Campbell officials pushing to meet Sept. 19 fundraising deadline for new School of Osteopathic Medicine

By Caitlin Dineen Staff writer

BUIES CREEK - Campbell University officials have until Sept. 19 to raise $1 million in a donation-matching program that will support its new School of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. P.K. Vyas, founder of the Eastern Carolina Medical Center in Benson, started the challenge and will match donated funds up to $1 million, said Campbell President Jerry M. Wallace in a statement Thursday.

The new medical school is scheduled to open this August with a charter class of 162 students, school officials said. About 4,000 applications were submitted to the school, which, when fully operational in four years, will have about 600 students enrolled.

It's the first new medical school to open in North Carolina in more than 35 years, school officials said.

Vyas, who has been practicing medicine since 1986, said he started the challenge to encourage Campbell alumni to help him in advancing the new school's efforts to meet the healthcare needs of state residents.

"As the opening of Campbell University's School of Osteopathic Medicine approaches, it's imperative that the medical school continues to receive financial support to ensure that faculty and students get the resources they need to fulfill the university's vision to address the shortage of primary care physicians in North Carolina," said Vyas in a news release.

The school will train students in primary care and family medicine, general surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry and other services. The school's emphasis is to have graduates working in rural areas or regions with little or no health care options.

Vyas' challenge, if successful, will get the school to its $30 million fundraising goal, Wallace said. So far, about $28 million has been raised for the school, a news release said.

Donations made now will fund final purchases, including new equipment and technology, for the 96,5000-square-foot building that will be called the Leon Levine Hall of Medical Science. The school's anatomy lab will be named for Vyas.

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Campbell officials pushing to meet Sept. 19 fundraising deadline for new School of Osteopathic Medicine

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