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COMP Enrollment Growth Approved with the Pacific Northwest as theTarget

by Rodney Tanaka

October 21, 2003

Read 2 mins

Western University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine of the

Pacific (COMP) recently received approval to increase its enrollment.

The entering class for August 2004 will grow from 176 students to 206

students as the college implements a plan to recruit students from the

Pacific Northwest. The overall enrollment of COMP’s four-year program

could grow to over 800 students preparing to become physicians.

The Bureau of Professional Education, the accrediting arm of the

American Osteopathic Association, approved the increase after reviewing

the proposal from Western University. The university intends to recruit

students from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.

The 30 new spots are to be dedicated specifically to students from these

states.

Michael Finley, DO, Assistant Dean for Clinical Affairs and Chair

of Internal Medicine, is serving as the administrator of the Northwest

Track. Finley said that COMP is looking for students who have roots in

the Northwest either by residence or through the colleges and

universities they attended.

“”This new track will allow COMP to more directly serve the

northwestern region of the United States and at the same time build a

strong clinical training base there,”” said Finley. He explained that the

college is embarking on a growth phase that will include research,

faculty medical practice, and improved excellence in education.

President Philip Pumerantz said that Western University has in

recent years received numerous telephone calls and inquiries from

physicians, hospitals, medical groups, medicals societies and recruiters

from throughout the northwestern part of the country seeking to hire

graduates from the university’s Graduate Medical Education programs.

Pumerantz said that in keeping with the tradition of growth and

development of Western University, a feasibility study was undertaken in

October 2002 that resulted in the approved proposal.

Students accepted into COMP in the Northwest Track will spend the

first two years of their study at the university campus in Pomona. Upon

completion of their work, they will return to the northwest for two years

of medical rotations. A total of 21 four-week rotations will include

internal medicine, family medicine, surgery, ob/gyn, psychiatry,

emergency medicine, pediatrics, osteopathic manipulative medicine plus

electives.

Students interested in attending medical school or the Northwest

Track specifically, should review the admission requirements on the

Western University website at www.westernu.edu/northwest or call the

Admissions Office at (909)469-5329.

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