PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) today announced President and Chief Executive Officer Jay S. Feldstein, DO '81, as the recipient of the American Osteopathic Association's (AOA) 2021 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Unification Award. This inaugural award recognizes exemplary leadership and commitment to promoting and advancing DEI initiatives in the osteopathic community. The award will presented during a virtual ceremony on Saturday, October 23, from 9-10 a.m. during the Osteopathic Medical Education Conference.  

"I am honored and humbled to be the first recipient of this award," said Jay S. Feldstein, DO '81, president and CEO of PCOM. "PCOM has made tremendous strides in our effort to create a more diverse and inclusive campus community, but we know our work must continue – as individuals and as a college – to truly achieve greater equity."

Feldstein, who has led the College since 2014, has overseen a number of policies, programs and other initiatives during his tenure to foster a more diverse and inclusive environment for students, faculty and staff, including:

• Forming the President's Commission on Racial Justice: Transforming Campus Culture, a cross-campus coalition created to advance PCOM's commitment to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.
• Launching the 2025 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan to embed diversity, equity and inclusion in the College's curriculum, policies, processes and practices to advance student, faculty and staff performance as well as excellence in PCOM's service to communities. These efforts include continued and enhanced pointed recruitment and retention of students underrepresented in medicine and a strong commitment to hiring and retaining more minority faculty and guest lecturers across all programs.
• Engaging an external consultant, Path Forward, to lead a series of trainings for all members of the executive leadership team on topics such as unconscious bias, race in the workplace, allyship, inclusive leadership, and generational diversity.
• Working to help transform the admissions process for future osteopathic physicians from underrepresented minorities in medicine (URM) by adopting a holistic approach aligned with the osteopathic philosophy.
• Promoting Community Gatherings to provide an intellectual safe space for faculty, staff, and students to pause for critical reflection and honest, sometimes painful, conversations.
• New curricular sections dedicated to disparities in health care, allocation of healthcare resources and public health issues referencing cultural, economic, and ethnic concerns as well as trainings in microaggressions.
• Educational trainings and webinars for students, faculty and staff to unpack issues of racism and injustice.
• Various lecture series enhance the cultural competency skills of medical students.

In addition to the AOA award, PCOM was also recently named the recipient of the 2021 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. As a recipient of the HEED Award — a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion — PCOM will be featured in the December 2021 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. This is the seventh year PCOM has been named as a Health Professions HEED Award recipient.

About Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Founded in 1899, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) has trained thousands of highly competent, caring physicians, health practitioners and behavioral scientists who practice a "whole person" approach to care—treating people, not just symptoms. PCOM operates three campuses (PCOM, PCOM Georgia and PCOM South Georgia) and offers doctoral degrees in clinical psychology, osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy and school psychology, and graduate degrees in biomedical sciences, forensic medicine, mental health counseling, organizational development and leadership, physician assistant studies, school psychology, and public health management and administration. PCOM students learn the importance of health promotion, research, education and service to the community. Through its community-based Healthcare Centers, PCOM provides care to medically underserved populations. For more information, visit pcom.edu or call 215-871-6100.

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SOURCE Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine