VCOM View Vol 8-1

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RESEARCH

The Five-Year Plan & Research Discovery

Written by Astleigh Hill

A s the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) looks to the future, the College sees a lot of growth in research through encouraging scholarly work, continuing and facilitating collaborations, and increasing funding. The Research Department has a five-year plan to better help VCOM become the top-ranked, stand-alone Osteopathic Medical School in research while maintaining the College’s current high standing in medical education.

One main focus of the Research Department continues to be community-based research, especially that which examines on the practices and philosophies unique to osteopathic medicine. The department’s community health initiatives are closely matched with VCOM’s overall mission – for the College’s student doctors to be community-focused and to engage in research that improves the health of underserved populations. As part of this initiative, VCOM is actively encouraging

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OMM in community health wellness research, research into the treatment of chronic conditions and research on OMM techniques and efficacy. This initiative is also in line with the American Osteopathic Association’s (AOA) strategic plan, which looks to advance the distinctive philosophy and practice of osteopathic medicine through research.

The department’s goal is to facilitate interdisciplinary, interdepartmental, and inter-institutional collaborative reserach.

VCOM Vice Provost for Research, Gunnar Brolinson, DO, said, “Through the reorganization of the grants and research department, we are better able to support research endeavors across three VCOM campuses, ensuring a uniform operating model as the College continues to grow.” Secondly, the department wants to have a broad portfolio of projects that not only emphasizes osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) research,

To enable a culture of osteopathic research within the osteopathic

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but also includes educational, clinical, and basic biomedical research with the goal of enhancing collaborative outreach in these areas.

family at VCOM, one of the Research Department’s main charges is to encourage scholarly work by offering regularly scheduled research training programs

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Vol. 8 No. 1 | Fall 2015