Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM)

Western University of Health Sciences holds a unique place in the firmament of American higher education. Founded on a philosophy of humanistic, compassionate care – and often propelled by little more than optimism, energy and ideas – the University has over a span of 41 years evolved from one small college in a single building, with a handful of students and faculty, into the most comprehensive graduate health sciences university in the United States.

From the fallout of a decade-plus battle by California osteopathic physicians to determine their own fate emerged a small but ambitious medical college – the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP) – which sparked to life in September 1977, with a rented office in an abandoned shopping mall in Pomona, California as its home. At the helm of this fledgeling enterprise was Philip Pumerantz, PhD, a lifelong educator, onetime university professor and educational consultant recruited from the American Osteopathic Association, where he was Director of Education, to become president of the new college. With the help of his wife, Harriet, the couple’s three children, and a small but energetic cadre of California osteopathic physicians, Dr Pumerantz spent the next year recruiting students, faculty and staff, and remodelling empty storefronts for educational use, so that in September 1978 COMP could welcome its inaugural class – 36 souls in all.