Speights named chair-elect of AACOM executive board

Jonesboro, AR – Shane Speights, D.O., dean ofNew York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University (NYITCOM at A-State), was recently named Chair-Elect of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) Executive Board.

Speights will serve a two-year term in the position and then chair the board for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years.

“I’m honored to be selected for this role and I’m committed to working exhaustively to help grow and support osteopathic medical education,” Speights said.

AACOM is an organization that leads and advocates for the full continuum of osteopathic medical education to improve the health of the public. It was founded in 1898 to support and assist the nation’s osteopathic medical schools, and today, the organization represents all 38 colleges of osteopathic medicine, including NYITCOM.

Osteopathic medical schools currently educate nearly 34,000 future physicians – 25 percent of all U.S. medical students – at 60 teaching locations in 34 U.S. states, as well as osteopathic graduate medical education professionals and trainees at U.S. medical centers, hospitals, clinics and health systems.

Speights, a founding faculty member of NYITCOM at A-State, has served as the dean of the Jonesboro-based medical school since 2017. He was previously the associate dean of academic affairs and moved into his current role shortly after the opening of NYITCOM’s Arkansas campus, which operates out of Arkansas State University’s Wilson Hall.

In addition to leading NYITCOM at A-State, Speights serves as the medical director for the City of Jonesboro and as the county health officer for Craighead County.

About NYITCOM at Arkansas State University: New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University, located on A-State’s Jonesboro campus, is dedicated to improving access to health care for the underserved and rural populations in Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta Region. Arkansas annually ranks near the bottom among states in overall population health status due to low health indicators including obesity, hypertension and diabetes. The state also ranks near the bottom of states in the number of active physicians per capita and in the number of primary care physicians. NYITCOM at A-State was established in 2016 with the mission of meeting the need for more physicians in this medically underserved area.