WVSOM Students Attain 100 % Residency Placement Rate for Third Straight Year
With the beginning of a new season, a spirit of change was in the air as fourth-year students at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine( WVSOM) learned where they will complete their residencies.
For the third consecutive year, graduates-to-be attained a 100 % residency placement rate. All 184 members of WVSOM’ s Class of 2025 will have jobs as resident physicians following their completion of medical school in May. New physicians typically serve in residency programs for three to seven years to qualify for medical licensure.
Linda Boyd, D. O., WVSOM’ s chief academic officer, congratulated the students on a successful match and thanked the school’ s graduate medical education staff for the role they played in helping students find residencies.
“ It takes a village to create a physician, and our faculty and staff contribute to that effort, but the people who put in the most work are our students,” Boyd says.“ You’ ve worked hard to get good grades and earn your placements, and you’ ve had to be on during all your rotations to earn great evaluations. That puts you in a great place and enables you to get great matches.”
A total of 96 students in the Class of 2025 are entering primary care residency programs, encompassing family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics. A total of 35 students matched to family medicine residencies, 48 to internal medicine and 13 to pediatrics. Other popular specialties for this year’ s class include emergency medicine, with 26 students; psychiatry, with 16 students; and obstetrics and gynecology, with eight students.
Several students matched to specialties that are considered especially competitive. No WVSOM student has received placement in a plastic surgery residency in the past 30 years, and in 2024, only one D. O. student nationwide was selected to enter the specialty. This year, a WVSOM student will train after graduation at the Cleveland Clinic to become a plastic surgeon.
WVSOM students in the Central East Region of the school ' s Statewide Campus gather on Match Day.
Other highly competitive specialties in which members of the Class of 2025 were placed include anesthesiology, with nine students; neurology, with five students; diagnostic radiology, with four students; physical medicine and rehabilitation, with three students; and dermatology, with one student.
A total of 31 students matched to residencies in West Virginia, including placements at Charleston Area Medical Center( CAMC) and hospitals in Beckley, Bridgeport, Huntington, Morgantown, Parkersburg and Wheeling.
Partner Community Capital Maintains A + Rating in Financial Strength and Performance
Partner Community Capital( PCAP) has continued its A + rating in financial strength and performance from the Aeris Rating Committee, a position that PCAP has maintained since 2011. PCAP has also continued to maintain its exceptional impact management performance rating of 4-stars by Aeris.
Additionally, PCAP earned Policy Plus recognition, marking its leadership role in advocating for and implementing policy changes that benefit both the community development finance industry and disadvantaged communities.
“ We are honored to receive this exceptional rating from Aeris,” says Marten Jenkins, president & CEO of PCAP.“ This recognition underscores the dedication of our team to creating positive, lasting impact in the communities we serve. We remain committed to working with our community partners to drive the success of our mission and continue to deliver value to those who need it most.”
The City of Wheeling Ignites Downtown with Game-Changing Investment
Wheeling City Council approved a transformative $ 2 million investment in Community Development Block Grant( CDBG) Program funds, dedicated to the historic reuse of four buildings, locally known as the 1400 Market block near Independence Hall.
“ After more than 50 years of underutilization, these historic properties are on the cusp of a renovation to make them last another 150 years,” Robert Herron, Wheeling city manager, says.“ The city’ s decisive action to acquire, stabilize and renovate these buildings will usher in a new era of investment, job creation and housing.”
The ambitious effort to revitalize these buildings is being led by Chip Desmone, managing member of Standard Cigarworks LLC. Nearly three years ago, Desmone came to Wheeling from Pittsburgh with extensive economic and commercial corridor development experience in Pittsburgh’ s Lawrenceville neighborhood, one of the most blighted areas of the city throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
“ Even though these buildings are extraordinarily costly to preserve, this investment will be worth it in the long run,” says Desmone.“ Like Lawrenceville, Wheeling has the potential to become one of the coolest places to live in America.”
Tipping Point, which has been working with the city and Desmone to help secure additional capital in the form of grants, tax credits and construction loans, believes this project represents a future trend.
“ We work in many markets seeking transformative change, and in Wheeling, the level of collaboration and coordination between local governmental officials, regional economic development partners, nonprofits and state and federal civil servants is extremely impressive and refreshing,” says Jim Ambrose, president of Tipping Point.
The commercial spaces will feature a state-of-the-art food hub addressing food insecurity with a commercial kitchen and distribution services for local producers. There will also be a complementary entrepreneurial incubator to spark new business growth, along with dynamic community spaces designed to house numerous nonprofits and higher education institutions. •
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