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Eight A-State Alumni Receive Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Degree from NYITCOM

05/31/2023

Panel of photos of new graduates
Top (from left): Gray, Anderson, Kelley and Darnell; bottom: Loiacano, Taylor, Turner and Whitehurst.

JONESBORO – Eight Arkansas State University alumni were among the 115 physicians who received their Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) last week.

Cody Anderson of Jonesboro, Joshua Gray (Benton), Caroline Kelley (Walnut Ridge), Hannah (Kling) Darnell (Monticello), Olivia Loiacano (Jonesboro), Jill Taylor (Paragould), Natalie Turner (Forrest City), and Sara (Wilcox) Whitehurst of Jonesboro received their doctoral hoods in a ceremony held on May 26 at the Fowler Center.

Members of the Class of 2023 will begin their medical residencies in July as they embark on the next phase of their medical education. Anderson will specialize in Emergency Medicine, while Gray, Kling, Taylor, and Turner will specialize in Internal Medicine. Gray will perform his residency at Conway Regional Medical Center and Darnell at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.  Taylor and Turner both matched at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa.

Kelley (Methodist Health, Dallas, Tex.) and Loiacano (UAMS Area Health Education Center, Jonesboro) will train in Family Medicine, and Whitehurst will perform her residency in General Surgery at HCA Healthcare in Overland Park, Kan. 

The NYITCOM at A-State Class of 2023 arrived in Jonesboro in 2019 as the fourth class on the medical school’s Arkansas campus, which opened in 2016 through a private-public partnership between New York Institute of Technology and Arkansas State University.  The Class of 2023 experienced a 100 percent Match rate in the National Resident Matching Program in March, and 75 percent of the class will perform their residency in a primary care specialty.

— Courtesy NYITCOM