LEWISBURG, W.Va. (WVDN) – Gov. Jim Justice issued a proclamation designating December 2024 as Osteopathic Medicine Month in West Virginia, home to the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM).
The proclamation encourages state residents to recognize “West Virginia’s current and future osteopathic physicians, the contributions of the West Virginia Osteopathic Medical Association, the American Osteopathic Association, the West Virginia Board of Osteopathic Medicine and the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine for their roles in ensuring and advancing quality health care in our state.”
The proclamation also acknowledges the history of osteopathic medicine, observing that 2024 is the profession’s 150th anniversary and citing the establishment of its tenets by Andrew Taylor Still, D.O., in 1874.
WVSOM is the only school in the state that educates osteopathic physicians. The proclamation notes that WVSOM is also West Virginia’s largest medical school.
Osteopathic Medicine Month coincides with WVSOM’s Founders Day celebration, which took place Dec. 12. Students and employees gathered on the school’s Lewisburg campus to pay tribute to the four osteopathic physicians who founded the school in 1972 — Carlton Apgar, D.O., of Huntington; O.J. Bailes, D.O., of Princeton; Donald Newell Sr., D.O., of Fayetteville; and Frank Wallington, D.O., of Moundsville; as well as the school’s first president, Roland P. Sharp, D.O., of Greenbank.
Penny Fioravante, executive director of the West Virginia Osteopathic Medical Association, provided remarks about the formation of the association in the state and celebrated the recognition by reading the governor’s proclamation.
During the event, James W. Nemitz, Ph.D., WVSOM’s president, spoke to the growth of the osteopathic profession.
“This month is important because more prospective physicians than ever before are choosing to become D.O.s. There are about 40,000 osteopathic medical students now are enrolled for the 2024-25 academic year at 42 colleges of osteopathic medicine across 67 campuses. That’s remarkable,” he said during the celebration.
Nemitz thanked Justice for issuing the proclamation and said osteopathic medicine is a crucial part of addressing the physician shortage in West Virginia and the rest of the nation.
“I’m grateful that Gov. Jim Justice is helping to increase awareness of this vital medical tradition,” Nemitz said. “With its focus on the principles that a person is a unit of body, mind and spirit, that the body is capable of self-regulation and that its structure and function are interrelated, osteopathic medicine’s distinct philosophy allows D.O.s to take a holistic approach to the treatment of patients. Osteopathic doctors are fully licensed physicians who practice in any medical specialty and continue to play an essential role in our health care system.”
