UPDATES
2022 FOUNDERS’ DAY CELEBRATES PCOM’S HISTORY AND CONTINUED LEGACY Day. His dedication was—and still is—steadfast. … John brought his business savvy to PCOM’s leadership. His tenure was one of academic and facility expansion, endowment growth and moderate increases in medical student tuition, tempered by a 44 percent growth in scholarship aid. Under his watch, enrollment rose 9 percent. Scholarship aid grew 44 percent. PCOM’s endowment grew 183 percent to $575 million. John was especially instrumental in the opening of both PCOM South Georgia in 2019 and Meta Christy House in 2021. Today’s honor is so well-deserved.” Mr. Kearney, a Scranton, Pennsylvania, area native who chartered a bus full of supporters to the event, acknowledged in his remarks the many people who supported and guided his efforts through the years. He made a special tribute to his beloved late son, JD, who was enrolled at PCOM and whose dream it was to become an osteopathic physician. And he concluded his remarks with endearing words about his late wife. “Lois and I have received many honors in our lives together,” he said, “and I believe that Lois should share today in the celebration and the honor of receiving the O.J. Snyder [Memorial Medal] with me because, truly, I do not deserve an award without her.”
Jeffrey M. Branch, EdD, and John P. Kearney were this year’s recipients of the Alumni Association Certificate of Honor and the O.J. Snyder Memorial Medal, respectively. The PCOM community celebrated the 123rd anniversary of the founding of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine; the legacy of founders Mason Wiley Pressly, DO, and Oscar John Snyder, DO, who sought to bring the osteopathic philosophy of whole-person health care to Philadelphia; and the accomplishments of the 2022 Founders’ Day award recipients on April 29.
Alumni Association Certificate of Honor
Jeffrey M. Branch, EdD, assistant professor and chair, Organizational Development and Leadership, received the Alumni Association Certificate of Honor. Shanda Lucas-O’Dennis, MS/ODL ’09, awards committee chair, PCOM Alumni Association, introduced Dr. Branch. “He embodies distinguished service and loyalty to the College,” she said.
O.J. Snyder Memorial Medal
John P. Kearney, past chairman and present vice chairman, PCOM Board of Trustees, was the recipient of the O.J. Snyder Memorial Medal. In his introduction of Mr. Kearney, President and Chief Executive Officer Jay S. Feldstein, DO ’81, noted, “In all his years at the helm, there was never a time when John missed a PCOM event: a Board meeting, a Commencement Ceremony, a Founders’
Upon receiving his award, Dr. Branch remarked on the experience, “I am humbled by receiving this award. I feel honored. I feel grateful that these students are given to us—that we have an opportunity to share our hearts, our spirit, our knowledge with them.”
SISTAHS IN MEDICINE SHINE LIGHT ON INEQUITIES MINORITIES FACE Sistahs in Medicine, a PCOM South Georgia initiative that supports Black women in medical and graduate school, shared with PCOM students inequities that minorities face in health care through a series of online panel discussions held this past April. PCOM alumni and faculty members served as speakers on topics such as microaggressions, implicit bias, perseverance as Black women and Black maternal health. The panelists suggested ways PCOM students can best advocate for patients of different backgrounds. During Black Maternal Health Week, for example, panelists discussed why Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. Those causes range from the variation in quality health care to underlying chronic conditions, structural racism and implicit bias.
PCOM hosted a series of online panel discussions to highlight health inequities that minorities face.
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It is efforts such as these that underscore the College’s aims to further embed diversity, equity and inclusion in its curriculum, policies, processes and practices to advance student, faculty and staff performance and excellence in service to communities.
PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE
