College of Osteopathic Medicine

The College of Osteopathic Medicine is based in Yakima, in the heart of Central Washington characterized by medically underserved and rural populations. When its doors opened in 2008, it was the Pacific Northwest’s first medical school in 60 years.

Approximately 60 percent of practicing osteopathic physicians (DOs) are primary care specialists in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, and geriatrics. Osteopathic physicians are trained to view the patient as a whole person with biological, psychological, and sociological needs, and to recognize that wellness and healing is based on the interdependence of structure and function, and the body’s inherent ability for self-healing and regulation.

PNWU-COM has a distinguished faculty, and a talented and committed staff, and administration that focus on high-tech, healing-touch medical education, as well as osteopathic principles and practice to train the next generation of physicians. In addition, more than 1,000 adjunct clinical faculty members share in PNWU’s commitment to serve the rural and medically underserved of the Pacific Northwest.

The four-year accredited osteopathic medical education program begins in Yakima at Butler-Haney Hall for the first two years. The building houses a spacious anatomy laboratory with camera projection capability, a large osteopathic manual medicine classroom, two simulation laboratories, research and study space, and numerous break-out rooms for small group interaction, a four-hundred seat auditorium, a clinical skills area simulating a medical practice with eight exam rooms, and a waiting and debriefing area equipped with video cameras.  During years three and four, students engage in their clinical education in clerkships at hospitals, clinics, and physician’s offices throughout the Northwest, where regional deans and regional administrators support and guide their progress toward residency.

PNWU-COM is accredited by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) of the American Osteopathic Association, 142 East Ontario Street, Chicago, IL 60611, (800) 621-1773, www.osteopathic.edu.

Information about accreditation and authorization is available on the Accreditation and Compliance page.

Inside PNWU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine