The WVSOM parade ground with the tent for graduation
WVSOM makes strides toward better health with Mountaineer Mile initiative
The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) is stepping up its exercise game by establishing a campus program utilizing Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s “Mountaineer Mile” walking initiative.
WVSOM’s Mountaineer Mile will provide an opportunity every Monday for students, faculty and staff of the medical school to walk a mile on its Lewisburg campus with President James W. Nemitz, Ph.D., or another member of WVSOM’s leadership team.
Members of the public also are invited to join the walks.
Nemitz said he looks forward to being part of an initiative to promote healthy behaviors among West Virginia’s citizens.
“This is an exciting opportunity for our state to move the needle when it comes to reducing obesity and positively impacting chronic disease,” he said. “I’m proud to lead the governor’s Mountaineer Mile initiative on our campus.”
WVSOM’s Mountaineer Mile initiative also will establish weight loss goals for members of the campus community; allow students, faculty and staff to log their weekly steps and weight loss; and use the school’s Center for Rural and Community Health to educate and offer resources to help communities in the Greenbrier Valley to follow Morrisey’s Mountaineer Mile walking initiative.
WVSOM’s program will begin April 14, with Nemitz leading a one-mile campus walk. Those interested in participating should meet at 12 p.m. in front of the WVSOM Student Center’s Alumni Tower.
In summer 2024, WVSOM launched a new “Finding Health” curriculum that incorporates wellness, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and preventive medicine into medical students’ education. Physical activity is integral to osteopathic medicine, whose tenets state that the person is a unit of body, mind and spirit and that the body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing and health maintenance.
Nemitz said he hopes all West Virginia higher education institutions will implement their own versions of the governor’s initiative.
“I challenge other schools to adopt the governor’s Mountaineer Mile walking initiative in the hope that we can work together to improve the health of our population. WVSOM teaches future physicians that physical movement is an important part of maintaining patients’ well-being, and we believe higher education can play a role in establishing habits that lead to better health,” he said.
Drema Hill, Ph.D., WVSOM’s chief operations officer, said exercise is a necessary part of staying healthy and that she is eager to participate in the school’s initiative.
“As a person who has lost 160 pounds, I know weight loss is not easy,” Hill said. “I applaud the governor for taking a personal stand to set an example. I look forward to walking many Mountaineer Miles, and I hope all West Virginians will follow his lead so that we can get healthier together.”
Friday, April 4, 2025 - 10:22
The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) is stepping up its exercise game by establishing a campus program utilizing Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s “Mountaineer Mile” walking initiative.
WVSOM’s Mountaineer Mile will provide an opportunity every Monday for students, faculty and staff of the medical school to walk a mile on its Lewisburg campus with President James W. Nemitz, Ph.D., or another member of WVSOM’s leadership team.
Members of the public also are invited to join the walks.
Nemitz said he looks forward to being part of an initiative to promote healthy behaviors among West Virginia’s citizens.
“This is an exciting opportunity for our state to move the needle when it comes to reducing obesity and positively impacting chronic disease,” he said. “I’m proud to lead the governor’s Mountaineer Mile initiative on our campus.”
WVSOM’s Mountaineer Mile initiative also will establish weight loss goals for members of the campus community; allow students, faculty and staff to log their weekly steps and weight loss; and use the school’s Center for Rural and Community Health to educate and offer resources to help communities in the Greenbrier Valley to follow Morrisey’s Mountaineer Mile walking initiative.
WVSOM’s program will begin April 14, with Nemitz leading a one-mile campus walk. Those interested in participating should meet at 12 p.m. in front of the WVSOM Student Center’s Alumni Tower.
In summer 2024, WVSOM launched a new “Finding Health” curriculum that incorporates wellness, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and preventive medicine into medical students’ education. Physical activity is integral to osteopathic medicine, whose tenets state that the person is a unit of body, mind and spirit and that the body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing and health maintenance.
Nemitz said he hopes all West Virginia higher education institutions will implement their own versions of the governor’s initiative.
“I challenge other schools to adopt the governor’s Mountaineer Mile walking initiative in the hope that we can work together to improve the health of our population. WVSOM teaches future physicians that physical movement is an important part of maintaining patients’ well-being, and we believe higher education can play a role in establishing habits that lead to better health,” he said.
Drema Hill, Ph.D., WVSOM’s chief operations officer, said exercise is a necessary part of staying healthy and that she is eager to participate in the school’s initiative.
“As a person who has lost 160 pounds, I know weight loss is not easy,” Hill said. “I applaud the governor for taking a personal stand to set an example. I look forward to walking many Mountaineer Miles, and I hope all West Virginians will follow his lead so that we can get healthier together.”
Friday, April 4, 2025 - 10:22
WVSOM makes strides toward better health with Mountaineer Mile initiative
The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) is stepping up its exercise game by establishing a campus program utilizing Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s “Mountaineer Mile” walking initiative.
WVSOM’s Mountaineer Mile will provide an opportunity every Monday for students, faculty and staff of the medical school to walk a mile on its Lewisburg campus with President James W. Nemitz, Ph.D., or another member of WVSOM’s leadership team.
Members of the public also are invited to join the walks.
Nemitz said he looks forward to being part of an initiative to promote healthy behaviors among West Virginia’s citizens.
“This is an exciting opportunity for our state to move the needle when it comes to reducing obesity and positively impacting chronic disease,” he said. “I’m proud to lead the governor’s Mountaineer Mile initiative on our campus.”
WVSOM’s Mountaineer Mile initiative also will establish weight loss goals for members of the campus community; allow students, faculty and staff to log their weekly steps and weight loss; and use the school’s Center for Rural and Community Health to educate and offer resources to help communities in the Greenbrier Valley to follow Morrisey’s Mountaineer Mile walking initiative.
WVSOM’s program will begin April 14, with Nemitz leading a one-mile campus walk. Those interested in participating should meet at 12 p.m. in front of the WVSOM Student Center’s Alumni Tower.
In summer 2024, WVSOM launched a new “Finding Health” curriculum that incorporates wellness, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and preventive medicine into medical students’ education. Physical activity is integral to osteopathic medicine, whose tenets state that the person is a unit of body, mind and spirit and that the body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing and health maintenance.
Nemitz said he hopes all West Virginia higher education institutions will implement their own versions of the governor’s initiative.
“I challenge other schools to adopt the governor’s Mountaineer Mile walking initiative in the hope that we can work together to improve the health of our population. WVSOM teaches future physicians that physical movement is an important part of maintaining patients’ well-being, and we believe higher education can play a role in establishing habits that lead to better health,” he said.
Drema Hill, Ph.D., WVSOM’s chief operations officer, said exercise is a necessary part of staying healthy and that she is eager to participate in the school’s initiative.
“As a person who has lost 160 pounds, I know weight loss is not easy,” Hill said. “I applaud the governor for taking a personal stand to set an example. I look forward to walking many Mountaineer Miles, and I hope all West Virginians will follow his lead so that we can get healthier together.”
Friday, April 4, 2025 - 10:22
The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) is stepping up its exercise game by establishing a campus program utilizing Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s “Mountaineer Mile” walking initiative.
WVSOM’s Mountaineer Mile will provide an opportunity every Monday for students, faculty and staff of the medical school to walk a mile on its Lewisburg campus with President James W. Nemitz, Ph.D., or another member of WVSOM’s leadership team.
Members of the public also are invited to join the walks.
Nemitz said he looks forward to being part of an initiative to promote healthy behaviors among West Virginia’s citizens.
“This is an exciting opportunity for our state to move the needle when it comes to reducing obesity and positively impacting chronic disease,” he said. “I’m proud to lead the governor’s Mountaineer Mile initiative on our campus.”
WVSOM’s Mountaineer Mile initiative also will establish weight loss goals for members of the campus community; allow students, faculty and staff to log their weekly steps and weight loss; and use the school’s Center for Rural and Community Health to educate and offer resources to help communities in the Greenbrier Valley to follow Morrisey’s Mountaineer Mile walking initiative.
WVSOM’s program will begin April 14, with Nemitz leading a one-mile campus walk. Those interested in participating should meet at 12 p.m. in front of the WVSOM Student Center’s Alumni Tower.
In summer 2024, WVSOM launched a new “Finding Health” curriculum that incorporates wellness, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and preventive medicine into medical students’ education. Physical activity is integral to osteopathic medicine, whose tenets state that the person is a unit of body, mind and spirit and that the body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing and health maintenance.
Nemitz said he hopes all West Virginia higher education institutions will implement their own versions of the governor’s initiative.
“I challenge other schools to adopt the governor’s Mountaineer Mile walking initiative in the hope that we can work together to improve the health of our population. WVSOM teaches future physicians that physical movement is an important part of maintaining patients’ well-being, and we believe higher education can play a role in establishing habits that lead to better health,” he said.
Drema Hill, Ph.D., WVSOM’s chief operations officer, said exercise is a necessary part of staying healthy and that she is eager to participate in the school’s initiative.
“As a person who has lost 160 pounds, I know weight loss is not easy,” Hill said. “I applaud the governor for taking a personal stand to set an example. I look forward to walking many Mountaineer Miles, and I hope all West Virginians will follow his lead so that we can get healthier together.”
Friday, April 4, 2025 - 10:22
President James Nemitz, Dr. Dovenia Ponnoth and Dr. Josalyn Mann represented WVSOM at “Focus Forward - Long Live West Virginia” in Morgantown.
Public presentation is highlight of Celebrate Osteopathic Medicine Week
A local longtime advocate, educator and practitioner of osteopathic medicine will share information about the profession when WVSOM hosts its annual Celebrate Osteopathic Medicine (COM) Week, which this year will take place April 14-18.
In an event that is open to the public, Robert “Bob” Foster, D.O., will speak about “Osteopathic Medicine as a Key to Well-Being” at 6 p.m., April 18, in the Conference Center in the WVSOM Student Center on the school’s Lewisburg campus.
Foster retired as WVSOM’s associate dean of osteopathic medical education in 2023 after 45 years of service to the school, although he continues to assist in educating students about nutrition in medicine. His presentation will touch on the history of Andrew Taylor Still, D.O., M.D., the founder of osteopathic medicine, and on medicine embracing the concept that a person is a unit of mind, body and spirit.
“For the past 20 years or so, the U.S. has started talking about patient-centered medicine,” Foster said. “That’s the way medicine should have been from the start, since the patient is the reason physicians are in business in the first place. That ties in with the unique way Still saw the world and his belief that Western medicine had too few tools.”
Foster joined WVSOM in 1978 as a family medicine physician and associate professor and went on to play a key role in the growth of osteopathic medicine in West Virginia with his commitment to teaching, advising and mentoring osteopathic physicians in rural communities.
COM Week also will include presentations for members of the WVSOM community by Teodor Huzij, D.O., who founded Trinity Institute, a Christian osteopathic psychiatry practice; Edward Stiles, D.O., who established the first hospital-based osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) service in the nation; and Ali Carine, D.O., a Columbus, Ohio-based osteopathic pediatrician who advocates for change in the structure of pediatric primary care.
Huzij’s presentation, “A Genuinely Osteopathic Psychiatry,” will take place at 11:30 a.m., April 14. Stiles’ talk, ‘’Sequencing Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment for Patient Well-Being,” is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., April 16. Carine will discuss “Doctor-Patient Communication and the Impact on Patient Well-Being” at 11:30 a.m., April 18.
WVSOM’s COM Week accompanies the American Osteopathic Association’s National Osteopathic Medicine (NOM) Week, observed this year on April 14-20. NOM Week is intended to bring members of the osteopathic community together to raise awareness of osteopathic medicine.
On April 4, Lewisburg Mayor Beverly White signed a proclamation declaring April 14-18 to be COM Week in Lewisburg and acknowledging NOM Week. The proclamation “urge[s] all citizens and community organizations to support these observances by helping to educate residents about D.O.s and osteopathic medicine.”
Jean Rettos, D.O., vice chair of WVSOM’s Department of Osteopathic Principles and Practice, thanked the Lewisburg community for its support of the school.
“The osteopathic profession has provided a distinct philosophy of health care for more than 150 years and is now the fastest growing segment of health care in the U.S.,” she said. “We’re grateful that the Lewisburg community is a key contributor to the success of WVSOM and its students.”
Osteopathic physicians can prescribe medicine and practice in all medical specialties, including surgical specialties. They are trained to evaluate the whole body and to use their hands to help diagnose and treat patients.
Monday, April 7, 2025 - 08:56
A local longtime advocate, educator and practitioner of osteopathic medicine will share information about the profession when WVSOM hosts its annual Celebrate Osteopathic Medicine (COM) Week, which this year will take place April 14-18.
In an event that is open to the public, Robert “Bob” Foster, D.O., will speak about “Osteopathic Medicine as a Key to Well-Being” at 6 p.m., April 18, in the Conference Center in the WVSOM Student Center on the school’s Lewisburg campus.
Foster retired as WVSOM’s associate dean of osteopathic medical education in 2023 after 45 years of service to the school, although he continues to assist in educating students about nutrition in medicine. His presentation will touch on the history of Andrew Taylor Still, D.O., M.D., the founder of osteopathic medicine, and on medicine embracing the concept that a person is a unit of mind, body and spirit.
“For the past 20 years or so, the U.S. has started talking about patient-centered medicine,” Foster said. “That’s the way medicine should have been from the start, since the patient is the reason physicians are in business in the first place. That ties in with the unique way Still saw the world and his belief that Western medicine had too few tools.”
Foster joined WVSOM in 1978 as a family medicine physician and associate professor and went on to play a key role in the growth of osteopathic medicine in West Virginia with his commitment to teaching, advising and mentoring osteopathic physicians in rural communities.
COM Week also will include presentations for members of the WVSOM community by Teodor Huzij, D.O., who founded Trinity Institute, a Christian osteopathic psychiatry practice; Edward Stiles, D.O., who established the first hospital-based osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) service in the nation; and Ali Carine, D.O., a Columbus, Ohio-based osteopathic pediatrician who advocates for change in the structure of pediatric primary care.
Huzij’s presentation, “A Genuinely Osteopathic Psychiatry,” will take place at 11:30 a.m., April 14. Stiles’ talk, ‘’Sequencing Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment for Patient Well-Being,” is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., April 16. Carine will discuss “Doctor-Patient Communication and the Impact on Patient Well-Being” at 11:30 a.m., April 18.
WVSOM’s COM Week accompanies the American Osteopathic Association’s National Osteopathic Medicine (NOM) Week, observed this year on April 14-20. NOM Week is intended to bring members of the osteopathic community together to raise awareness of osteopathic medicine.
On April 4, Lewisburg Mayor Beverly White signed a proclamation declaring April 14-18 to be COM Week in Lewisburg and acknowledging NOM Week. The proclamation “urge[s] all citizens and community organizations to support these observances by helping to educate residents about D.O.s and osteopathic medicine.”
Jean Rettos, D.O., vice chair of WVSOM’s Department of Osteopathic Principles and Practice, thanked the Lewisburg community for its support of the school.
“The osteopathic profession has provided a distinct philosophy of health care for more than 150 years and is now the fastest growing segment of health care in the U.S.,” she said. “We’re grateful that the Lewisburg community is a key contributor to the success of WVSOM and its students.”
Osteopathic physicians can prescribe medicine and practice in all medical specialties, including surgical specialties. They are trained to evaluate the whole body and to use their hands to help diagnose and treat patients.
Monday, April 7, 2025 - 08:56
The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, West Virginia Osteopathic Medical Association and West Virginia Rural Health Association welcomed legislators to the WVSOM Rural Outreach display during WV Rural Health Day at the Legislature: Standing from right, Senator Jack Woodrum, Senator Tom Takubo, President James Nemitz, Delegate Jeff Campbell, Senator Vince Deeds, Rural Outreach Director Janet Hinton, and Michael Antolini, DO, president of the West Virginia Osteopathic Medical Association; seated, WVSOM alum Savannah Keffer, DO, a resident at CAMC Vandalia, and WVSOM student doctor Logan Christian, WVSOM Class of 2026.
WVSOM was represented at Rural Health Day at the
WV Legislature. The event and reception were hosted by WV Rural Health Association and WVSOM Rural Health Initiative andWVSOM.
WV Legislature. The event and reception were hosted by WV Rural Health Association and WVSOM Rural Health Initiative andWVSOM.
Governor Patrick and First Lady Denise Morrisey were the guests of honor at the Greenbrier Republican Club Dinner on March 15 at the Dutch Haus Restaurant, Lewisburg Elks Country Club. WVSOM President James Nemitz and First Lady Nancy Bulla Nemitz, Vice President Drema and Fred Hill, Associate Vice President Don and Samantha Smith and Dr. Katherine Calloway also attended the event.
Governor Patrick and First Lady Denise Morrisey were the guests of honor at the Greenbrier Republican Club Dinner on March 15 at the Dutch Haus Restaurant, Lewisburg Elks Country Club. WVSOM President James Nemitz and First Lady Nancy Bulla Nemitz, Vice President Drema and Fred Hill, Associate Vice President Don and Samantha Smith and Dr. Katherine Calloway also attended the event.