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Â鶹¹ÙÍø Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine (Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM) incorporates nutrition and lifestyle principles as part of its holistic, prevention-focused medical curriculum. In its strategic plan, Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM highlights the integration of Lifestyle Medicine principles—including healthy nutrition and wellness—throughout the curriculum to promote disease prevention and improve patient outcomes. This approach aligns with the osteopathic emphasis on treating the whole person and supporting healthy lifestyle habits as foundational to care. Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM also plans to add a teaching kitchen to enhance experiential learning, enabling students to gain practical skills in nutrition and healthy food preparation and to use these skills for community outreach.

By creating “white space” in the schedule, Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM allows time for students to engage in community service, early clinical experiences, and lifestyle medicine activities that reinforce the role of nutrition in patient care. Research and curricular efforts at Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM further explore how early exposure to nutrition education influences future physicians’ confidence and ability to counsel patients effectively on diet and lifestyle interventions for chronic disease.

Nutrition topics covered in the following sessions/lecture material:

OMS1 and OMS2

• Medical Biochemistry I
  • Dietary Patterns
  • Micronutrients 1, 2, 3, and 4 (4 hours of lecture)
  • Nutrition in infants, children, and adolescents
  • Single carbon metabolism
• Medical Biochemistry II
  • Diet and CV Risk
  • Nutritional Considerations for Pregnancy and Lactation
  • Critical Care
  • Critically Evaluating Nutrition Literature
  • Nutritional and Physical Activity Assessment
  • Obesity
  • Prevention and treatment of T2D – Lifestyle Medicine Approach
  • Diet and T2D
  • Malnutrition and Cachexia
  • Pediatric Nutrition Cases
  • Diet and Common GI and Renal Disorders
  • Food Adverse Reactions
  • Personalized Medicine
  • Precision Nutrition and the Gut Microbiome
• Medical Physiology I
  • Digestion and absorption
  • GI Tract Overview
  • Pancreatic, bile, and intestinal secretions
  • Gastrointestinal motility
• Medical Physiology II
  • Liver diseases
  • Thyroid diseases
  • Hypertension
  • Diabetes mellitus
  • Review of endocrine physiology
  • Parathyroid gland pathophysiology
• Foundations of Disease and Therapeutics
  • Hypersensitivity
  • Metabolism and Biotransformation
• Foundations of Medical Neuroscience
  • Neurobiology of Mental Illness
• Population Health I and II
  • Population Health
  • Behavioral Change
• Medical Pharmacology II
  • Weight Management
  • Drug Interactions
  • Herbal Dietary Supplements
• Neural and Behavioral Science II
  • Women’s Issues
  • Feeding and Eating Issues
• Clinical Patient Care III
  • Inflammatory CV Disease States
• Clinical Patient Care IV
  • Critical Care
  • Clinical Obesity
  • Weight Loss Management
  • Disorders of the Mouth
  • Sports Medicine Preparticipation Evaluation
  • Disorders of the Small Intestine

OMS3 and OMS4 courses with significant nutrition content:

• OMS 7311: Family Medicine I
• OMS 7312: Family Medicine II
• OMS 7341: Pediatrics
• OMS 7381: Patient Care and OMT Competency

Child Advocacy Studies Training (CAST) is a nationally recognized curriculum to train students how to effectively address child abuse and neglect in real world applications through Multidisciplinary Team coordination.

Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM is the first osteopathic medical school in the country (and 2 ^nd of all medical schools MD or DO) to offer the CAST curriculum. All first year osteopathic medical students participate in a required CAST didactic lecture and problem-based learning simulation facilitated by a multidisciplinary team of faculty and community members. Additionally, students have the opportunity to participate in a 2-hour observation at a local children’s advocacy center (CAC), where they are able to gain first-hand experience through their interaction with a multidisciplinary team at work.

All fourth year medical students have the opportunity to participate in a 4-week CAST elective to further enhance their knowledge as it relates to child maltreatment and child advocacy skills.

Project FORECAST is a unique educational experience that’s designed to help current and future child-serving professionals make better decisions in situations involving childhood trauma. Our interactive trainings simulate real-world scenarios and can better prepare participants for the complex challenges of trauma-informed care.

Project FORECAST simulations were designed by some of the nation’s top experts in child advocacy and are based on real-world situations child-serving professionals encounter. Led by certified facilitators, participants will role-play, observe, and see the impact of their decisions in real-time.

Project FORECAST aims to develop training partnerships between universities with Child Advocacy Studies (CAST) programs and their local workforces. Together, we can increase retention of current professionals, better facilitate transitions into the workforce, and improve the competence of those entering a child-serving sector.

Zero Abuse Project is a 501(c)(3) organization committed to transforming institutions in order to effectively prevent, recognize, and respond to child sexual abuse.

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have a number of unique health challenges that practicing physicians and other healthcare professionals are sometimes unprepared to address. Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM is proud to be the first medical school to incorporate the Curriculum in IDD Healthcare into required training for all first year students.

The Curriculum in IDD Healthcare was created and delivered by a physician for physicians and other clinicians to serve as a comprehensive IDD training curriculum. The curriculum’s six e-Learn modules provide physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses and physician assistants with pertinent, practical information that can be put to use immediately in their practices to improve outcomes for those with an intellectual development disorder and/or intellectual disability characteristics.

Choosing Wisely STARS

Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM is proud to be the first osteopathic medical school in the country to be accepted into Choosing Wisely STARS (Students and Trainees Advocating for Resource Stewardship), which aims to catalyze grassroots, student-led initiatives to advance health care value in medical education.

The program is built on , launched in 2012 by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation to promote conversations between clinicians and patients to help patients choose care that is supported by evidence, not duplicative of other tests or procedures already received, free from harm, and truly necessary.

Choosing Wisely STARS is supported by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation, Costs of Care, and the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School.

STARS UNITE 2021 builds upon the successful program for medical students, which has engaged hundreds of medical students from across the U.S., to bring together interprofessional clinical teams that will improve care delivery through co-developed, sustainable solutions to improve patient affordability and equity.

Mississippi currently ranks last, or close to last, in almost every leading health outcome. It is critical to transform our care delivery using a novel approach focused on advancing health care value. Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM is proud to have been selected to participate in the first cohort of the STARS UNITE program.

Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM has created a diverse team with representation from all the health professions programs at Â鶹¹ÙÍø including the College of Osteopathic Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Pharmacy, and Physical Therapy Program. Within these programs, a wide-range of clinical learning environments exist throughout the state.

Our STARS UNITE team is working collaboratively to design a project that can be implemented across the Â鶹¹ÙÍø health professions programs with a goal of improving patient outcomes through increased care equity and affordability.

STARS UNITE is supported by the ABIM Foundation and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation.

Tar Wars is a tobacco-free education program designed to teach children about the short- and long-term health effects of tobacco use and vaping. It also seeks to provide children with tools to make positive decisions regarding their health and promote personal responsibility for their wellbeing – including being tobacco free.

Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM is proud to partner with the  Foundation to bring Tar Wars to elementary schools in Mississippi thanks to a grant from the Mississippi Department of Health’s Office of Tobacco Control.

The Tar Wars program, which is owned and operated by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), is consistent with the guidelines for youth tobacco prevention programs set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Stanford Medicine Tobacco Prevention Toolkit is a research-informed and validated set of curriculums to help prevent students from starting or escalating use of any tobacco product. Its theory-based and evidence-informed resources created by educators, parents, and researchers are aimed at preventing middle and high school students’ use of tobacco and nicotine.

Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM is proud to present the Tobacco Prevention Toolkit curriculum to middle schools and high schools in Mississippi.

Enrich MS

Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM is proud to partner with Enrich MS, whose mission is to provide a community supported youth enrichment education program committed and dedicated to engaging and informing youth, parents, schools and community partners.

Enrich MS is already making a substantial impact in communities across the state towards prevention for a variety of issues affecting our youth today. Enrich MS has a clear vision and specific strategies to greatly reduce vaping, educate on the dangers of substance abuse, suicide prevention, social media use, and a variety of other youth related issues. 

Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM is proud to support the work of Schools Against Vaping (SAV), a national education advocacy program designed to help combat the vaping epidemic on school campuses. SAV has successfully networked with public and private schools across the state of Mississippi in an effort to provide critical resources that can be used to fight the vaping epidemic that is threatening the health of students in our communities.

At Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM, we strive to educate and train our graduates to meet the unique healthcare needs of a diverse global society.  Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM proudly offers a Global Health Track in partnership with the Institute for International Medicine (INMED) to educate students regarding health challenges around the world.

The Global Health Track provides motivated students with a distinctive opportunity to increase their knowledge and skills in the areas of cultural competency, global disease, and international healthcare systems. A goal of the Global Health Track is to provide mentorship to students interested in pursuing global health involvement in their future careers.

Global Health Track students will be given the opportunity to travel abroad to apply their knowledge in a clinical setting where they will experience both the difficulty and reward of caring for individuals in a global arena. 

At the Â鶹¹ÙÍø Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine (Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM), we strive to educate and train our graduates to meet the unique healthcare needs of medically underserved populations. Many rural areas in our state and region face critical physician shortages. Building an adequate healthcare workforce in these rural communities is vital to maintaining quality healthcare access for the medically underserved.

Â鶹¹ÙÍøCOM is excited to offer a Rural Health Track in partnership with the Mississippi Rural Health Association (MRHA) and designated rural hospitals, clinics, and GME programs affiliated with the medical school to educate students regarding health challenges faced by medically underserved populations in rural areas. The Rural Health Track provides motivated students with a distinctive opportunity to increase their knowledge and skills in the areas of cultural competency, chronic disease, and rural healthcare systems. Under the supervision of designated rural health mentors, students will be given the opportunity to apply their knowledge in a rural clinical setting, where they will experience both the difficulty and reward of caring for individuals in medically underserved areas.

The Rural Health Track will require a four-year commitment from students in good academic and professional standing. The program will engage students in a longitudinal curriculum designed to provide them with a strong knowledge of the fundamentals of rural healthcare. Rural Health Track students will obtain the Mississippi Rural Health Student Fellow (MRHSF) credential established by the MRHA, while simultaneously completing all requirements for the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree.

Link to Mississippi Rural Health Association: