GA Campus - PCOM hosts National Youth Leadership Forum

They came from as close by as Winder and as far away as Puerto Rico. Fifty bright-eyed high school students just got a taste of what medical school was like as they toured the Georgia Campus – Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Suwanee.

The students, who are mostly rising juniors and seniors, learned of the variety of professions that await in the fields of medicine, pharmacy and biomedical science. Professors discussed options ranging from DEA investigator (“a pharmacist who carries a gun”) to research scientist to pediatrician to cruise ship physician.

They also offered tips on everything from applying to med school to when to take the "boards." Students also learned the difference between MDs and DOs. Most said they did not know what osteopathic medicine was before today. 

Highlights included “grand rounds,” where the students rotated through clinical learning and anatomy labs. In the clinical learning lab, actors and dummies posed as patients with a variety of conditions. As one patient scenario played out, students were cautioned to look for the signs of domestic abuse and drug addiction in patients coming in for treatment. Then, in the anatomy lab, students met “Herb” the cadaver and saw the brain, the skeleton and other tissue and organ samples up close.

The National Youth Leadership Forum students completed their day on a lighter note, with shopping at the Mall of Georgia.