New School in Town: Marian University's College of Osteopathic Medicine

In August, the Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine became the first medical school in the state to open in more than a century—and the only one here to offer a Doctor of Osteopathy, or DO, degree. That means students will get similar training as those MDs down the road at the Indiana University School of Medicine, but “we simply have some philosophical differences in our curriculum,” says dean Paul Evans, referring to the school’s more holistic “mind, body, spirit” approach to diagnosing and treating illness. “Our goal is to be complementary to the education IU is providing. They have an emphasis on high-level specialty care and clinical research. We have emphasis on primary care, which is family medicine.” And that could be good news for Indiana. Right now, the state faces a shortage of primary-care doctors, a problem that MUCOM hopes to help remedy. Here’s a look at the Catholic college’s new med school—and the state’s lack of resources—by the numbers.
Illustration by Carl Wiens

This article appeared in the November 2013 issue.