First- & Second-Year Curriculum
The pre-clinical curriculum is a hybrid model utilizing discipline- and system-based delivery. Students are introduced to fundamental scientific concepts in the traditional discipline-based manner, which includes a full first semester of basic foundational sciences and anatomy with cadaver dissection. Professionalism and ethics are introduced in Foundations of Modern Health Care while Primary Clinical Skills (PCS) and Osteopathic Principles & Practice (OPP) give students hands-on experience with physical and structural examination, osteopathic manipulative treatment, and clinical reasoning. Courses are systems-based starting in spring of the first year, concentrating on clinical integration with a patient-centered focus.
This curriculum delivery model is complemented by longitudinal instruction in OPP, high-fidelity patient simulation, and early standardized patient encounters. This blended model continually reinforces the application of learned knowledge into a clinical framework for long-term retention.