VCOM View Magazine Vol. 12 | No. 1

Alumni & Development

C ortney Farmer, DO, grew up in Jewell Ridge, Virginia, a rural, unincorporated community in Tazewell County about seven miles from the West Virginia border. One of the county’s most prominent geographic features is the Clinch River, which flows from its source near Tazewell southwest into Tennessee.The Clinch Valley Medical Center sits near a bend in the river in Richlands, Virginia, and it is there that Dr. Farmer has gone to work, giving back to the community where she grew up. Dr. Farmer spent her childhood outdoors and loved being around animals. As a child imagining her future, she thought she would become a veterinarian, but by high school, she had decided to become a physician. “Over the years of going to the doctor with my grandmother, I was intrigued by medicine,” Dr. Farmer says. “I realized my passion was to help people.” Dr. Farmer, a VCOM-Virginia 2016 graduate, was first introduced to VCOM in high school when her anatomy class toured the campus. “From that moment on I knew I wanted to be an osteopathic doctor,” she remembers. “I loved the thought of helping people with medication, but also the ability to heal people with my hands.”And because she grew up in a rural area, she was particularly drawn to the mission. “VCOM’s mission is exactly what I wanted to do as a physician— meeting the needs of rural underserved populations.This is what I am doing daily through my practice.”

Railroad Bridge over the Clinch River. ClinchValley Medical Center, where VCOM-Virginia alumna Dr. Cortney Farmer serves as a DSME, is located on the Clinch River.

ClinchValley Medical Center

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Spring 2023 | VCOM V iew