VCOM 2020 Annual Report

MEET THE STUDENTS Class of 2024 23 % underrepresented minorities 55 % female 38 % from Louisiana 81 % of Louisiana has been designated as a HEALTH PROFESSIONS SHORTAGE AREA 150 STUDENTS accepted to the VCOM-Louisiana Inaugural Class LOUISIANA

O ver the past year, VCOM-Louisiana’s campus has been completed. Faculty and staff have moved into this beautiful building on the campus of the University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) where “the best is on the bayou.” The inaugural class of students will arrive soon, and we look forward to welcoming them. The new building contains state-of- the-art technology and educational facilities to bring excellence in osteopathic medical education. The state of Louisiana has been designated to have a 19 percent deficit of primary care physicians in a national workforce study. Concomitant with our school’s mission, VCOM-Louisiana will be a major contributor to growing primary care by recruiting students from our region, training them in these areas and in four years will begin to return physicians to the most medically underserved areas of Louisiana and the Delta region. Our public/private partnership with ULM includes collaboration with teaching, faculty research and inter-professional education opportunities for both VCOM and ULM health sciences students. VCOM will also provide a state-of-the-art primary care sports medicine program for ULM athletes. We are committed to the mission of VCOM, educating our students and growing healthcare where it’s needed most with the next generation of primary care physicians. ■ MESSAGE FROM THE LOUISIANA DEAN Contributing to the Future Growth of Primary Care in the Delta RAY L. MORRISON, DO, FACOS

VCOM-Louisiana will be a major contributor to growing primary care.

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