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A new class of students hoping to make its mark on the future of health care recently arrived at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, as the school welcomed the class of 2012 to begin the school’s 15th year. LECOM welcomed its first class of osteopathic medical students in 1993.

Silvia Ferretti, D.O., Provost, Senior Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs at LECOM, addresses the College of Medicine class of 2012 during orientation week.

The orientation began July 26 with an open house at the Erie campus for students and their families. First-year student workshops and classes began on July 28. Second-year students begin classes on Aug. 4.

This year’s class consists of 276 students, with approximately 30 percent of the incoming students from Pennsylvania. LECOM’s innovative teaching programs and national reputation attract these students. While 205 of the new students will follow the traditional lecture-discussion method of learning, 42 have chosen the Problem-Based Learning Pathway and 29 will enter the Independent Study Pathway.

Eight of the incoming students also will begin LECOM’s Primary Care Scholars Pathway (PCSP), a program the College expects will attract more physicians to family practice, pediatrics, and internal medicine. The PCSP will condense four years of medical education into three-years by concentrating on the essentials of primary care. This will result in more family doctors graduating sooner and saving these students one year of expenses that adds to the mounting debt held by medical college graduates.

During orientation week, the new students attend a series of workshops to learn about campus policies, review the curriculum and meet the faculty, which includes the full-time basic science and clinical education faculty. Students also meet many of the Erie area physicians who will teach the students during their first two years of medical school.