CAMC: Providing quality care today, training tomorrow’s providers
For more than 50 years, Vandalia Health Charleston Area Medical Center has been committed to a mission of education, training thousands of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other advanced practice professionals. On any given day, there are more than 1,000 learners in CAMC’s facilities.
In fact, teaching and training medical students and physician residents was one of the main reasons for the 1972 merger of Memorial Hospital and General Hospital to create CAMC.
Since then, one-third of the medical students at West Virginia University in Morgantown have come to the West Virginia University Health Sciences Charleston Campus and CAMC for their third and fourth years of medical school. The students spend those two years here, and often longer if they continue their residency at CAMC. This affiliation created the oldest regional medical education campus in the United States.
CAMC also provides a regional campus site for the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lewisburg, training more than 40 third and fourth-year students on-site.
Half of the physicians on CAMC’s medical staff received training here.
"Training tomorrow’s workforce is a critical part of our mission,” said Vandalia Health President and CEO David Ramsey. “That means training nurses, physicians, pharmacists, radiology and lab technologists, and dozens of other key clinical positions that are needed to operate a comprehensive academic center.”
Medical education and other affiliations
The CAMC Institute for Academic Medicine sponsors more than 20 residency and fellowship programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Additionally, it sponsors three pharmacy residencies, a clinical psychology internship and postgraduate position and a School of Nurse Anesthesia (affiliated with the University of Charleston).
The CAMC Institute for Academic Medicine provides continuing medical education, outreach education and research support to physicians, allied medical professionals as well as patient and consumer health service projects in West Virginia and the region. Because of CAMC’s expansive clinical opportunities, other West Virginia/regional residency programs are affiliated with CAMC for a part of their training experiences, including rotations for residents and fellows from WVU and Marshall University.
A culture of learning at CAMC
We are shaping a future where our learners are equipped not only with clinical skills but with the adaptability, compassion and cultural awareness needed to thrive in diverse environments," said Dink Jardine, MD, FACS, Chief Academic Officer of the CAMC Institute for Academic Medicine.
CAMC's academic mission also provides health care providers for the region with approximately one-third of graduates annually remaining in West Virginia to practice or to continue training.
We are building a strong foundation for health care of future generations in southern West Virginia,” Dr. Jardine said.
A commitment to caring for future needs
CAMC also serves as the clinical teaching site for numerous health professionals, helping them to obtain the clinical experiences they need to learn to care for patients. In the 2024 academic year, CAMC served as a clinical training site, providing clinical education experiences to more than 1,260 learners through 122 educational programs affiliated with West Virginia and regional colleges and universities.
CAMC not only trains the next generation of clinicians but also delivers vital care locally, ensuring patients can receive the services they need close to home.
"The commitment that CAMC has to provide state of the art health care to our region, and to train clinicians for the future, is very significant and expanding," Ramsey said.