With the recent release of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission’s Division of Health Sciences’ annual report, state residents are reminded that the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine leads the state’s medical schools in primary care, rural practice, total physicians and lowest tuition.

WVSOM is also proud of its Northern Panhandle connection. The school operates a Statewide Campus network with the Northern Region being based in Wheeling and led by Regional Assistant Dean Jane Daugherty-Luck, Director Mary Beth Fitch and Administrative Assistant Savannah Scott.

The osteopathic medical school has about 40 third- and fourth-year students doing clinical rotations in the Northern Region, which includes Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel and Tyler counties. These student Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) work from local base hospitals and medical systems in the region: Washington Health System, Weirton Medical Center, WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital and Trinity Health System.

There are also more than 80 WVSOM graduates in the region. The school’s first-year class that started in 2023-24 had 13 students from the Northern Panhandle. Those students are on WVSOM’s main campus in Lewisburg.

Why are Northern Panhandle residents choosing to attend WVSOM in Lewisburg? School officials think it’s partly because WVSOM is a medical education leader in West Virginia.

According to information published in the commission’s 2024 West Virginia Health Sciences and Rural Health Report, issued in December, WVSOM produces the highest number of physicians who practice in the Mountain State in all specialties, as well as the largest number who practice in rural areas of West Virginia. The report provides data for all three medical schools in the state.

WVSOM President James W. Nemitz said the report reflects WVSOM’s status as a leader in medical education.

“The commission’s report supports what those of us at WVSOM already know — that this school plays a significant role in reducing West Virginia’s physician shortage. I’m proud that we lead in several key areas. WVSOM is committed to progress, and we’re always working to find ways to improve our efforts to serve the state’s health care needs,” Nemitz said.

Dr. Linda Boyd, WVSOM’s chief academic officer, said the school strives to educate students who will become members of the healthcare workforce in rural areas.

“We are proud of our success in recruiting students from rural areas and encouraging students to practice in them,” Boyd said. “We work hard at this by providing exposure to rural practice in all four years of medical school, didactic and hands-on sessions on rural medicine, and specific support for students with a special interest in rural practice through our Rural Health Initiative. Our clinical faculty in rural practice and hospital partners in rural areas are rock stars, demonstrating that rural medicine can be high-quality medicine delivered with a heart for the community.”

The WVHEPC report noted a total of 159 WVSOM graduates from classes between 2014 and 2019 practice in West Virginia, compared with 155 from the second-highest school and 119 from the third-highest school. A total of 72 physicians who graduated from WVSOM during those years practice in rural areas of the state, compared with 43 from the other two schools combined.

Data in the report also indicates that WVSOM leads the state in the number of doctors who practice primary care in West Virginia, with 101 primary care physicians who graduated from the school between 2014 and 2019, compared with 73 from the second-highest school and 58 from the third-highest school.

WVSOM has led the state in the categories of rural practice and primary care for more than a decade, according to information in past WVHEPC reports.

Additionally, the report shows that WVSOM leads the state in new physicians pursuing primary care. For the school’s Class of 2024, a total of 114 graduates — 60% of the class — entered primary care residencies.

WVSOM had the lowest 2023-24 tuition cost of the state’s three medical schools for both in-state and out-of-state students. The report also noted that in-state tuition at all West Virginia

According to data in the report, WVSOM also attracts the highest number of out-of-state students to West Virginia of the state’s three medical schools. With about 200 students in each class, WVSOM is the state’s largest medical school. WVSOM’s total enrollment for the 2023-24 academic year was 798 first- through fourth-year students.

The WVHEPC is the entity that oversees the state’s higher education institutions.