Duquesne University plans to build a College of Osteopathic Medicine along Forbes Avenue and expects to admit its first class in the fall of 2023, university officials announced Thursday. It will join the University of Pittsburgh as the only medical schools in Pittsburgh.
“We have been studying this for over a year,” Duquesne President Ken Gormley said in a phone interview Wednesday evening. “There’s clearly a desperate need for family doctors in our region, in the whole state and the whole country.”
The university wanted to launch a classical, or allopathic, medical school 20 years ago, but abandoned the plan light of unresolved questions about whether the region needed another school and how it would affect health care costs.
The new college, part of the university’s 2018-23 strategic plan, will recruit 75 students in the first class. At full enrollment, there would be 600 students. Doctors of osteopathic medicine primarily serve as family doctors or general practitioners.
"Given Duquesne's broad strengths in elements connected to integrative health — in pharmacy, nursing, the natural sciences, health sciences and even in business and music — we are exceptionally well suited to serve this need in our region,” Mr. Gormley said in an announcement outlining the effort.
“Training highly qualified family doctors is also directly aligned with our mission as a Catholic and Spiritan university."
Duquesne Provost David Dausey said the college will be distinctive because it will be part of a research university — many osteopathic schools are stand-alone institutions.
“It’s a strength we hope to leverage,” Mr. Dausey said in an interview. Students will train in various medical facilities in the region, he said, just as Duquesne nursing students do — for example, training at both UPMC and Allegheny Health Network hospitals.
“Med school students will utilize sources from all our partners,” he said. “We’re not engaging in any exclusive relationships. They will just provide care in our region. There’s always an issue with access to family care doctors.”
Duquesne’s med school will build on the integrative approach of osteopathic medicine, which emphasizes the treatment of the whole person, in mind, body and spirit, Mr. Dausey said. That will include research into the benefits of combining both Eastern and Western approaches to medicine, he said, pointing out that the university’s health sciences school already has an affiliation with health organizations in China.
There’s a growing interest among young men and women to pursue osteopathy, he said, and there’s a demand and growing respect for osteopathic medicine.
“They’re clearly different in approach, but clearly the outcomes, in terms of quality of doctors, is the same.”
Mr. Dausey said the university had completed its study establishing the need for the school and had applied for candidacy with the accrediting body, the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation. The accreditation process can take up to three years.
A critical step is hiring a founding dean — that national search kicks off Aug. 12, the provost said. Next will be work on the curriculum, hiring additional people and construction of the med school building, to be located on Forbes Avenue diagonally across from the A.J. Palumbo Center. The SLAM architectural firm is designing a building of between 80,000 and 100,000 square feet, Mr. Dausey said.
The building needs space for training in osteopathic manipulation, one of the differences from allopathic medicine practiced by M.D.s, Mr. Dausey said.
“There are a few differences in the training, but all of the key aspects of medical training are the same,” he said. “They all pass the same medical boards. It doesn’t matter if you’re an M.D. or a D.O.”
At the same time, Duquesne will be raising money for the college, a huge investment, he said.
“We’ll be working with our major donors, working with community partners and accessing capital markets. It’s a multipronged process.”
Mr. Dausey and Mr. Gormley both said they had received only positive reactions from hospitals and health care and government leaders in the region.
“Our major focus is making sure we do everything first-class, to make a very significant contribution in our region,” Mr. Gormley said.
Jill Daly: jdaly@post-gazette.com
Updated Aug. 1, 2019: Correction: Duquesne University will join the University of Pittsburgh as the only medical schools in Pittsburgh. An earlier version gave a wrong geographic area.
First Published: August 1, 2019, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: August 1, 2019, 10:23 a.m.
