Western University of Health Sciences to welcome more than 1,100 new students
More than 1,100 new students will celebrate the beginning of their health professions education at Western University of Health Sciences’ annual Convocation and white coat ceremony.
Convocation will take place at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, 2013 at the Sheraton Fairplex Hotel and Conference Center, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona, Calif. White coat ceremonies for each of WesternU’s nine colleges will follow. The ceremonies are only open to new students, their families, and invited guests.
Convocation keynote speaker William Henning, DO, a 1986 graduate of the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, is the Chief Medical Officer of the Inland Empire Health Plan.
Henning has played a key role in a number of important projects, such as the IEHP Behavioral Health Program, the IEEHRC (the Inland Empire’s Local Extension Center), and the expansion of the IEHP Disability Program. He also developed local pain management clinics that help members cope with chronic pain.
Henning has 17 years of teaching experience, including 11 years as assistant professor at COMP. He has been an attending and teaching physician in the Family Practice Residency Program at Riverside County Regional Medical Center. In addition, he has been a supervising physician for Preventative Medicine Residents at Loma Linda University.
Convocation marks WesternU’s annual opening of the academic year, and the white coat ceremony symbolizes students’ entry into the health professions. COMP-Northwest, WesternU’s Pacific Northwest campus for the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, welcomed 105 new students at its Convocation and white coat ceremony Aug. 3, 2013 in Lebanon, Ore.
“As WesternU nears the beginning of its 37th year of existence, I am reminded – as I often am this time each year – of the special mission we are on at this University, and of the special obligation we have as members of a humanistic educational community,” said WesternU President Philip Pumerantz, PhD. “Our goal, back at COMP’s inception in 1977, was not to create just another medical school, but to create a home for the philosophy and practice of humanistic, compassionate healing, with a foundation of scientific excellence and technical know-how. This mission has extended through and beyond COMP over the years, to our eight other colleges and into the countless communities where our more than 10,000 graduates have practiced.”
