Weimar College’s Health Sciences Department is welcoming two new faculty members and the beginning of work on a new nursing program. David DeRose, MD, is joining the College faculty and will also work concurrently with the NEWSTART® clinic. He will lead out in both classroom and practical aspects of health evangelism. Josephine Jacavone Kelley, RN, MS, CCRN, CNS, will head Weimar College’s development of LVN and RN nursing programs recently made possible by a generous grant from ASI.

Dr. George Jackson, head of Weimar College’s Health Sciences Department, is excited about the new developments. “This is truly a huge boost for health evangelism at Weimar College,” he says. “Dr. DeRose and Ms. Kelley are high profile people in health evangelism and are a perfect fit with the College’s ‘Core of Four’ method of education. With these changes we are continuing to improve our program of training those who will do medical evangelism work at the end of time.”

Planned Evangelistic Nursing Programs

The College’s goal is to be able to provide an accredited LVN program within a year, and an accredited RN program within 2 years. Both programs will provide practical training by partnering with local hospitals for clinical education and utilizing the NEWSTART® program for experience in natural and lifestyle medicine. “There is strong demand for both LVN’s and RN’s in the job market,” says Dr. Jackson. “Our graduates will be highly employable with their added knowledge of lifestyle medicine and health evangelism in addition to the regular curriculum.”

New Faculty Skilled in Both Medicine and Health Evangelism

David DeRose. Dr. David DeRose is a board certified physician in both Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine. In addition to hosting a weekly radio program, he is a published researcher and has lectured widely, presenting complex health topics to the public in an understandable way. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Dr. DeRose will practice at the NEWSTART® Medial Clinic. His wife, Sonja, who is also a physician, and his children, Victor, Angela, and Michael will join him at Weimar.

Dr. DeRose’s experience in both health education and clinical medicine provide a close match with Weimar College’s focus on public health evangelism and its priority of providing practical and experiential training to students in addition to classroom lectures. Dr. DeRose studied at Andrews University (both undergraduate coursework and in the Seventh-day Adventist Theological seminary) and earned his M.D. and later his Masters in Public Health at Loma Linda University. He has also provided occupational and preventive medicine services for Kettering Hospital’s Center for Health Promotion and has presented at many health related venues including the Nedley Depression Recovery, CHIP programs, lifestyle change programs, and cooking programs to name a few. His deep desire to train people on how to find healthier lives and a growing walk with Jesus help make Dr. DeRose a heaven-sent match for Weimar College.

Josephine Jacavone Kelley. Josephine Jacavone Kelley is a nurse educator, clinical nurse, and community health educator. She is currently the President and Founder of the Health and Natural Healing Ministry in Rogue River, Oregon and the Clinical Nurse Educator at the Providence Medford Medical Center. Prior to this she served as the Clinical Nurse Specialist for Critical Care at the Rogue Valley Medical Center for more than 13 years. She has also been a professor of nursing, a clinical instructor and is a graduate of the Amazing Facts AFCOE program. Ms. Kelley has consistently been involved in health education, Bible work, and service to her community. Her passion for health evangelism and health education in nursing will be invaluable in establishing a nursing program that matches Weimar College’s unique philosophy.