You’re invited to a tour of Idaho’s first medical school September 5
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The following is a news release from the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine.
MERIDIAN – The Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine (ICOM), the first medical school in the state of Idaho, will host a ribbon cutting event Wednesday, Sept. 5 at the school. The event starts at 5:15 p.m. Tours of the facility will be available after the ceremony and the public is encouraged to attend.
Located in Meridian, the three-story, 94,000-square-foot facility cost $34 million, and took just over one year to build.
“Our goal is to attract the best and brightest students,” said Dr. Tracy Farnsworth, ICOM President. “We’re delighted with our first class.”
The facility houses more than 12,000 feet of classroom space, including two lecture halls, each with 250 seats; a state-of-the-art clinical simulation center; a 3,5000-square-foot medical library; and a 3,479-square-foot Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) Lab. Additionally, 12 Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) rooms will be located on the second floor — the largest OSCE suite in the State of Idaho.
“ICOM has made a commitment to provide the best and most modern medical education in the nation,” said Founding Dean and Chief Academic Officer, Robert Hasty, DO. “We designed Idaho’s first medical school to meet the needs of the physician of the future.”
Through an agreement with Idaho State University, ICOM students and faculty will have use of the university’s anatomy and physiology laboratories.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with our 40-year commitment to partner with ISU,” Hasty said. “This fine University has been a pleasure to work with, and we are proud that our medical school will compliment ISU’s already highly-competitive and vastly growing medical programs.”
School leaders say ICOM’s mission is to train caring and competent osteopathic physicians prepared for caring for persons in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and beyond — referred to as the school’s “target states.”
Students will spend the first two years of didactic training on campus. Afterward, they’ll spend the third and fourth years of their education doing clinical rotations at affiliated hospital systems throughout the five target states. Currently, ICOM has established partnerships with more than 35 hospital and health systems in the region.
The Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine is working to develop and expand residency programs throughout the five-state region. ICOM is investing more than $5 million during the first 10 years of operation to develop new residency programs.
“As Idaho’s first medical school, ICOM is committed to supporting graduate medical education,” Hasty said. “Idaho currently ranks 49th in the nation for both the number of physicians and resident physicians per capita. Our partnerships with area health systems will have a lasting impact on health care in the region.”
Classes for ICOM’s inaugural class of 162 students began Aug. 20.
