UPDATES
CELEBRATING THE CLASS OF 2018 PCOM graduated more than 800 health practitioners, behavioral health scientists and researchers at commencement ceremonies in Philadelphia and Suwanee. This year’s ceremonies marked the inaugural graduating classes for the Aging and Long-Term Care Administration program in Philadelphia, and the Physician Assistant (PA) Studies program in Suwanee. Of the inaugural PA Studies class, Jay S. Feldstein, DO ’81, president and chief executive officer, remarked: “You now join the ranks of the College’s proud physician assistant alumni— nearly 1,000—engaged in practice across the nation. We are so excited that, beginning with you, we are adding competent, caring physician assistants to the workforce with our southern communities’ best health interests at heart.”
DO STUDENT INSPIRED BY FIANCÉE’S MEDICAL SITUATION Kevin Guzman (DO ’19) has learned firsthand what it’s like to be a patient’s loved one—while undergoing medical school training. Mr. Guzman’s fiancée, Alyssa Ouano, was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy a week before Mr. Guzman began his studies at GA–PCOM. Set to receive a donated kidney from her father, Ms. Ouano learned that her father had a mass in his organ and that the surgery would not be viable. Without a compatible donor, Ms. Ouano started dialysis the same week Mr. Guzman began orientation. Complications soon began, and Ms. Ouano was taken off the transplant list, continuing dialysis for two more years. When Ms. Ouano became healthy enough to receive a donated kidney, Mr. Guzman researched the paired kidney exchange program. “Since we’re not compatible, they put my blood type and her blood type in a nationwide database, and every week they ran the program to find the best match possible,” Mr. Guzman explains. In March 2017, a match from Michigan was found. “In exchange for the matched kidney, I would donate my organ on her behalf to a separate family in Michigan. They would exchange to another family in California.” At least ten families were matched down the chain. The health crisis with a happy ending unfolded during a time that is often described by most medical students as very stressful. Mr. Guzman will graduate in May and plans to specialize in internal medicine. His personal experiences, he is certain, will make him a better doctor. “I will always have Alyssa in mind when treating my patients. How would Alyssa feel if I neglected to ask them a question? I don’t take things that patients tell me for granted.”
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PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE