ROOTSTOWN, Ohio – At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Northeast Ohio Medical University quickly moved to hybrid instruction and developed new curricula for students who would usually be working with patients.
In one course, newly arrived NEOMED President John Langell taught fourth-year students the principles of working in an intensive care unit.
To guide the medical school through the pandemic, Langell also provided weekly campus updates, which joined the medical school’s suite of resources. Also included were the appointment of a medical director for COVID-19 response and a webpage aggregating information.
“Over the course of the year, the university has provided repeated opportunities for free COVID-19 testing to the public and university community,” says Roderick Ingram, vice president for communications. “In a determined effort not to close its Student-Run Free Clinic, which aids underserved residents of Portage County, the students helped to pivot to telehealth services for its patients, a population that is disproportionately affected by COVID-19.”
As part of the national discussion on racial equity, students organizations at NEOMED held several virtual events including a panel on diversifying the medical field.
Meanwhile, the university launched a thought leadership speaker series, with faculty speaking on topics from advocacy to technological innovations in medicine.