Duquesne’s medical school welcomes inaugural class

Six months after opening, Duquesne’s College of Medicine Lecture Hall was filled with over 90 students who were part of the highly selective inaugural class of the College of Osteopathic Medicine.

At an orientation event in the College of Medicine Lecture Hall, University President Ken Gormley gave the opening remarks to the students. The class consists of 91 students out of 4,300 who applied. Thirty-two percent of the enrollees come from minority groups.

“This is an important milestone for each of you as you officially begin medical school,” Mr. Gormley said to the students. “It’s also a historic day for all of us at Duquesne as well as for our city, our entire region as we advance this university’s mission to serve the needs of others on a bigger scale than ever before.”

Mr. Gormley said the historic undertaking of this endeavor through COVID was successful due to Duquesne University Board of Trustees’ commitment of over $11 million to the medical school project. The university also received a $1.5 million grant from the Edith L. Trees Charitable Trust to support special needs and disability education.

Rose Trimpey-Warhaftig, 25, from North Carolina, was the first student accepted into the College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed her undergraduate degree at Duke University and earned a master’s degree in physiology at North Carolina State.

“It’s a huge moment … it’s something I’ve been waiting for officially a year, but my whole life basically,” Ms. Trimpey-Warhaftig said. “There are people in this room that are going to be in the room with me every day for the next four years … through all of these hard times [and] fun times together.”

Ms. Trimpey-Warhaftig, who wants to pursue family medicine, said she was looking forward to starting classes on Monday, and meeting the faculty and other students.

Dr. Amanda Troy, 41, joined as the inaugural chair and associate professor of anatomy at the College of Osteopathic Medicine. She previously worked at the Rocky Vista College of Osteopathic Medicine in Utah as the director of pre-clinical education.

“I’ve been here for 18 months helping to build a curriculum and really get things going,” Dr. Troy said. “It’s a journey, I left a well-established career to come for a dream.”

“Everyone here wants to help their community, they want to give back,” Ms. Trimpey-Warhaftig said. “I think they’ve done a great job in kind of including people that really want to serve our community, and I think that comes from being a diverse group.”

Jacob Dimenbort, 23, of New Albany, Ohio, completed his undergraduate degree at Ohio University before coming to Duquesne to pursue a master’s degree in biomedical sciences. He said he is interested in surgery.

“Knowing that everyone shares the same goal, same passion and that we’re all rolling with the same momentum to implement change in our community and even abroad … it’s exciting,” Mr. Dimenbort said. “I feel incredibly lucky … it’s a big door to walk through, but I know it’s going to lead somewhere great.”