VCOM Auburn Yearbook 2020

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT AND PROVOST Providing Consistent and Financially Sustainable Medical Education DIXIE TOOKE-RAWLINS, DO, FACOFP T his academic year has resulted in extraordinary successes as well as enormous challenges for VCOM. We are graduating more primary care physicians, and the College is becoming one of the most critical resources for providing primary care physicians in the southeastern United States. We have made great strides in medical research across our campuses, along with our collaborative partners, which benefits people in this country and around the world. The current challenge facing us is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has changed medical education at VCOM and across the country. Medical education has changed, hopefully for the better. This crisis has reinforced the need for more physicians and the availability of quality healthcare, whether one lives in a large city or the rural and often medically underserved areas of the country. VCOM focuses on contributing to the health of the people in our communities and across this nation. We have and will continue to make a significant difference in the future of primary care. ■

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