Buies Creek, NC—In a recent letter, the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians (NCAFP) and the organization’s 2,900 members across the state extended their support to Campbell University’s proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine.
“The NCAFP looks forward to partnering with the new osteopathic medical school to help train future primary care physicians for North Carolina,” wrote Rich Lord, MD, president of NCAFP.
NCAFP has strong partnerships with the Departments of Family Medicine in North Carolina’s other medical schools and anticipates developing the same relationship with Campbell University in order to ensure their graduates move on to North Carolina residency programs and ultimately to practice and serve the people in the state.
The feasibility study for Campbell’s medical program is currently in progress, with the final results expected no later than May 2011.
Reasons cited for the feasibility study include the increasing shortage of primary care physicians in North Carolina, population growth within North Carolina and bordering states, an increase in the aging population, and the national health care reform.
Campbell University began addressing health care issues in 1985 with the establishment of the nationally acclaimed School of Pharmacy, which was the first new pharmacy school founded in the United States in more than 35 years. In addition to offering the Doctor of Pharmacy program, the school offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in Clinical Research and Pharmaceutical Sciences. In 2009, the name was formally changed from the School of Pharmacy to the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences to provide additional health science programs, including the newly established Physician Assistant program, slated to enroll its first class in fall 2011.