Dr. Wolfgang Gilliar Recognized as ‘Healthcare Headliner’ in Healthcare Quarterly Magazine
Dr. Wolfgang Gilliar, Dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine, has been recognized as a Healthcare Headliner in the most recent edition of Healthcare Quarterly Magazine.
Dr. Gilliar’s honor came in the ‘Education’ category for the work he’s done to enhance the student experience in the College of Osteopathic Medicine and the impact the college has made to deliver care to the Southern Nevada community under his leadership.
“I am truly honored to be recognized as a ‘Healthcare Headliner’ in this issue of Healthcare Quarterly Magazine,” Dr. Gilliar said. “The work we are doing here in the College of Osteopathic Medicine is benefiting our students and the Southern Nevada community at large. As future physicians, our students are getting a truly ‘student-centered’ education that will benefit them long after graduation.”
Since Dr. Gilliar became Dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2019, Touro’s medical students have finished with some of the highest board exam scores in the country. The Class of 2021 accomplished an impressive 100% first-time pass rate for the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX)-USA Level-2, and a 99.2% first-time pass rate for the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX)-USALevel-1. The national average COMLEX Level-1 first-time pass rate is 94.6%. Touro’s Class of 2022 has a 98.3% first-time pass rate.
In addition to test scores, Dr. Gilliar created a new partnership with Vave Health that allowed Touro University Nevada to become the first medical school in the country to provide portable ultrasound devices to two classes of medical students. Integrating the portable ultrasounds into the medical school curriculum has catapulted Touro’s medical students to enhance their education while gaining critical hands-on experience in the both the classroom and the community.
Dr. Gilliar is also the principal investigator of a three-year, $2.6 million grant from the United Health Foundation that seeks to reduce maternal health disparities and increase the state’s OB-GYN and family medicine physician workforce. As part of the new partnership, Touro University Nevada’s College of Osteopathic Medicine will bring free prenatal screening and care to underserved women in Nevada using Touro’s Mobile Healthcare Clinic, equipped with handheld ultrasound devices and staffed by Touro physicians and medical students.
Dr. Gilliar is helping the community by encouraging medical students to stay in Nevada to practice medicine. More than 40 graduates from the Class of 2021, nearly one-third of the graduating class, are staying in Nevada to complete their residencies; the largest number of graduates to do so of any medical school in the state. Of the 127 graduates from the Class of 2021, 50% (64 students) are entering the much-needed primary care specialties.
“Since arriving as the Dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Gilliar has made it his mission to improve our students’ experience as they work to become the physicians of the future,” said Shelley Berkley, CEO & Senior Provost. “Dr. Gilliar is more than deserving of this ‘Healthcare Headliner’ award, and we could not be more proud of this accomplishment.”
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