A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona

Coordinates: 33°22′57.86″N 111°42′18.30″W / 33.3827389°N 111.705083°W / 33.3827389; -111.705083

A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona
Established	2007
Provost	Craig M. Phelps, D.O., FAOASM
Dean	Kay Kalousek, DO[1]
Academic staff	153 Physicians[2] 204 Adjunct Faculty[2]
Students	416[3]
Location	Mesa, Arizona, USA
Campus	22 acres
Website	www.atsu.edu/soma

Arizona portal

The A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (SOMA) deals exclusively with training physicians. Established in 2007 and located in Mesa Arizona, the university is intended to serve the community by training medical school students devoted to the community.^[4] As a campus of the larger A.T. Still University network it embodies the same ideals. The school accepts approximatively 100 new students each year. SOMA is accredited by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA).^[5] The first class, composed of 90 students, graduated in June 2011.^[6]

Mission

To serve "as a learning-centered university dedicated to preparing highly competent professionals through innovative academic programs with a commitment to continue its osteopathic heritage and its focus on whole person healthcare, scholarship, community health, interprofessional education, diversity, and underserved populations."^[7]

Campus

The campus operates in a portion of a 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m²) building on the 22 acres (89,000 m²) campus of A.T. Still University in Mesa. The Campus is the anchor of the Arizona Health & Technology Park, a 132-acre (0.53 km²) education, healthcare, and technology triangle owned by ATSU and Vanguard Health Systems. The master plan for the new park includes hospitals, long-term care facilities, professional offices, and product development research facilities.

ATSU SOMA Main Building

The campus is also home to the Arizona School of Health Sciences, Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health, and a 32,000-square-foot (3,000 m²) East Valley Family YMCA.^[8]

Training

SOMA uses the Clinical Presentation Educational Model which teaches that there are about 120 different ways that a patient can present themself to a physician. The teaching method was based on a method developed in 1994 by the University of Calgary.^[9] Basic sciences are coupled with clinical sciences so that the students have a more comprehensive and practical foundation for each medical discipline.^[10] The curriculum design emphasizes clinical competencies. which allows students to enter residency programs with greater experience with chronic disease than students educated in the majority of tertiary care-oriented academic health centers.^[9]

Clinic Locations

SOMA is unique in that the first year is spent at the Mesa campus and the last three years at one of many community clinics. As of 2012 SOMA offers 11 community clinic opportunities in such locations as:^[11]

• Alabama Medical Education Consortium – Selma, AL
• Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Services – Ridgeland, SC
• Health Point (previously Community Health Centers of King County) – Seattle, WA
• El Rio Community Health Center – Tucson, AZ
• Family Healthcare Network – Porterville, CA
• HealthSource of Ohio – Milford, OH
• Northcountry/Canyonlands Community Health Center – Flagstaff, AZ
• Northwest Regional Healthcare – Portland, OR
• Phoenix Indian Medical Center – Phoenix, AZ
• Sunset Park Family Health Center – Brooklyn, NY
• Wai‘anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center – Wai‘anae, HI

Hometown Endorsement

SOMA was started in response to a request from, and in partnership with, the nation’s healthcare safety net of community health centers. The purpose of hometown endorsement is to help the medical school meet the needs of community health centers by attracting and training dedicated, motivated, and qualified community-minded physicians.^[12]

Hometown applicants are those who have:

• Located a community health center (CHC) to stay involved with
• Developed relationships with CHC staff and leadership
• Learned about the working environment of a CHC
• Gained valuable volunteer or work experience
• Gained SOMA application endorsement from a CHC leader

A hometown endorsement lets the medical school know which applicants community health centers believe could become the compassionate community-minded healers they would like to employ. Prospective students interested in seeking a hometown endorsement are encouraged to seek and identify a community health center to connect with as a volunteer or employee. In this way, the student can learn about that health center’s approach for improving community health, develop health center relationships, and (hopefully) gain the endorsement from that CHC. A community health center leader can advocate an applicant's acceptance into the medical school by sending a hometown endorsement letter. Hometown letters of endorsement do not replace the regular application process. Hometown endorsement letters parallel the regular application process – a process that requires its own letters of support.^[12]

See also

• A.T. Still University

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References

External links

• http://www.atsu.edu