IUP gets $500K donation for medical college project

Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s bid to open the state’s first college of osteopathic medicine on a public campus is getting a financial lift from IUP’s alumni association.

The organization’s board of directors has authorized a $500,000 donation toward the endeavor that was first announced in December 2022, university officials said Friday.

Word of the gift comes two days after Duquesne University officially opened its College of Osteopathic Medicine, an investment of more than $150 million that will enroll its inaugural class of about 85 students in July.

That project was first announced by the Catholic university in summer 2019.

At IUP, the medical college project is in the exploratory stage. Officials there, including President Michael Driscoll, have expressed a project rationale similar to Duquesne — namely a glaring shortage of primary and family care physicians, including in rural Pennsylvania where IUP is located.

Campus leaders cite data from the United Health Foundation that the ratio of patients to available primary care physicians is 1,367 to 1.

IUP, a state-owned university belonging to the State System of Higher Education, also points to studies indicating that osteopathic medicine graduates tend to pursue primary care in rural and underserved areas. In fact, 57% of all doctors of osteopathic medicine work as general practitioners, and more than 20% of DO graduates practice in rural areas, officials said.

The gift follows an earlier $1 million donation from 1983 IUP accounting graduate Rick Caruso, who told Trib Live in May that an illness encountered by his 101-year-old mother in north-central Pennsylvania drove home to him the project’s importance.

“When my mother needed in-patient care, I had no appreciation of the fact that hospitalization in a small community hospital in Pennsylvania meant dealing with a doctor located in Pittsburgh via telemedicine,” said Caruso, who grew up in Kane and now lives in Meadow Lands, Washington County.

“Although the on-site nursing staff was helpful, the lack of an on-site doctor made the overall health care experience terrible and in need of significant overhaul. I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing.”

That sentiment was evident in the Alumni Association decision.

“Establishing a college of osteopathic medicine at a public university is an incredible opportunity, one that is long overdue for Pennsylvania,” IUP Alumni Association Board of Directors President Leslie Purser said in a statement announcing the gift. “In addition to addressing the urgent need for health care in our state and nation, especially rural health care, it will reinforce IUP’s reputation for academic excellence and its role in educating leaders for the commonwealth, the nation, and the world.”

In November, IUP announced the appointment of Miko Rose from Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Yakima, Wash., as founding dean for IUP’s planned school. It next plans to seek accreditation from the American Osteopathic Association’s Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA).

The process can take up to five years and includes submission of self-studies and a feasibility study, along with site visits.

Developing the school and gaining approvals for it would be a complex multi-year process. Its varied costs would include a requirement that some $37.5 million be set aside in escrow, Driscoll estimated in December 2022.