Mission
Osteopathic Oath
Governance
Accreditation

Greetings from the Dean
Since AZCOM’s inaugural class graduated in 2000, the population of Arizona has grown and the state’s physician shortage has also grown. The practice of medicine has continued to change with new procedures, medications and technologies.

AZCOM has continued to keep pace with medical technology. Standardized patient experiences are now a part of the routine training so that our medical students enter their third year rotations with the skills necessary to excel in their continued hospital and preceptor sites. AZCOM basic scientists are involved in research as well as teaching. Our clinical faculty is growing to meet the challenges of developing clinical rotations in collaboration with our hospital and physician partners.

AZCOM students have done wonderfully on the COMLEX licensing exams. AZCOM students have achieved COMLEX pass rates that have continued to be in the top 5 in the nation and their mean scores are 15% higher than the national average.

Midwestern University’s Glendale campus has continued to grow, affording AZCOM students a unique opportunity to learn in an interdisciplinary environment. This allows them to be well prepared for the medical world of the future.

Having grown up in Arizona, I know that, as my mom used to say, “even though you live and work here, you feel like you are on vacation every day.” Medical school is tough enough. How much better it is when the sun is always shining! You’re on a beautiful campus and the people are so friendly. AZCOM is a healthy place to study health care. I am pleased to extend a friendly welcome to those who are eager to learn with us.

Lori A. Kemper, D.O.
Dean, Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine

Mission
The mission of the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine (AZCOM)–Midwestern University (MWU) is to meet the contemporary societal need for physicians by emphasizing care and educational experiences needed to serve all communities. The curriculum provides an innovative academic foundation incorporating the philosophy of osteopathic principles and practices, striving to be fully integrated throughout the basic and clinical sciences, while promoting faculty development and research.

The Osteopathic Oath
I hereby affirm my loyalty to the profession I am about to enter. I will be mindful always of my great responsibility to preserve the health and the life of my patients, to retain their confidence and respect both as a physician and a friend who will guard their secrets with scrupulous honor and fidelity, to perform faithfully my professional duties, to employ only those recognized methods of treatment consistent with good judgment and with my skill and ability, keeping in mind always nature’s laws and the body’s inherent capacity for recovery.

I will be ever vigilant in aiding the general welfare of the community, sustaining its laws and institutions, not engaging in those practices which will in any way bring shame or discredit upon myself or my profession. I will give no drugs for deadly purposes to any person, though it be asked of me.

I will endeavor to work in accord with my colleagues in a spirit of progressive cooperation, and never by word or by act cast imputations upon them or their rightful practice.

I will look with respect and esteem upon all those who have taught me my art. To my college I will be loyal and strive always for its best interests and for the interests of the students who will come after me. I will be ever alert to further the application of basic biologic truths to the healing arts and to develop the principles of Osteopathic Medicine which were first enunciated by Andrew Taylor Still.

In the presence of this gathering I bind myself to my oath.

Governance
Lori A. Kemper, D.O.
Professor and Dean

Thomas O'Hare, D.O
Associate Dean, Clinical Education

John R. Burdick, Ph.D.
Professor and Dean, Basic Sciences and Vice President, Clinic Operations

Accreditation
The Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine is accredited by the Commision on College Accreditation American Osteopathic Association (AOA). The Commision on College Accreditation is recognized as the accrediting agency for colleges of osteopathic medicine by the United States Office of Education and the Council of Postsecondary Accreditation (COPA).

For further information, please contact the American Osteopathic Association, 142 E. Ontario St., Chicago, IL 60611; 800/621-1773.