Founded in 1900, CCOM is one of the most respected medical schools in the country. Its 6,000 alumni have served and continue to serve in hospitals, medical schools, private practices, and governmental facilities nationwide.
Midwestern University (MWU) is an American graduate degree-granting institution specializing in the health sciences with nine colleges and two campuses. The university is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission, a Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The college of osteopathic medicine is accredited by the American Osteopathic Association's Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation and offers the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree.
CCOM, the founding college of Midwestern University, develops osteopathic physicians as both scientists and practitioners of the healing arts who regard the body as an integrated whole. Since its beginning in 1900, the College has graduated more than 6,000 alumni and accounts for nearly 13 percent of all practicing osteopathic physicians and surgeons in the United States today.
College departments include anatomy, anesthesiology, biochemistry, emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, microbiology and immunology, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery, osteopathic manipulative medicine, pathology, pediatrics, pharmacology, physiology, behavioral medicine (psychiatry), radiology, and surgery.
CCOM offers more than 21 postdoctoral programs in areas ranging from cardiology, critical care, gastroenterology, and geriatrics to neurosurgery and rheumatology, as well as continuing medical education (CME) and exceptional clinical rotation experiences.
The College also supports two important initiatives. The Costin Institute for Osteopathic Medical Educators continues the legacy of J. Richard Costin, D.O., to prepare future generations of osteopathic medical educators. MWU's annual Mini Medical School, a four-week medical education program open to anyone in the community interested in personal and public heath care issues, is an opportunity to learn about topics discussed in medical school.
The Illinois campus, located on a 105-acre (42.5 ha) site in Downers Grove, is home to over 2,500 students and four colleges: the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, the Chicago College of Pharmacy, the College of Health Sciences, and the College of Dental Medicine-Illinois (CDMI).
The Arizona campus, located on a 156-acre (63.1 ha) site in Glendale, is home to over 2,900 students and five colleges: the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine, the College of Pharmacy-Glendale, the College of Health Sciences, the College of Dental Medicine, and the Arizona College of Optometry.
To produce competent osteopathic physicians, CCOM's program emphasizes primary care but includes traditional specialties and subspecialties. Because the DO degree signifies the holder is a physician prepared for entry into the practice of medicine within postgraduate training programs, CCOM graduates must have the knowledge and skills to function in a broad variety of clinical situations and to render a wide spectrum of patient care, including direct hands-on analysis and treatment.
Accordingly and with reasonable accommodation, all candidates for admission to the CCOM program must have abilities and skills in five areas: 1) observation; 2) communication; 3) motor; 4) conceptual, integrative, and quantitative; and 5) behavioral and social. Technological compensation can be made for some limitation in certain of these areas, but a candidate should be able to perform in a reasonably independent manner.
The CCOM course of study is typically 4 academic years. The first 2 years cover primarily didactic instruction, followed by 2 years of primarily clinical rotations, including applicable didactic material. Upon graduation with the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree, CCOM graduates are eligible for postdoctoral residency training in all fields of medicine.
As scientists and practitioners of the healing arts, osteopathic physicians subscribe to a philosophy that regards the body as an integrated whole with structures and functions working interdependently. Therefore, osteopathic physicians treat their patients as unique persons with biological, psychological, and sociological needs — an approach that underscores the osteopathic commitment to patient-oriented versus disease-oriented health care.
Using this philosophy, CCOM's four-year curriculum educates students in the biopsychosocial approach to patient care, as well as the basic medical arts and sciences. CCOM students spend their first two years completing a rigorous basic science curriculum and preparing for clinical studies, including early clinical contact experiences. During their third and fourth years, students rotate through a variety of clinical training sites, accruing an impressive 88 weeks of direct patient care experience. By stimulating intellectual curiosity and teaching problem solving skills, the CCOM curriculum encourages students to regard learning as a lifelong process.
Midwestern University was founded in 1900 as the American College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery by J. Martin Littlejohn, Ph.D., D.O., M.D. (1865-1947). The school was incorporated as a non-profit in Chicago, Illinois, to train physicians. It was the fourth osteopathic medical school to open in the United States. The early faculty taught the art and science of osteopathic medicine, surgery, anatomy, and basic science. Ever since 1874 when a country doctor, Andrew Taylor Still, introduced his new system of medicine called osteopathy and opened the first college in 1892, the profession has grown in reputation and acceptance around the country and many international settings.
The Downers Grove Campus was purchased in 1986, and the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine moved from its prior home in Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois, to this western suburb of Illinois. Following the relocation of the College, the Board of Trustees voted to begin the development of new academic programs within the health sciences. The Chicago College of Pharmacy began in 1991 and the College of Health Sciences began in 1992. In 1993, the Board of Trustees unanimously approved a single educational mission for the institution, and Midwestern University emerged. The Downers Grove Campus, located on 105 acres (42.5 ha), has buildings that include academic classrooms, laboratories, a state-of-the-art library and auditorium building, and student housing.
The Glendale Campus was founded in 1995 when the Board of Trustees approved the purchase of land and the building of this new campus in Arizona. The Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine began in 1995, the College of Health Sciences in 1996, the College of Pharmacy-Glendale in 1998, the College of Dental Medicine in 2006, the College of Optometry in 2009, the College of Physical Therapy in 2010 and will open a Veterinary Medicine School in 2014. The campus has seen rapid growth in the number of buildings, academic programs, faculty, staff, and students. The Glendale Campus, located on 156 acres (63.1 ha), has buildings that provide academic classrooms, laboratories, student housing, and three on-campus clinics; the Midwestern University Multispecialty Clinic, the Midwestern University Dental Institute, and the Midwestern University Eye Institute.
CCOM educates osteopathic physicians to provide quality, compassionate care and promotes the practice of osteopathic medicine, lifelong learning, research, and service.
