Mainebiz

V O L . X X X I N O. X I V J U N E 3 0 , 2 0 2 5 14 H I G H E R E D U C AT I O N / P RO F E S S I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T F O C U S at will help the medical school "close the loop" on interprofessional training and team-based care to improve patient outcomes, says Dr. Regen Gallagher, chief medical and compli- ance officer at Cary Medical Center in Caribou and an UNE alum who leads the university's board of trustees. As an employer of several fellow Huskies including six currently on staff, Gallagher says that UNE's bigger class sizes will be "particularly helpful for our rural communities" but underscores the need for more residencies. In the new building, medical students will be learning under one roof rather than having to commute between two campuses 20 miles apart and should see more of one another in and out of the classroom. "ose interactions will be impor- tant is establishing real friendships and relationships," says Dr. Jane Carreiro, a UNE medical school alumna who became dean in 2016 after more than two decades at the school in teaching and other roles. When the newcomers arrive, their experience will be a far cry from Biddeford's Stella Maris Hall in a revamped farmhouse where Carreiro studied in the 1980s and remembers sitting on "horribly uncomfortable hard blue chairs." Founded by the New England Osteopathic Foundation, it opened in 1978 with a dozen faculty members teaching 36 students. Today, the older building houses sev- eral research labs. It will have more space for research and classroom learning fol- lowing the medical school's move. With more than 4,000 alumni working in Maine and elsewhere, UNE's medical school is among 41 in the U.S. accredited by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation, which represents 197,000 students and physicians nationwide. Growing field Osteopathic medicine is a growing branch of medicine grounded in a holis- tic approach that looks beyond physical symptoms to consider the impact of lifestyle and socioeconomic factors on health and well-being. It also focuses on the interconnection between mind, body and spirit. "We like to really consider the person and not the disease," says Castro-Rosillo, who worked in public and community health research for a decade before medical school. Classmate Barry got his introduc- tion to osteopathic medicine in child- hood, when he woke up one day with severe neck pain and stiffness that a DO relieved in two treatments. "It was so effective, so quickly that it was almost hard to believe," he says. "at's when I knew I wanted to go to an osteopathic medical school and learn those medical skills." e discipline traces its roots to Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, a Civil War surgeon who believed that most ail- ments could be cured without con- ventional drug treatments. In 1892, he helped found A.T. Still University in rural Missouri as the country's first osteopathic medical school. Today, while 200,000 doctors of osteopathy make up only 11% of physicians nationwide and 28% of medical students are working in all medical specialties. e profession is also getting younger, with nearly 70% of prac- ticing doctors under age 45. It is attracting more women, who make up 45% of DOs in active practice and close to half of medical stu- dents. Conventional medicine is also increasingly incorporating biochemis- try and other osteopathic principles to blur the distinction between the two approaches. "Who knows if in 20 years from now there will even be two degrees?" Herbert says. At UNE's College of Osteopathic Medicine, "we teach our students through a philosophical lens that says that health is really the summation of what's happening in the body," Carreiro says. at includes special- ized training on using "compassion- ate touch," to gently stretch, apply pressure and manipulate joints and muscles to ease pain. at's done in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine Clincs, including a student-directed, physician-supervised community facility in Portland with twice the capacity it had in Biddeford. Other features Designed to reflect best practices in medical education, the Bibby includes flexible classrooms, team-based learn- ing spaces, patient simulation labs and a top-floor anatomy lab for dissec- tions. Rooms are wired for real-time » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine More than 4,000 graduates working as physicians in Maine and elsewhere More than 55% of graduates enter primary care following residency 40% of Maine graduates practicing in rural or underserved communities 165 students matched to residencies in 2025 (including 25 in Maine) 735 students enrolled in 2025–2026 By 2030, the U.S. faces a shortfall of 120,000 doctors, while Maine will need 120 more primary care providers. P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F U N E P H O T O S / C O U R T E S Y O F U N E Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Harold and Bibby Alfond Center for Health Sciences on Tuesday June 3rd, 2025.

• Cover