BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN).....After several years of planning, D'Youville University's vision of creating a new med school became a reality just after 9 a.m. Monday.
That's when 97 students - a cross section that cut across a wide berth of demographics - attended an anatomy foundations lecture by Dr. Wei-Ming Duan.
With that D'Youville's College of Osteopathic Medicine officially began.
"It is a watershed moment for the university and for Buffalo," said Assembly Jon Rivera, who aided D'Youville in the start-up phase.
The osteopathic college is the region's first new medical school in nearly 200 years. It joins 35 other health care field-related educational programs in D'Youville's portfolio.
"I view it as a program we can grow together," said Dr. Nicholas Camposeo, D'Youville med school dean.
Camposeo says that's part of the interesting part of creating a start-up med school. D'Youville has a completely blank educational white board to craft the school.
D'Youville had more than 1,200 applicants for the 97 slots in the inaugural class.
Interest in next year will see the number of applicants grow even larger.
"It allows to select students who have that something extra - that grit, as I call it," Camposeo said.
Chicago native Tina Sison said she is excited to be part of the first-ever med school class at D'Youville.
Sison had several options but there was something about D'Youville and the interview process that struck just the right chord with her.
"It's kind of an open book for opportunities," Sison said.
Sison wants to be a pediatrician, or go into family medicine.
D'Youville, she said, makes it easier for her to chose her educational path.
"It's one of things that attracted me, the way D'Youville really takes care of its students," Sison said.
Katie Gazda, a fourth generation D'Youville student in her family - her great grandmother graduated in 1917 - said "it just felt right" to continue at the lower West Side university.
Gazda wants to become an OB-GYN.
"Am I ready?" Gazda said. "I'm not sure anyone is really ready."
For this year, the med school will remain on D'Youville's main Porter Avenue campus. Next fall, it will move into its permanent location at 285 Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo.
"That will be a real benefit to downtown to have the school there and all its students," Rivera said.
D'Youville University welcomes its first ever med school students
D'Youville University welcomes its first ever med school students
