LEBANON — While many children her age were playing with dolls, Paula Crone, the new dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, was healing them.

“My favorite toy was a stethoscope,” Crone said. “My grandmother, Bernice Williams, was a physician in Fort Wayne, Ind. I often spent my summers with her and she took me on rounds at the hospital. I saw what a great impact a physician can make. Her patients often came to her home for treatment.”

Crone’s father was an engineer and the family moved often until they settled in the northeast Oregon community of Hermiston when she was in elementary school.

“My mom said it was time to stay put,” Crone said.

Crone graduated from Hermiston High School in 1982 and enrolled at the University of Portland. She graduated with a degree in biology in 1986. That’s when Crone’s link began with the Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif., the parent school of the new Lebanon medical school.

“Over the years, I have worked with Western University in student education programs,” Crone said. “We have supported interns and residents.”

She chose osteopathic medicine because, “I wanted tho practice the Marcus Welby type of medicine. To learn about the whole person. It has been an excellent fit for me.”

Crone’s residency was at the former Eastmoreland Hospital in Portland, and has been in private practice in Portland since 1992. She said Lebanon presents the same type of positive, patient-oriented energy that existed at Eastmoreland.

“There is the same spirit, the same heart at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital,” Crone said. “For me, it’s like going back home.”

Giving up her family practice is going to be a sacrifice, Crone admits, but she hopes to retain a few patients.

“I love my practice, it’s what I am at heart. I think it’s important that the students see that their teachers have practiced medicine,” Crone said. “But the future of medicine depends on us building a better physician. I have a passion for medical education.”

Studies show that more than 60 percent of medical students end up practicing within 100 miles of where they attend medical school. Crone said her first challenge is recruiting the best and brightest college graduates for the first class at Lebanon.

“We will of course focus on students in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska, but if there’s an outstanding candidate in New York who wants to live in the Pacific Northwest, why not?” Crone said.

The new medical school will include state-of-the-art technology, Crone said, and the state’s 600 osteopaths and other members of the community are being asked to help fund a $5 million capital campaign called “DO 2011” for that portion of construction. Donations can be made at any Wells Fargo bank branch.

Crone and her husband, Dr. Paul Aversano, a neurologist, have begun looking for a home in the area, although they don’t expect to be in the mid-valley full time until next summer. He enjoys golfing and fishing and she enjoys photography.

“I truly want this to be successful and to do it right from the first day,” Crone said of the challenge of opening a new medical school. “The first time I was asked to do this, I said no. Academic medicine was not part of my ambition. But then I realized this is a fantastic opportunity to be a part of shaping medical care for years to come.”