Welcome to Region III

Region III is comprised of twelve chapters from the states of Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. While these chapters all come from different states, the student leaders all come together with the same goal of empowering their members and communities. Region III leaders excel at mentorship with the creation of new Pre-SOMA chapters, community service through health fairs and community gardens, and professional development with financial and medical workshops to prepare students for their careers in medicine. Region III student leaders strive to enhance their members’ medical school experiences with well-rounded opportunities in political advocacy, research, fellowship, and more.

Maria Rollinger, OMS III
Region III Trustee
MSUCOM

UNIV. OF PIKEVILLE–KENTUCKY COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE (UP-KYCOM)

KYCOM excels in training the next generation of osteopathic physicians, with an emphasis on rural medicine to care for the region’s population found in Eastern Appalachia. KYCOM-SOMA’s work revolves around developing student leadership to engage its members in reaching out to help community members by partnering with local organizations, such as WestCare Perry Cline Emergency Shelter through Donation Drives. For many years, KYCOM-SOMA has hosted an annual Narcan training event for students to combat the opioid epidemic in Eastern Kentucky. The “DOnuts for DOs” event during National Osteopathic Week where KYCOM-SOMA supports a local well-known donut shop has been a time-honored tradition.

In the area of political advocacy, KYCOM is well-positioned. In the past, KYCOM-SOMA had 9 resolutions passed at a single National SOMA House of Delegates meeting. In Spring 2024, KYCOM-SOMA Chapter President-elect Daniel Leung had the opportunity to discuss with Dr. Gimpel, NBOME President, the Coalition for Physician Accountability UME to GME Committee’s Recommendation 18 published in August 2021, which calls for equitable treatment of residency applicants regardless of licensure examination by entering COMLEX-USA and USMLE within a single field in ERAS. For 2024-2025, Student Doctor Daniel Leung plans to focus on advocating for DO students in their application to residency, particularly with eliminating biases in ERAS, which requires applicants to denote whether COMLEX Level and/or USMLE Step were taken. As a member of the National SOMA OPP Task Force, SD Leung hopes to work with National SOMA Leadership to bring in KYCOM Professor Dr. Edward Stiles, DO, FAAO, Distinguished to address National SOMA Leaders at OMED Fall 2024.

 

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Chapter President: Daniel Leung
Nat’l Liaison Officer: Hashir Bukhari

EDWARD VIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE-VIRGINIA (VCOM-VA)

Edward-Via College of Osteopathic Medicine- Virginia Campus (VCOM-VA) is located in Blacksburg, Virginia. At VCOM, we have partnerships with Virginia Tech that provide us an abundance of partnership opportunities that shine light on the Osteopathic profession. We are an auto-enroll chapter, meaning that every student at VCOM-VA is a SOMA member. This year our goals are surrounding policy resolution training, community service, and engaging in difficult conversation as it pertains to policy. Through our Social Medicine discussions and resolutions committee, we aim to help our members find their voice and advocate for their passions as future osteopathic physicians. In an effort to further promote the osteopathic profession and improve our community, we have held events such as Bioethics movie screenings and discussions, ShaDO Week Yoga Nights, and a Jonesville Clean Up.

 

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Chapter President: Nicholas Torre
Nat’l Liaison Officer: Narmeen Rasul

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE (MSU-COM)

Michigan State College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSU-COM) is composed of 3 campus sites with more than 1200 osteopathic students statewide. Our main campus is located near Michigan’s state capitol providing us with a variety of volunteer activities and political involvement opportunities with our state osteopathic association. Every October, we host our signature event – the DO Monster Dash 5k. Historically, this event has raised over $3000 for St. Baldrick’s Foundation. This year, at the National SOMA Convention, our chapter was presented with the SOMA Promotion of Osteopathic Medicine Award. Want to keep up with MSUCOM SOMA? Follow us on Instagram – @soma.msucom!

 

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Chapter President: Kyra Powers
Nat’l Liaison Officer: Riley Warlick

OHIO UNIVERSITY HERITAGE COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE (OU-HCOM)

The Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine is composed of three campus sites – Cleveland, Dublin, and Athens. Each of our campuses have blooming communities that we can connect with and help support. We serve to provide a platform for all osteopathic medical students to voice their opinions and views. We have been and will continue to advance collaborative relationships that promote osteopathic medicine in the greater health care community. Throughout our chapters we have held blood drives, volunteered at local food banks, and held a fundraising talent show to donate to local businesses. Our main goals are to get more SOMA members involved with our fundraising events and increase awareness of SOMA within our communities.

 

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Chapter President: Libby Hill
Nat’l Liaison Officer: Joshua Gadelsayed

MARIAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE (MU-COM)

Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine is located in the city of Indianapolis, IN. MU-COM is the first medical school to open in Indiana in the 110 years prior to its founding in 2013 and is the first osteopathic medical school in the state. MU-COM SOMA has been present since the school’s inception providing professional, social and civil opportunities to yield the finest osteopathic physicians. This past year at MU-COM, SOMA was focused on providing opportunities to the student body and introducing pre-med students to osteopathic medicine. The primary workshop that we hosted was the CV Workshop in which students gained insight into how to create a strong CV as they progress in their medical education. We are also encouraging future medical students through events such as ShaDO Day and the Boo Boo Clinic. Through ShaDO day we were given the opportunity to teach pre-med students in the community about Osteopathy and MU-COM as a whole. In partnership with our mentor’s club at MU-COM, our students were able to stop at various stations with their pre-med mentee such as the suturing station and the OMM station. We also put on social events and volunteer in our community throughout the school year.

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Chapter President: Austin Layton
Nat’l Liaison Officer: Whit Hohman

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE (LU-COM)

Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine is located in Lynchburg, Virginia. LU-COM’s goal is to train Christ-centered physicians to educate and heal the community and beyond. Recently, SOMA and the ACOFP partnered together to host the first LU-COM Project Linus event. Volunteers made blankets for children in hospitals and orphanages around Roanoke, Virginia! We also attended Summer Leadership Meeting and OMED in order to strengthen our national presence. In the future, we would like to work more with our state societies as well.

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Chapter President: Joseph Ponce
Nat’l Liaison Officer: Michelle Adema

WEST VIRGINIA SCHOOL OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE (WVSOM)

The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine is located in Lewisburg, West Virginia. Our SOMA students are committed to osteopathic representation within our community, region, and nation. Historically, our political advocacy has been paramount, which is why we have consistently welcomed a large number of students at DO Day on the Hill every year. We also have had numerous past SOMA leaders go on to become leaders at the national level. Recently, at the House of Delegates, WVSOM received the Northup Educator of the Year Award. Some chapter goals for this year include pre-medical mentorship, professional development workshops, and furthering community involvement.

 

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Chapter President: Shivika Gaind
Nat’l Liaison Officer: Emily Fox

CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE (CUSOM)

Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine, located in the small town of Buies Creek, was established in 2013 as the first Osteopathic Medical School in North Carolina. CUSOM is truly designed with the local community in mind. Our mission is “to educate and prepare community–based osteopathic physicians in a Christian environment to care for the rural and underserved populations.” As an auto-enrolled campus, students can receive SOMA membership benefits for all four years of medical education. Our SOMA chapter is best known for our medical equipment fundraiser, annual Osteopathic Ball, and local service collaborations with our student-run Campbell University Community Care Clinic. In addition to our professional development and political action opportunities throughout the year, we hope to expand our reputation to include more regular service projects and socials that bring together students, residents, and physician mentors to network and serve our community.

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Medicine.campbell.edu

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Chapter President: Riley Shegos
Nat’l Liaison Officer: Andrew Swanson

LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY DEBUSK COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE – HARROGATE (LMU-DCOM)

LMU-DCOM Harrogate campus is located in Harrogate, TN which is an hour and a half from the Knoxville, TN campus. Our SOMA Chapter strives to make an impact and increase the knowledge of osteopathic medicine on our campus, in the community, and beyond. This previous year, our chapter held monthly Social Medicine Program meetings which were discussion based meetings about general controversial topics or ethical issues. The chapter wrote a resolution to advocate to COCA to make the provision of health insurance to medical schools be a requirement for accreditation and was passed in the House of Delegates. We collected 120 items for homeless children and were donated to an organization called Family Promise of Greater Kingsport in Kingsport, TN. Our campus has a donor memorial garden honoring those who have donated their bodies for our education and we as a club were able to purchase flowers and assist another club on campus with cleaning up the garden. In celebration of National Osteopathic Medicine week, we had an Instagram takeover each day of the week and bought 30 dozen donuts to hand out to our first and second year classes. We have a strong relationship with our undergrad Pre-SOMA chapter at LMU and held a ShaDO Day event with a virtual tour, presentation, and student panel. In addition to the ShaDO Day event, we held an osteopathic medicine application cycle meeting. We are planning to be a very active chapter and have many goals for this upcoming year, so check out our Instagram and be on the lookout for our events! 

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Chapter President: Wolfgang Mattke
Nat’l Liaison Officer: Myra Meade

LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY DEBUSK COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE – KNOXVILLE (LMU-DCOM)

LMU-DCOM has worked hard this year to promote SOMA and osteopathic principles and practices on their campus. Events at their COM included: A food pantry event which provided food to over 700 people in the local community, an education event providing information about medical school and the osteopathic profession at a local underserved school, a resolution writing workshop, and writing resolutions for the SOMA House of Delegates, and fundraisers for Charity Miles and Doggie Dash 5K. 

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Chapter President: Lauren Huelson
Nat’l Liaison Officer: Clayton Jones

DES MOINES UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE (DMU-COM)

Des Moines University (DMU) is located in the state capital of Iowa of the same name. Despite having many of our spring events canceled due to COVID-19, such as our St. Baldrick’s day, we have still had a great academic year. Our organization has been working hard to establish and maintain a vaccine administration program that we hope to expand upon next year.  This year we hosted a flu vaccine administration training session, which allowed students to practice giving vaccinations while also receiving their flu shots. We have engaged with our local community by hosting an informational booth regarding vaccination and we demonstrated how to prepare healthy meals at our senior health fair.

Vaccine Administration Training: SOMA members hosted an event for vaccine administration training for DMU students. We watched a lecture on administration and then practiced giving shots to oranges. When we finished practicing we administered flu vaccines to our classmates under the supervision of a nurse.

What’s in a Doctor’s Bag: DO students visit elementary school classrooms and one family day at the YMCA to talk to them about what doctors do and show them the equipment we use. This is also an opportunity for them to ask questions to people in white coats in a setting that is familiar to them to help them feel comfortable asking questions about their health throughout their life.

Goals: After attending the Spring SOMA Convention and DO Day in Washington D.C., our chapter is super excited to get to work on resolutions that could affect health policy, physician training, or a multitude of other things! We also learned more about the Opioid Prevention Task Force and hope to host a narcan administration and education event.

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Chapter President: Gina Canavan
Nat’l Liaison Officer: Jared Graybill

MIDWESTERN UNIVERSITY CHICAGO COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE (MWU-CCOM)

Midwestern University’s Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine is located in Downers Grove, IL. We have had a great academic year, with events on and off-campus for students and community members. Larger events include the “Stop the Crazy Talk” mental health campaign, Pre-SOMA outreach, DO Day on the Hill, Scholars de Salud, lunch talks, and a workshop on biases during Welcome Week. We also hosted an IL State Representative to discuss Healthcare for All and fundraised for St. Baldrick’s Foundation as well as Stop Asian Hate.

DO Day on the Hill: CCOM had an excellent turnout at DO Day on the Hill, with 23 students representing 10 different states. In total, our SOMA members attended 38 congressional meetings, advocating for policies that would increase access to care. With such a great attendance, we anticipate that next year even more CCOM students will participate in advocacy both on the Hill and in Illinois.

Winter Care Packages: In collaboration with the Student Association of Military Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons (SAMOPS), winter care packages were prepared by students for dozens of veterans and homeless persons in the Chicago area.

Scholars de Salud: SOMA student volunteers met with local high school students interested in the health professions in educational sessions designed to further their knowledge of and passion for healthcare. Specifically, we work with an underprivileged high school in Chicago, The Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy (IHSCA), educating Latino immigrants and their families.

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