COM Outlook - Winter 2016

42 Nova Southeastern University NSU-COMmunications In July, the inaugural group of residents began rotations at Ocala Regional Medical Center—the newest Florida affiliate in NSU-COM’s Consortium for Excellence in Medical Education. The program, which became fully accredited by the Ameri- can Osteopathic Association in January 2015, incorporates a community hospital, a federally qualified health care center primary care clinic, a dedicated faculty, and a family-oriented town. Curriculum highlights include comprehensive didactics, yearly community projects, a comprehensive nursing home Pamela Crilley, D.O., chair of the Department of Medical Oncology at Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (CTCA) and chief of medical oncology at Eastern Regional Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, visited the college on September 29 and spoke with first- and second-year students about a range of issues. Crilley provided a unique perspective, given that she majored in English literature and art history during her undergraduate studies and translated that background to a career in medicine. She compared a blood smear from a leukemia patient to art and mentioned that patterns in the blood prompted her NSU-COM Hosts Cancer Treatment Specialist NSU-COMWelcomes New CEME Affiliate The inaugural group of Ocala Regional Medical Center residents, along with several of the center’s administrators, pose for a commemorative photo. curriculum, an emphasis on home visits, and methods to help residents learn how to incorporate osteopathic manipulative therapy into continuity practice. “Our community-based, hands-on osteopathic family medi- cine residency program is built on the foundation of bringing ‘family’ back to family medicine,” said Cynthia Gomez, B.S., Ocala Regional Medical Center’s family medicine residency program coordinator. interest in hematology. She also indicated that her studies of Shakespeare helped her understand how to be more empathetic with her patients. Crilley encouraged students who wish to pursue a career in hematology/oncology to determine an area of focus and to heavily research an area of medicine before deciding on a specialty. She even talked about how she watches international soccer and does Zumba to prevent burnout. Later, she met with a small group of students, faculty members, and researchers to discuss clinical research projects.