The Western University of Health Sciences Board of Trustees and President Robin Farias-Eisner announced Feb. 6 that Paula M. Crone will serve as the university’s next provost.
Dr. Crone has served as interim provost since April 2022.
“WesternU is so deeply fortunate to have Dr. Crone assuming the role of permanent provost,” Dr. Farias-Eisner said. “Dr. Crone has an unmatched level of insight into the WesternU community that will serve us well as we continue to grow and transform. She is deeply committed to the values that make WesternU such a special place, and her dynamic nature will continue to support our work in new and exciting ways.”
Prior to her appointment, Crone served as dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP) in Pomona, California, and COMP-Northwest in Lebanon from September 2013 to April 2022. She served as interim dean of COMP and COMP-Northwest from July 2012 to September 2013 and as executive associate dean of COMP-Northwest from July 2010 until December 2012.
Prior to joining WesternU, Crone was a family practitioner, serving as partner in private practice and as program director at the Family Practice Residency Program at Portland’s Eastmoreland Hospital. She also served as a consultant for graduate medical education development at Samaritan Health Services (2005-09) and on the Oregon Healthcare Workforce Task Group.
Dr. Crone has served on many professional boards, including Mid Valley Healthcare, Inc., Samaritan Health Center, Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.
She helped launch WesternU’s COMP-Northwest, Oregon’s first new medical school in more than a century. Her WesternU leadership has been guided by her goal to develop the state’s highest-quality osteopathic medical academic program. She also helped assemble the WesternU Oregon Advisory Board more than 13 years ago.
Dr. Crone’s fundraising experience has helped WesternU’s Oregon and California campuses raise more than $30 million for new scholarships, simulation equipment and space, communication and learning platforms, expanded research opportunities, and increased faculty and student development opportunities; legislative management; enterprise development, with intimate knowledge of every piece required to build and accredit a new medical school; and recruitment and enrollment.
The WesternU alumna earned her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from COMP in 1992 and completed her residency in Family Medicine at Eastmoreland Hospital in Portland. She earned her Bachelor of Science in biology at the University of Portland.
“I’m humbled and honored to have been selected to serve as WesternU’s permanent provost,” she said. “For the past decade, I’ve been amazed by the groundbreaking research, commitment to humanistic practices and deep authenticity of the WesternU community. I’m beyond excited to work with President Farias-Eisner and the leadership team as we move WesternU into the next stage of its evolution.”