Every person today has a work to do and duties to perform, whether they be here at home or somewhere new.
We all have distinct abilities that, if used, can make a difference in the world around us, a passion that drives us to better life for ourselves and those around us. On Saturday, May 26, 2018, the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) in Lewisburg, WV, held its 41st Commencement Ceremony and graduated 189 new doctors. Forty-four of the graduates are West Virginia residents, and ninety-seven percent of them matched at hospitals across the nation for their respective residencies. WVSOM is nationally renowned for training doctors to practice in rural, family and primary care systems. U.S. News & World Report has repeatedly ranked WVSOM among the top medical schools in the nation in primary care and family medicine for the past 20 years.
Lucas Hamrick, a 2010 graduate of Clay County High School and 2014 graduate of the University of Charleston, was one of those crossing the stage and receiving his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree. Hamrick is the son of Allen and Michelle Hamrick of Maysel, and grandson of Opal Duffield of Duck and the late Rev. Jack W. and Beulah Hamrick of Maysel.
Hamrick was the recipient of two awards – the Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Farson-Smith-Earley Award to recognize doctors devoting their practice to rural health care and the South Central Statewide Campus Outstanding Regional Student Doctor Award. He previously received the West Virginia Rural Health Association Student of the Year recognition in October, 2017. Lucas was also part of the Rural Health Initiative program, one of the first two college studnets to complete the Green Coat internship program. Dr. Hamrick was hooded by Dr. Mark Tomsho, his former pediatrician, from Summersville.
Lucas chose to be an osteopathic physician because of the added benefit of osteopathic manipulative medicine. Osteopathic medicine is a distinct form of medical practice that provides all of the benefits of modern medicine, including prescription drugs, surgery and the use of technology to diagnose disease and evaluate injury. These doctors are held to the same rigorous standards as an M.D. Each must complete four years of medical school as well as a residency program. A D.O. is specially trained to look at the whole person from their first days of medical school which means they see each person as more than just a collection of organ systems and body parts that may become injured or diseased.
Dr. Hamrick will be working at WVU Medicine / J. W. Ruby Memorial to complete a combined four year residency in Pediatrics and Internal Medicine and will definitely make a difference in the lives of his patients. Congratulations Dr. Lucas Hamrick!