SIxty-six brand-new doctors will celebrate their graduation Sunday as members of the inaugural class of the California Health Sciences University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The graduates will receive their diplomas and be hooded — a doctorate program tradition — at the graduation ceremony, which will be held in the Save Mart Center starting at 2 p.m.

The ceremony comes about a month after CHSU announced that the College of Osteopathic Medicine had been granted a seven-year accreditation by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation. More than 500 students are currently enrolled, and the enrollment is expected to grow to 600 next year.

The Class of ’24 was noteworthy not only as the college’s first-ever, but also because of the 100% match rate of the graduates with residency programs. Thirty-four percent of the graduates were matched into a Central Valley residency program, heightening the chances that they will remain in the region to practice medicine.

“This is great news for our region, and every future cohort of graduates will help alleviate the deficit of physicians,” said Dr. John Graneto, the college’s dean.

Keynote Speaker

The commencement’s keynote speaker will be Dr. Teresa Hubka, president-elect of the American Osteopathic Association. Hubka is a clinical professor, department chair of ob/gyn, and clerkship director at Midwestern University — Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Deborah Ikeda, chair of the CHSU Board of Trustees, said the first graduation “brings me great joy … The impact the University has had in our region is significant, not just on improving healthcare, but also the economy, job opportunities and more. I am proud of what CHSU has accomplished and look forward to seeing it develop further in the future.”

Sunday’s graduation marks another milestone for the college and its students, Graneto said.

“Our inaugural class of osteopathic graduates marks the beginning of a future where physicians are more accessible to people in the Central Valley,” he said. “When we launched the College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2020, we set out on a mission to improve access to healthcare and develop compassionate, knowledgeable, and skilled physicians. It fills me with a sense of pride to start to see our mission realized.”

For Ikeda, who also serves on the State Center Community College District Board of Trustees, the added significance of the first-ever graduating class is because they are role models for younger students. “It shows local students that they can become doctors without leaving home to study and train,” she said. “We hope the opportunity to go to an accredited medical school in the Central Valley will encourage and inspire many others to become physicians.”

Why should anyone other than the graduates’ families and friends care about Sunday’s graduation?

“The University’s success should be celebrated because everyone in the community benefits with each new physician that graduates and helps improve access to healthcare in the Central Valley,” Ikeda said.