WesternU medical students achieve 100% residency rate; record go into primary care

Class of 2015 students at the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP) in Pomona, California, and at its sister campus, COMP-Northwest in Lebanon, Oregon, had a 100 percent placement rate as defined by all students eligible for GME (Graduate Medical Education-Residency) in the 2014-15 academic year.

The majority of COMP students graduating in 2015 chose to train in primary care fields, where there is the greatest shortage of physicians.

At COMP, 62 percent of 224 students who applied for GME went into primary care, which includes family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and OB-GYN. At COMP-Northwest, 71 percent of the 95 students who applied for GME went into primary care, according to COMP Dean Paula Crone, DO.

"We are very proud of our 100 percent placement rate, as well as our percentage of students choosing primary care as their residency choice," Crone said. "Both are reflective of the dedication and quality in place with our teams at COMP and COMP-Northwest, and the osteopathic philosophy that is embedded in our WesternU heritage."

Crone said students work hard and dedicate their lives to the mission of taking care of their future patients — and are doing it at a time when health care and medicine is changing.

COMP graduates’ residency specialty breakdown:

    • Anesthesia — 14

    • Emergency Medicine — 15

    • Family Medicine — 71

    • General Surgery — 3

    • Internal Medicine, Pediatrics — 1

    • Internal Medicine — 44

    • Neurology — 7

    • Neurology, Child — 1

    • Obstetrics and Gynecology — 4

    • Ophthalmology Surgery — 1

    • Orthopedic Surgery — 4

    • Pathology — 1

    • Pediatrics — 18

    • Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation — 10

    • Psychiatry — 16

    • Radiology — 2

    • Transitional Internships — 11

    • Urological Surgery — 1

COMP-Northwest’s specialty breakdown include:

    • Anesthesia — 4

    • Emergency Medicine — 7

    • Family Medicine — 21

    • Internal Medicine — 31

    • Transitional Internships — 10

    • Neurology — 1

    • Neurosurgery – 1

    • Obstetrics and Gynecology — 3

    • Ophthalmology — 1

    • Pediatrics — 5

    • Physical Medicine and Radiology — 2

    • Psychiatry — 3

    • Radiology — 1

    • Surgery, Preliminary — 1

    • Military, unspecified — 4

WesternU Founding President Philip Pumerantz, PhD, said he is proud of the placement rate for COMP students and is impressed at the volume of graduates going into primary care.

"The demand for primary care physicians is tremendous, as we all know, and WesternU graduates are in the vanguard of those who will make a real impact as the nation’s health-care needs continue to grow," he said.