WesternU President receives Northwest Osteopathic Medical Foundation's Founders Award
Western University of Health Sciences Founding President Philip Pumerantz, PhD, received the Northwest Osteopathic Medical Foundation’s Founders Award for Exceptional Accomplishment.
The Founders Award honors an individual whose achievements and contributions enhance the health of communities. Paula Crone, DO, Vice President, Oregon Campus Operations and College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Interim Dean, accepted the award on behalf of Dr. Pumerantz.
The award was presented at the Northwest Osteopathic Medical Foundation’s Founder’s Gala and Award Evening March 2, 2013 in Portland, Oregon.
WesternU was founded as the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP) in Pomona, Calif. in 1977, embarking on a mission of educating health care professionals with a combination of scientific excellence and a humanistic, compassionate approach to patient care.
COMP marked the return of osteopathic education to California after an absence of more than a decade. Dr. Pumerantz to this day recalls the osteopaths of the Pacific Northwest as among his staunchest allies at that time, and has acknowledged and celebrated their contributions to COMP over the years, Crone said.
The osteopathic connection to the Northwest continued to resonate, and was a major factor in WesternU partnering with Samaritan Health Services to open the COMP-Northwest campus in Lebanon in 2011.
“The abiding respect and friendship that Dr. Pumerantz and the WesternU community feel for the physicians, people and towns of the Pacific Northwest endures, and we are pleased to be partners in bringing osteopathic medical education to the region so that we can ‘grow’ our own osteopathic physicians and work toward better health for all,” Crone said.
Dr. Crone also passed along this direct quote from Dr. Pumerantz: “I am honored and humbled to receive the Founders Award from the Northwest Osteopathic Medical Foundation. It has special meaning for me because of all the Foundation does to support and advance the cause of osteopathic healing and compassionate care, and because I feel a real sense of kinship with the osteopathic medical community in the Northwest, and with the people of this region. I commend you on your outstanding work, and pledge COMP’s and WesternU’s unflagging support as all of us continue on the journey of educating and supporting tomorrow’s osteopathic healers and leaders.”
Northwest Osteopathic Medical Foundation is a public charity serving the people of the Northwest by providing resources for programs to improve the health of the community and to promote a greater understanding of the distinctive aspects of the osteopathic medical profession. Click here to view the Foundation’s website.
