Community Health Sciences at NEOUCOM wins award
(press release from April 22, 1998)

        ROOTSTOWN, OH — The Division of Community Health Sciences (CHS) at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM) recently received the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine’s (ATPM) first Outstanding Program Award.

        C. William Keck, M.D., M.P.H., director of CHS, traveled to San Francisco for ATPM's annual meeting, "Prevention '98," for the award presentation. According to ATPM, this newly created award is given to recognize an exceptional undergraduate medical education program in preventive medicine and public health.

        The Division of Community Health Sciences at NEOUCOM promotes teaching, research and service activities that integrate the students into the community and contributes to the improvement of community health.  An essential component of the program's success is the educational philosophy that integrating a community health curriculum throughout the student's academic career best teaches community health sciences, creating a medical/public health linkage.         

        NEOUCOM has achieved this by implementing cooperation between the medical school and public health domain since the creation of the curriculum more than 20 years ago, Keck said.  It is only recently that NEOUCOM discovered it is ahead in this aspect compared with many other medical schools in the nation.

        "Community health is built into the curriculum.  We started from scratch 20 years ago and created a base to expand the school's role," Keck said. "We have more in place than most schools, and now there is interest gaining in what NEOUCOM has been doing."

          "Many medical schools have teaching in community hospitals – but our program is broader than that.  To NEOUCOM's credit, we have an interest in improving the community health status as part of our responsibilities to promote health and wellness. It is above and beyond merely training doctors and treating illness.  We are exploring the linkages between clinical versus public health, and we find that NEOUCOM is a model now that there is a movement in the medical/public health initiative."

        Keck is also the director of the Akron Health Department, which has been involved with NEOUCOM for more than 20 years and recently has been approved as an official teaching health department.  Don Plusquellic, mayor of the city of Akron, said the cooperation between NEOUCOM and the Akron Health Department has been a terrific asset to medicine.

        "I'm extremely proud of the advancements Dr. Keck and our Department of Health have made in the area of public health," Plusquellic said.  "It feels good to know that people all over the country will be benefiting from work done here in our community."

        Keck said he is proud also.   "It is very satisfying for us at NEOUCOM to learn that the curriculum we've developed and the linkages we've forged between medicine and public health have been judged worthy of recognition," Keck said.  "We appreciate the confirmation of our efforts inherent in receiving this award, and we thank the ATPM for honoring us in this manner."

        ATPM is the national professional association dedicated to advancing individual and community health promotion and disease prevention in the education of physicians and other health professionals. The Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM) is a community-based state medical school that offers a combined B.S./M.D. program with The University of Akron, Kent State University and Youngstown State University.  NEOUCOM also has established collaborative arrangements with Kent State University and The University of Akron to offer graduate-level education in the biomedical sciences and biomedical engineering leading to masters' and doctoral degrees.  NEOUCOM and its 16 associated hospitals co-sponsor graduate and continuing medical education programs for residents, physicians and allied health professionals.