An afternoon commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 31 honored 472 graduates from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, representing students from the Erie, Elmira and Seton Hill campuses.<\/p>\n
The graduates are entering the workforce at a time where many communities continue searching for physicians and health care providers.<\/p>\n
Students receive advice on how to stay safe during the summer <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cShortage of physicians that we\u2019re going to have in the long run here \u2014 that we already have \u2014 it\u2019s only getting worse as our generations get older. And these graduates have a lot of emphasis on how they\u2019re going to help us through that,\u201d Dr. Kevin Thomas, associate dean of academic affairs for LECOM Seton Hill, said.<\/p>\n LECOM stated that more than 1,100 degrees were awarded across its campuses this year, adding new professionals to a range of health care fields.<\/p>\n \u201cI matched into a residency position in family medicine at Darnall Army Medical Center on Fort Hood, Texas, where I will be serving the United States Army soldiers, and their family members and retirees, primarily,\u201d said Walter Holtgrefe, a graduating doctor of osteopathic medicine.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I\u2019m going into emergency medicine which is a growing field. It\u2019s probably one of the younger specialties, and things are changing constantly. We\u2019re seeing people on the hardest days of their lives and really just making sure they feel comfortable in that challenging time,\u201d Ariana Incantalupo, a graduating doctor of osteopathy, said.<\/p>\n