ABOVE – An artist’s rendering of Liberty’s new Center for Medical and Health Sciences, which is currently under construction. BELOW – Liberty’s expansive Campbell County property provided an excellent site for the building, overlooking Liberty’s campus and a breathtaking view of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
D AV I D D U N C A N
BELOW – Members of the Virginia Tobacco Commission presented a $20.5 million check to Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Dr. Ronald Godwin, provost, during the groundbreaking ceremony.
KEVIN MANGUIOB
very hard to develop residencies in the state that will allow us to keep that talent here.” The clinical rotation cycle will largely be in Southern Virginia and Southwest Virginia. The school will offer a tuition discount to attract students from those underserved areas, knowing that these students are the same individuals who are most likely to return to those areas to raise their own families. Creating those partnerships has been much of the initial work in establishing the program, along with developing a curriculum and creating detailed follow-through plans as the school seeks accreditation from the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation, as well as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. There are plans to hire close to 100 staff for the D.O. program. Associate deans have already been named: Eric E. Gish, D.O., associate dean for clinical affairs; Timothy O. Leonard, M.D., Ph.D., associate dean for biomedical affairs and research; and Joseph F. Smoley, Ph.D., M.M., associate dean for academic affairs. The D.O. program will train students to “focus on primary and community-based practices,” to “recognize the needs of patients across this nation and across the globe,” and will expect them to “demonstrate a commitment of service toward their fellow man and remain focused on the Christian values of integrity and professionalism, while being educated to provide ethical, compassionate, competent, and patient-centered medical care, with Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, as their role model,” Martin said. The first class will have about 150 students. “I am confident that there will not be a better designed, equipped, or more technologically advanced medical college in the United States than what we’re developing right here on this campus,” Martin said at the groundbreaking. “I know there are schools that will rival us, that will try to imitate us, but I promise you that none will exceed what we will be able to offer our students.”
LIBERTY JOURNAL
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