LEWISBURG, W.Va. (WVDN) – Three new members have joined the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) Board of Governors, the body that oversees the financial, business and educational policies under which the school operates.
Courtney Eleazer, Ph.D., was elected to the board as the school’s faculty representative. Scott Maxwell was elected staff representative, and Jacob Bartlett was elected student representative.
The appointments became effective July 1.
Courtney Eleazer, Ph.D., is an associate professor of anatomy in WVSOM’s Department of Biomedical Sciences and coordinator of the Professionalism in Practice thread in the school’s Finding Health curriculum. She joined the school in 2016.
Eleazer is a member of the American Association of Anatomists and the American Association of Biological Anthropologists. She also leads La Leche League of the Greenbrier Valley, which provides breastfeeding support to Lewisburg and surrounding communities as a chapter of the nonprofit organization La Leche League International.
Eleazer earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida State University and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Tennessee.
Scott Maxwell has been the technical manager for WVSOM’s Office of Graduate Medical Education since 2019. He joined WVSOM in 2015 as the department’s program coordinator and served in an additional role as chair of the school’s staff council from 2021 to 2025.
Maxwell earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology, political science and history with a concentration in philosophy from Concord University.
Eleazer and Maxwell will each serve on the Board of Governors for two years and are eligible to be elected for one additional term.
Jacob Bartlett, of WVSOM’s Class of 2027, was elected to join the Board of Governors as a student representative. He was president of WVSOM’s Wilderness Medicine Club for the 2024-25 academic year. Bartlett earned a Bachelor of Science degree in exercise physiology from West Virginia University.
Student representatives serve a one-year term on the board.
The WVSOM Board of Governors consists of nine lay members appointed by West Virginia’s governor and three elected, nonvoting advisory representatives — one each from the school’s faculty, staff and student body.
James W. Nemitz, Ph.D., WVSOM’s president, thanked the three departing members of the board for their service to the school.
“I’m grateful to our outgoing members for the professionalism and good judgment they showed through their work on the Board of Governors,” Nemitz said. “Faculty representative Dr. Peter Ward, staff representative Marlena Kirby and student representative Ethan Galloway each made valuable contributions that helped to move WVSOM forward.”
