The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) will welcome Barbara Ross-Lee, D.O., FACOFP, as its keynote speaker during the school’s 45th annual commencement ceremony.
The ceremony is one of many institutional, state and national events planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of WVSOM’s founding. Ross-Lee will deliver the speech during the 9:30 a.m. ceremony May 28 on the WVSOM campus in Lewisburg.
Ross-Lee is the first African American woman to serve as dean of a U.S. medical school (Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, where she served from 1993 to 2001) and the first osteopathic physician to participate in the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship.
She served as vice president for health sciences and medical affairs at New York Institute of Technology from 2001 to 2017. Additionally, during that time, she served as interim dean of the university’s College of Osteopathic Medicine and interim dean of the School of Health Professions.
Ross-Lee is a nationally recognized expert on health policy issues and serves as an advisor on primary care, medical education, minority health, women’s health and rural health issues on the federal and state levels. She is the founding director of the American Osteopathic Association’s Health Policy Fellowship Program, which prepares mid-career osteopathic physicians for leadership roles in health care.
She has received eight honorary degrees and many national awards. Most recently, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s annual diversity, equity and inclusion award was named in her honor.
Ross-Lee assumed the position of president-elect of the American Osteopathic Foundation in January 2021 and began serving as president in January 2022.
WVSOM’s commencement ceremony will be available to view live at www.wvsom.edu.