Osteopathic Medical School
Frontier physician Andrew Taylor Still founded the profession as a radical rejection of the prevailing system of medical thought of the 19th century. Still's techniques relied heavily on the manipulation of joints and bones to diagnose and treat illness, and he called his practices "osteopathy". By the middle of the 20th century, the profession had moved closer to mainstream medicine, adopting modern public health and biomedical principles. American "osteopaths" became "osteopathic physicians", gradually achieving full practice rights as medical doctors in all 50 states, including serving in the U.S. armed forces as physicians.
Based in Yakima, Washington, the College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) is in the heart of medically underserved and rural populations. When its doors opened in 2008, it was the Pacific Northwest’s first medical school in 60 years.
Approximately 60 percent of practicing osteopathic physicians (DOs) are primary care specialists in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, and geriatrics. Osteopathic physicians are trained to view the patient as a whole person with biological, psychological, and sociological needs, and to recognize that the interdependence of structure and function affects healing and wellness.
At PNWU-COM, highly capable and committed staff, administrators, and faculty, including practicing physicians, focus on high-tech, high-touch medical school, as well as osteopathic principles and practice to train the next generation of physicians. In addition, more than 650 adjunct clinical faculty share in PNWU’s commitment to serve the rural and medically underserved of the Northwest.
The four-year accredited osteopathic medical school program begins in Yakima at Butler-Haney Hall and the Cadwell Student Center. Combined, these two buildings provide 56,000 square feet of learning space including a spacious anatomy laboratory with camera projection capability, a large osteopathic manual medicine classroom, a simulation laboratory, research and study space, a student government office, student lounge, and numerous break-out rooms for small group interaction. During years three and four, students tackle the rigors of clinical rotations at hospitals and clinics throughout the Northwest where regional deans and regional coordinators support and guide their steps toward residency.
PNWU-COM is accredited by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) of the American Osteopathic Association, 142 East Ontario Street, Chicago, IL 60611, (800) 621-1773, www.osteopathic.edu.
Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences is authorized by the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) and meets the requirements and minimum educational standards established for degree-granting institutions under the Degree-Granting Institutions Act.
This authorization is subject to periodic review and authorizes Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences to offer the following degree program: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (Osteopathic Medical School). Authorization by the HECB does not carry with it an endorsement by the board of the institution or its programs. Any person desiring information about the requirements of the act or the applicability of those requirements to the institution may contact the HECB at P.O. Box 43430, Olympia, WA 98504-3430
