.

PHYSICIAN REGISTRATION PRIMARY CARE 2016

To register, visit lecom.edu/cme Early-bird Registration Ends: February 1, 2016

The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine anticipates Primary Care 2016 being approved for up to 20 AOA Category I-A CME credit hours pending approval by the AOA CCME. LECOM anticipates this activity will be approved for up to 20 prescribed credits by the American Academy of Family Physicians. An application for CME credit will be filed with the American Academy of Family Physicians. Determination of credit is pending. Primary Care 2016 will include up to 5 hours devoted to patient safety and risk management requirements.

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