Western University

College of Dental Medicine
795 E 2nd St.
Pomona CA 91766
909-623-6116
www.westernu.edu/dentistry

Innovation in dental education makes WesternU’s new College of Dental Medicine an excellent choice if you want to practice the dentistry of today and tomorrow. The curriculum and new facilities were designed to incorporate innovative ideas and the latest equipment.

We offer a full-time 4-year clinical program leading to the Doctor of Dental Medicine degree (DMD) in a learning environment that is student-centered.

In addition we have a 26 month International Dentist Program that utilizes the same innovative and integrated curriculum. We also offer an Advanced Education in General Dentistry program at Rancho Mirage, CA, in partnership with NYU Lagone Health.

The College of Dental Medicine and our curriculum:

Treats students as members of the profession from the first day. Features a wide variety of educational methodologies, including traditional lecture, seminars, case-based learning, on-line modules, laboratory, clinical simulation, standardized patient exercises, direct patient care and service learning. Emphasizes principles of clinical medicine by integrating dental students in the study of human systems. Focuses on the links between oral health and overall health and offers interprofessional learning with other health professions. Integrates early direct patient-care experiences to provide contextual relevance for the foundational knowledge and clinical skills you are learning in human systems courses and pre-clinical simulation training. Integrates early service-learning opportunities in community-based locations in the first two years that stresses community assessment, education, and preventive programs. Offers extensive clinical experience in community-based locations. Emphasizes compassionate care, treating the patient as an individual first. Integrates patient and practice management into clinical experiences, building critical skills such as; communication, professional ethics, leadership and business management that are required for successful practice.

Western University of Health Sciences (WesternU) is a private medical school with its main campus in Pomona, California, and an additional medical school in Lebanon, Oregon. WesternU offers degrees in osteopathic medicine, dental medicine, optometry, podiatric medicine, nursing, physician assistant studies, physical therapy, pharmacy, biomedical sciences, and veterinary medicine. With an enrollment of 3,833 students (2018–19), WesternU offers 21 academic programs in nine colleges.

Under the banner of WesternU Health, the university operates a variety of patient care facilities in California and Oregon. The Pomona and Portland (Oregon) campuses both include a medical center, dental center, eye care institute, pharmacy, and travel health center. WesternU-Pomona also is home to the Pet Health Center, which provides veterinary services. Dental services are offered at the Rancho Mirage campus, while a Los Angeles campus provides optometry services.

Several nonprofit organizations are based at the WesternU Pomona campus, including the Harris Family Center for Disability and Health Policy. The Center for Oral Health, moved from the Bay area to the WesternU Pomona campus in 2012. In 2015, the Southern California Medical Museum moved to the Pomona campus.

Founded in 1977, the first program at WesternU was its medical school, the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP). Since that time, the College of Veterinary Medicine opened in 2003, and colleges of dental medicine, optometry, and podiatric medicine opened in 2009. In 2011, the university opened an additional campus in Lebanon, Oregon, the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific - Northwest (COMP-Northwest). In 2015, the university's founding president, Dr. Philip Pumerantz, retired.

All of the programs at WesternU have professional accreditation and the university is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The medical school (COMP) is also accredited by the American Osteopathic Association's Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.

What is now WesternU first opened in 1977 as the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP), offering the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree (D.O.). This was the first medical school in California to open after a complicated era in the relations of allopathic and osteopathic medicine, notably when the California College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons - only the second DO school in America - briefly became independent as an M.D. granting school before soon evolving into the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. Upon its foundation in 1977, the WesternU College of Osteopathic Medicine was the only osteopathic medical school west of the Rocky Mountains.

The inaugural class at COMP had 36 students, including its very first alumnus (having graduated in alphabetical order), Dr. Richard Bond, who is now Chair of the University Board of Trustees.

In 1986, the college began offering a second degree, the Master of Science in Health Professions Education. Four years later in 1990, the physician assistant program opened, which in 2000 grew into a masters level program. In 1992, the physical therapy program opened.

In 1996, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges granted accreditation as a full and constituent university, and later that year, what had begun as the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific was renamed the "Western University of Health Sciences." 1996 also saw the foundation of the WesternU College of Pharmacy. In 1998, the university established the Harris Family Center for Disability and Health Policy.

Thereafter, the veterinary college was founded after some initial hesitancy by the American Veterinary Medical Association's Council on Education, the College of Veterinary Medicine opened in 1998 as the first new veterinary medical school in the United States since 1983. Classes began in 2003, and the college earned full accreditation in 2010. The college was the first veterinary medical school in the United States to appoint a woman as dean. In 2008, the university opened the Banfield Pet Hospital to the public. In 2014, WesternU assumed sole operation and management of the pet hospital.

In 2009, three new colleges opened at WesternU: podiatric medicine, optometry, and dentistry. The following year, in 2010, the Patient Care Center opened, offering medical, dental, optometric, podiatric and pharmacy services to the community. In 2011, Western University of Health Sciences opened a new medical school campus in Lebanon, Oregon called the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Northwest. The university plans to eventually open additional colleges at the Lebanon campus. In 2012, the Center for Oral Health affiliated with WesternU and moved from the bay area of California to the WesternU campus. The Center for Oral Health is an independent non-profit organization, which focuses on improving oral health.

In January 2015, WesternU began collaborating with colleagues in Scotland affiliated with the UK National Health Service, assisting in the development of a standardized platform for diabetes care called the Scottish Care Information Diabetes Collaboration. In October 2015, WesternU opened a Virtual Reality Learning Center to augment the teaching of anatomy across all colleges. Faculty-led virtual reality technology is used by the schools of dentistry, medicine, veterinary medicine, nursing, pharmacy and health professions. In 2015, the Southern California Medical Museum opened on the WesternU campus.

In 2015, Dr. Pumerantz retired after 38 years as founding president.[28] He was succeeded in 2016 by Dr. Daniel R. Wilson. In November 2017, WesternU opened an Eye Care Institute in Los Angeles, which specializes in low-vision rehabilitation.

WesternU plans to open a physical therapy program at the Oregon campus in 2022, and an occupational therapy program the following year. The physical therapy program will offer the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree, and both programs will based out the College of Health Sciences.

In 2018, the university received the eighth most applications of any medical school in the United States. In 2019, U.S. News & World Report ranked it 12th among all US medical schools for the percentage of medical graduates going into primary care residents. The university is the fourth-largest employer in Pomona, with more than 1,000 employees.

Map of Western University College of Dental Medicine, 795 E 2nd St., Pomona CA 91766

Western University

My BEST Dentists Product News