One wants to make a difference as a missions doctor; the other is researching why African-American women are disproportionately affected by AIDS.

While Donald Dickert and LaDawn Hackett have different plans, the two will be part of history Sunday as members of the first graduating class of the Georgia campus of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Jason Getz/AJC (ENLARGE)

The Philadelphia College of Osteopahtic Medicine is graduating its first class of students May 12. Donald Dickert, of Suwanee, left, and LaDawn Hackett, of Buford, pose in front of a large DNA mural on the Suwanee campus.

AT A GLANCE Eight facts about the Suwanee campus of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine: 1. Parent institution is the 109-year-old Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Philadelphia. Georgia is the only other site for the college. 2. Programs offered in Georgia: • Certificate in biomedical science (one-year program) • Master's in biomedical sciences (two-year program) • Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (four-year program) 3. 77 students pursuing four-year Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree; First class will graduate in 2009 4. 13 to graduate with a master's degree in science at 2 p.m Sunday at 625 Old Peachtree Road N.W. in Suwanee. 5. Faculty-student ratio: • 1:8 Master's program: • 1:10.5 Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program 6. Tuition: About $37,000 a year (does not include room and board). Financial aid and scholarships are need-based and offered to about half the student body. 7. Applicants to either master's or doctor of osteopathy programs must have an undergraduate degree in pre-med or related sciences. 8. Applicants to the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program in 2007: 2,500. Admitted: 86 —Rebecca Rakoczy WHAT IS A D.O.? A doctor of osteopathic medicine must pass the same courses as medical school students, do rotations in hospitals and medical facilities, and after graduation pursue their residency, said Dr. Paul Evans, vice dean and chief academic officer. The difference lies in the extra training doctors of osteopathic medicine get, including manipulating the musculoskeletal system. "The osteopathic approach is one that considers the mind, body and spirit. ... It's like having extra tools in your tool bag when it comes to treating a patient," Evans said. For more information on osteopathic medical careers, go to www.osteopathic.org For information on PCOM, go to www.pcom.edu

The college, called "PCOM" or "GA-PCOM" by students and faculty, opened in Suwanee in 2005, and is the only regional campus of the 109-year-old Philadelphia institution.

Dickert and Hackett are among 13 students who will receive master's of science degrees in biomedical science. Both students have been accepted to medical schools — Hackett at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta and Dickert at the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston.

For Hackett, this college was the steppingstone to her dream of becoming a doctor, a dream that had been deferred more than once. The Suwanee campus did not exist when she received her undergraduate degree in biology from Spelman College, intent on going to medical school.

She applied to medical school twice and was denied. She worked full time as a nuclear medical technologist for two years, and attended classes at Georgia State University, when her adviser asked her to check out the program at PCOM.

"My intention was to produce the best application possible to gain entry into a medical school. I liked that I could remain at home, living with my mother and aunt in Buford. The other great thing was that I would take courses similar to the first and second years of medical school," she said.

Her master's research project was aimed at a topic close to her heart — a church member had died of AIDS. She took an AIDS 101 course in Atlanta and learned an alarming statistic: African-American women were disproportionately being affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She is researching the reasons why.

Hackett, 30, faces four more years of medical school, before she starts her residency program.

Dickert, 26, a graduate of Clemson University, had entered the pre-pharmacy program at the University of South Carolina.

He changed his mind about his career while working on a medical mission in 2005 in Romania. "I saw how much more effective I could be as a doctor than as a pharmacist there," he said.

But a "bad semester" in college lowered his total GPA; he was not admitted to medical school. He heard about PCOM and was determined to improve his med school application.

"I thought: 'This was an opportunity to shine. Here's your chance to prove yourself'," he said. "I committed myself to working hard. This was my last ... chance to go to medical school."

Dickert and Hackett are like many master's of science students at PCOM.

"A lot of the students who get into our master's degree program tried to get into medical school and couldn't. They come to a program such as ours. Some will be out their first year, get their certificate and will reapply to medical school with the added credentials. Others will go through the two years and get their master's degree, and that will help qualify them to work in biomedical centers like the CDC — or go on to medical school," said John Fleischmann, campus executive officer.

Providing more doctors for Georgia and the South is one of the primary reasons for establishing the nonprofit school here, Fleischmann said.

"When they [PCOM officials] looked nationally, this area was where the physicians and health care people were most needed. We were established as a southern campus to recruit, train and educate Southerners for practicing medicine in the South."

Currently, Georgia ranks 40th in the number of doctors per patients. Primary care doctors in rural areas are especially needed, he said.

The Philadephia-based institution chose Georgia also because the Osteopathic Institute of the South was based in Georgia. The institute had an established network for third- and fourth-year medical students to do rotations at hospitals and medical facilities around the Southeast.

Fleischmann does not see any direct competition with the school for those who want to pursue their MD, rather than a Doctor of Osteopathic (DO) Medicine.

While Dickert and Hackett are already looking forward to four years of medical school, students like Rachel Wade are looking forward to her residency. The Gainesville student will graduate with her D.O. as part of that program's first graduating class next May.

Wade and her husband, Jon, also a D.O. candidate, plan to work in rural Georgia. "There are lot of rural towns in Georgia that have no access to health care; for primary care, and it's important to get doctors into the towns of the people who need them," she said.

"People deserve local health care. "