Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine
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The Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine is a private, non-profit osteopathic medical school located in Blacksburg, Virginia. The college is located in the Corporate Research Center of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). VCOM is a collaborative partner with Virginia Tech; this partnership allows students to receive certain support services from the university, along with the use of all campus facilities on an equal basis with Virginia Tech students.
The school was founded in 2001 through the gift of Edward Via. The mission of the school is to help alleviate the critical shortage of physicians in Appalachia. The school places primary recruiting on students from a rural Appalachian background, particularly the rural sections of central and southwestern Virginia and North Carolina. While students are fully prepared to specialize in any division of medicine, the primary focus of the college is the training of primary care physicians to serve a rural population.
The school is one of 20 colleges of osteopathic medicine in the United States, and one of four located in Appalachia.
According to US News and World Report in 2007, the average MCAT (composite) score was 7.5.
[edit] Curriculum
The school uses a system of "blocks" as opposed to semesters. Each block concerns a specific organ system, incorporating anatomy, physiology, microbiology, pharmacology, pathology, and OMM courses in relation to that system. The first 2 years consist of 12 blocks.
The school also has the rare distinction of offering a course in addiction medicine, and offers missionary medicine rotations. India, East and West Africa, and the Dominican Republic are frequent areas where VCOM students learn.
