Brand Story – WesternU, one of two medical schools in Oregon, is expanding and tackling the provider shortage.
Does the name Western University of Health Sciences ring a bell? If not, it should. WesternU, as it’s informally known, is one of only two medical schools in Oregon, the other being Oregon Health & Science University. Its campus in Lebanon, Oregon, established in 2011, has graduated more than 1,000 medical students. Thanks to a generous land donation of 150 acres and a $50 million gift from the Heatherington Foundation of Innovation and Education in Health Care, the medical school has now been named Heatherington College of Osteopathic Medicine (founded as COMP-Northwest) and WesternU is positioned for an expansion that will help address Oregon’s provider shortage and ensure that Oregonians can get the health care they need.
“We have a health professional shortage crisis in the United States, and I believe we’re the solution for a multitude of reasons, the most compelling of which is that we’re very unique,” said Robin Farias-Eisner, MD, PhD, MBA, president of WesternU. “It’s not just that we have all these amazing colleges and that we provide superb education, but we really are about academic excellence —so not just quantity of service, but quality as well.”
Backed by humanism and science
The quantity — and quality — that Farias-Eisner mentioned spans beyond Oregon. WesternU was originally founded in 1977 in Pomona, California, where it still maintains its main campus. Over the years, it expanded, adding colleges specializing in health sciences, pharmacy and graduate nursing as well as veterinary medicine, dental medicine, optometry and podiatric medicine. The Oregon campus, which more than 400 students attend annually, is home to both the medical school and the College of Health Sciences-Northwest, which launched with a physical therapy program in 2021 and graduated its first Doctor of Physical Therapy students in 2024.
For the past two years, U.S. News & World Report ranked WesternU a Tier 1 medical school in primary care — one of only 16 medical schools in the nation to receive such an accolade.
Farias-Eisner, himself a surgeon and a scientist, said WesternU stands apart from other universities partly because of its adherence to the osteopathic tenets of medicine and its holistic philosophy, which encompasses the body, mind and spirit.
“Our belief is that all three are critical components of health,” he said. “It’s a
holistic approach, and it’s one of humanism.”
It’s also one backed by science.
“We are very committed to medical research that is supported by evidence-based practices,” Farias-Eisner said.
Making it better
For years, Oregon, like most states, has been experiencing a shortage of health care providers. A 2025 report from the Oregon Health Authority found that, while Oregon’s health care and social assistance sector increased by 15,000 jobs in 2024, it still had nearly 19,000 job vacancies. Despite a great need, the state ranks near the bottom of the list in terms of access to mental health care, and demand for primary caregivers outweighs supply — all issues that are magnified even more in rural areas.
Farias-Eisner said WesternU can play a vital role in addressing those issues, in part through its planned expansion in Lebanon. In August, the university announced it had received 150 acres of land in Lebanon from the Heatherington Foundation. The land, along with a $50 million gift, will help the university expand its Oregon campus. This latest gift builds on more than $5 million the foundation has provided in Lebanon community benefit support over the past 15 years.
Though it’s early in the planning stages, WesternU is initially envisioning an Interprofessional Behavioral Health Institute and a graduate nursing program on the site.
“I am excited to have seen the development and expansion of the osteopathic medical school over the years. It continues to develop highly qualified and desperately needed physicians for the Northwest every year,” said Jeff Heatherington, president of the Heatherington Foundation, “and this gift will create a new and expanded campus and a behavioral health college to provide equally needed and critical behavioral health services.”
But there’s more to treating the provider shortage than expanding WesternU in Oregon.
“The answer isn’t to continue to create new schools, because that’ll just make more graduates,” Farias-Eisner said. “What the state needs is more residency training programs. The graduates have to train somewhere, because where they train is where they stay to practice. So in order to keep them in the state of Oregon, we have to train them in the state of Oregon.”
As a result, Farias-Eisner and others have been advocating for creating more residency options all over the state so graduates can get the real-world training they need to meet board requirements. WesternU is specifically partnering with Samaritan Health Services to establish clinics around the state to provide new residency training programs, largely in family medicine.
Community, connection
WesternU’s evolution in Oregon will also mesh with a continuation of the university’s engagement with the community. Farias-Eisner said WesternU already provides a range of outpatient medical services in Lebanon, and students have lent their hands, compassion and expertise over the years helping residents during severe wildfires, administering COVID-19 vaccines, partnering with the Lebanon Fire District and more. He said the campus expansion will only increase those opportunities.
“The students have a very close relationship with the community,” Farias-Eisner said. “And the Lebanon community, there aren’t sufficient superlatives to describe the extraordinary support and bond between the community and our students. We have so much gratitude for their support of our university, our colleges and our students.”
For more information, visit Oregon.WesternU.edu
Brand stories are paid content articles that allow Oregon Business advertisers to share news about their organizations and engage with readers on business and public policy issues. The stories are produced in house by the Oregon Business marketing department. For more information, contact Evan Morehouse at [email protected]
