Access to College Administration

The Dean has a regularly scheduled monthly meeting with the Class Officers and Student Government Association to promote the exchange of information and encourage communication between students and administration. Regularly scheduled “Dean Hours” are held with the classes each semester to provide information and interaction.

Faculty Office Hours

The COM administration endorses an open-door policy and encourages students to meet with the faculty and administration regularly. While walk-in consultations and conferences are possible when faculty are available, each faculty member has regular office hours. You may contact faculty members or their administrative assistant regarding office hours or to schedule an appointment.

The COMPASS Facilitator

The goal of a COMPASS facilitator is to provide students with guidance, mentorship, and encouragement, and to direct students to the appropriate counseling, professional, college or university resources, as needed.

Professional and Career Counseling and Resources¹

Part of the College's mission is to educate primary care and first point of contact physicians for underserved populations in Virginia and the Southeast United States. The College also strives to expose students to make informed decisions about their own professional lives. Toward this end, LUCOM’s Office of Clinical Education can direct students to the appropriate College, University, or community resources for a wide range of materials and information on various professional topics including, but not limited to:

• Community-based medical education
• Clinical elective opportunities
• Graduate medical education, including resident and fellowship training
• Faculty advising and mentoring on specialty choices for a student’s career pathway
• Scholarship and research opportunities
• Service opportunities to the underserved including local, regional, domestic, and global missions opportunities as a medical student
• Research opportunities
• Careers in federal, state, and local government
• Mission and outreach opportunities
• Individualized coaching and information on various career topics including, but not limited to, careers in medicine, residency programs, the NRMP match, hospital practices, clinic–based practices, private practices, group practices, solo practice, public health units, military careers, and managed health care organizations.
• Career-related programming is available to all students throughout their time at LUCOM.

Medical Education Learning Specialists²

Medical Education Learning Specialists (MELS) equip students with the tools necessary to succeed in their medical education. MELS meet with students individually in order to best meet the needs of the student. MELS offer guidance with study strategies, test-taking techniques, time management skills, and other educational solutions. The Medical Education Learning Specialists provide early intervention strategies to students in order to best equip them for academic success, help at-risk students create an individualized academic success plan, and initiate academic accountability. They will, at times, refer students to additional resources if their needs are beyond academics.

Additionally, MELS meet frequently with students who are returning from a leave of repeating an academic year to ensure successful transition back into the educational experience.  They also discuss the remediation process for those who fail a course and are allowed that option.

Tutorial Program³

The LUCOM Tutorial Program is designed to provide an additional level of academic support to students seeking assistance with course specific-content in order to supplement the formal learning environment. The program is a near-peer student tutoring experience. Tutoring sessions are held in both a lecture and a lab setting. The Academic Support & Success Center at LUCOM oversees the selection and scheduling for the tutors associated with the LUCOM Tutorial Program. Because the tutorial program is both an application and qualification-based program, the tutors are expected to maintain a cumulative average of 85 or higher. After an interview process, those students who are eligible for tutoring and are qualified for the position are offered the opportunity to become part of the program and serve for the next academic year. For more information regarding the LUCOM Tutorial Program, please contact LUCOMASSC@Liberty.edu.

Research and Scholarly Activity⁴

LUCOM encourages and seeks to provide opportunities for its students to participate in research and other scholarly activities and to present and/or publish scholarly work in appropriate forums.  Such activities enhance the educational experience for students, equip students for future research and scholarly activities, and can increase student competitiveness for residency placement. LUCOM offers an e-journal for paper and poster board presentations and can be found at: https://www.cureus.com/channels/lucom.

Involvement

Mentorship: All student involvement in research or other scholarly activities requires mentorship by a LUCOM faculty member, clinical preceptor, or other qualified individual.  Students with questions about research mentorship should consult with the Institutional Director for Research. In accordance with LUCOM’s policy, all clinical research proposals must be submitted to the appropriate review bodies for review prior to initiation of the work. Additionally, students should submit scholarly or research work with the appropriate signatures of all faculty mentors engaged in the project. Students should review all work prior to submission with the faculty who will be participating in the scholarly work. 

Timing: During the pre-clinical years of the program, the best time period for student involvement in research or other scholarly activities is during the summer after successful completion of the OMS-I year.  OMS-I students interested in research involvement should first consult with the Institutional Director for Research.  In some cases, OMS-II students have opportunities for research engagement during the academic year, provided the students are performing well academically.  During the OMS-III and OMS-IV years of clinical training, students may encounter opportunities for research and other scholarly activities.  Such activities are encouraged, provided the students are performing well in all training and duties associated with clinical rotations.  Questions about research involvement during the OMS-III and OMS-IV year should be directed to the appropriate clinical dean or Institutional Director for Research. 

Pre-Clinical Research Elective: A pre-clinical research elective is offered during the summer for rising OMS-II students.  This elective provides opportunities for student participation in projects mentored by LUCOM faculty members or other qualified investigators.  It is coordinated by the Institutional Director for Research and is graded on a pass/fail basis.  Information and sign-up for this elective typically becomes available in February of the spring semester.  Students interested in the pre-clinical research elective should consult the Institutional Director for Research for more information.

Scholarly Presentations and Publications⁵

Requirements: Academic professionalism and scientific integrity require that a scholarly work such as an abstract or manuscript meet certain criteria prior to submission to a conference, journal, or other forum.  Specifically, a scholarly work must be approved by all of its authors and must properly acknowledge the institutional affiliations of all authors.  Importantly, the activities reported in a scholarly work must have been fully compliant with applicable regulatory standards.  Therefore, students desiring to prepare an abstract for submission to a conference, to prepare a poster or oral presentation for a conference, or to prepare a manuscript for submission to a journal must follow these guidelines:

• Scholarly activity must be conducted under the mentorship of a LUCOM faculty member or clinical preceptor.
• Prior to submission of an abstract, manuscript, or any other type of scholarly work to a conference, journal, or any other type of publication or forum, the scholarly work and the plan for submission must be approved by all co-authors and the student’s mentor(s).
• Properly identify LUCOM as the institutional affiliation for the student and LUCOM faculty members on abstracts, posters, oral presentations, and manuscripts.  All contributing authors must be involved in the work of scholarship and the review process prior to any submissions.  The mentor is responsible to ensure that mentees and contributing authors have completed any required disclosures, conflict of interest statements, attestations to their individual contributions to the work, appropriate research training including human subjects training, and IRB administrative requirements prior to submission.  The mentor and student are expected to circulate the scholarly work to all contributing authors for review prior to submission.  If the mentor of a LUCOM student engaged in clinical research or scholarly project is not a LUCOM faculty member, the student should identify an appropriate LUCOM faculty member to assist with the project and process as appropriate. The Institutional Director of Research can assist in identifying a supporting or collaborating LUCOM faculty member.
• Properly include LUCOM “branding” (logo, seal) on posters for conference presentations.  Contact LUCOM Marketing for approved poster templates and for addition of branding.
• Provide the Institutional Director for Research with complete information/citation for accepted abstracts, conference presentations, and publications.

Failure to abide by these guidelines may result in disciplinary action.

Grant Support: Students who have had an abstract accepted for presentation at a conference can apply for a LU Student Research Presentation Award (https://www.liberty.edu/center-for-research-scholarship/research-award-funds/student-research-presentations/).  Award funds can be used to cover expenses associated with conference presentations such as costs of travel, lodging, meals, and conference registration.  Students desiring to submit a manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal must work with their LUCOM faculty member to apply for a LU Faculty Scholarship Award (https://www.liberty.edu/center-for-research-scholarship/research-award-funds/faculty-scholarships/). Award funds are used to cover journal publication fees.  For more information and instructions regarding grant support for research and scholarly activity, please review the Center for Research and Scholarship Award Funds page at https://www.liberty.edu/center-for-research-scholarship/research-award-funds/.

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9.6 Career Counseling

²

9.5 Academic Counseling

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9.2 Academic Standards

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8.4 Student Participation in Research and Scholarly Activity

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8.2 Research and Scholarly Activity Budget