The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) will welcome Sherri Young, D.O., Class of 2003, as its keynote speaker during the school’s first-ever virtual commencement ceremony.
Young will deliver the speech when the ceremony is livestreamed at 12 p.m. EDT, May 30, to viewers via the WVSOM website and WVSOM Facebook live.
The physician is the executive director and the health officer of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department. She is the first woman and the first osteopathic physician to hold the office. Young is considered one of West Virginia’s leading experts in immunizations and gave the keynote address at the International Zika Conference and Workshop.
Young was West Virginia’s first state immunization officer and served as medical director for the Keystone Peer Review Organization, Aetna/Coventry commercial and Medicare divisions, and the University of Charleston’s physician assistant program. Prior to her health policy roles, she served in clinical practice.
In 2019, Young’s colleagues elected her president of the West Virginia State Medical Association, and she is also the immediate past president of the West Virginia Academy of Family Physicians. She has received the West Virginia Public Health Association’s Public Health Merit Award and WVSOM’s Preceptor of the Year Award for clinical faculty, among other awards.
An associate editor for the West Virginia Medical Journal, Young has authored many peer-reviewed and opinion articles on issues related to public health and medicine. She represents the osteopathic profession as a trustee for the West Virginia Osteopathic Medical Association and this year was appointed to the WVSOM Foundation, Inc. Board of Directors.
After receiving a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from WVSOM, she completed a residency in family medicine at Charleston Area Medical Center. She is also a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Young graduated summa cum laude from West Virginia University with a Bachelor of Science degree in speech pathology and audiology.