COM Outlook Summer/Fall 2020

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY | 3 “May you live in interesting times.”—Chinese proverb “Be careful what you wish for.”—Aesop So, here we are, months into interesting times, in a pandemic unprecedented in our lives and in the lives of most humans in history. Thank you all for doing your parts to keep us safe. Thanks to you, the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine (KPCOM) is well and healthy. We graduated our senior class in a bittersweet virtual ceremony. We missed hugging them and patting them on their backs. I’m proud to say that 234 of our 237 seniors matched in residencies— a nearly 99 percent match rate. This is far higher than our national osteopathic/allopathic colleagues, who matched at a 93–94 percent rate. Our freshmen (rising sophomores) and our sophomores (rising juniors) all converted to online education in late March. They have adjusted and are doing well. Our juniors and seniors were dismissed by our hospital partners in April, as hospitals struggled to handle their influx of COVID-19 patients. All our major partners set a return date of August 3, but we continue to monitor the situation daily and keep the safety of our students as a paramount focus. Through all of this, our clinical faculty members continued to see patients in hospitals, in nursing homes, and on telemedicine platforms. We salute them for their steadfast work. We graduated our first class of postbaccalaureate students and are happy to report that each one qualified for a position in the new D.O. class. We also graduated our first Bachelor of Science in Public Health class. These students qualified for entry into the KPCOM or into very competi- tive master’s programs as well. Additionally, we welcomed our inaugural class of Bachelor of Science in Health and Wellness Coaching students in August, and are pleased to announce the approval of a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Informatics—a joint program with the College of Computing and Engineering—which will commence next fall. As the KPCOM returns to campus, our students will have their temperatures taken daily as they enter Nova Southeastern University buildings. They will also receive protective equipment and practice social distancing as we try to remain safe. I cannot help but reflect that, about 100 years ago, osteopathic medicine found its strong foot- hold in American medicine during another pandemic—the Spanish flu. At the time, there was no cure, but as osteopathic physicians treated pneumonia with manipulative medicine, they kept their patients alive with success rates of up to 10 times greater than other practicing physicians. As osteopathic physicians, we have always been about innovation, endurance, survival, and making things better. We do, and will continue to, meet these challenges as a team. We thank you all for all you do. Be strong and be well, KPCOM. Elaine M. Wallace, D.O., M.S. 4 Dean Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine DEAN’S Message