AOA honors leaders and groups for advancing the osteopathic profession

On Saturday, the AOA recognized the following leaders and organizations for their efforts to support the osteopathic medical profession by creating programs to address physician burnout, conducting research, providing access to care and supporting osteopathic medical education.

AOA Presidential Citations

AOA President William Mayo, DO, honored four leaders in the osteopathic medical profession with Presidential Citations, the AOA’s highest honor. They are:

• Floyd Meachum, DO, who has led a more than 40-year career as an osteopathic family physician with exemplary service to the osteopathic community. He served as vice president for medical evaluation at the Michigan Osteopathic Medical Center and medical director for family health clinics. Dr. Meachum continues to practice addiction medicine in Las Vegas.
• Stephen M. Scheinthal, DO, who has dedicated his career to advancing our understanding of dementia and geriatric mental health. He has served as chief of geriatric behavioral health at Rowan’s New Jersey Institute for Successful Aging, where he remains on the faculty. Dr. Scheinthal also has conducted research on aging and shared his knowledge on dementia, mental health and long-term care for the elderly through scholarly publications, lectures, radio and television.
• Ed Williams, PhD, who has enriched and advanced osteopathic medical education for more than 40 years. He spent his career teaching and advising countless students, championing osteopathic colleges and positively impacting access to rural primary health care in underserved regions of the south.
• Frank Bedford, CPA, who has served as the AOA’s chief financial officer and controller for nearly 25 years. Bedford has dedicated his entire career to assuring the financial stability of the AOA by prudently managing and enhancing the financial standing of the association and steadily increasing its assets.

Shining STARs

The Strategic Team Award and Recognition, known as “STAR,” recognizes contributions made by state, specialty and regional affiliates; osteopathic medical schools; OPTIs; and nonpractice affiliates that enhance the AOA’s strategic plan and advance the osteopathic medical profession. Award recipients are:

• American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP), for its efforts to advance affiliate relations by conducting collaborative research with the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) to study the relationship between COMLEX USA and in-service examinations. This research was published in The Journal of GME. ACOFP and NBOME also collaborated to build a new assessment called the Comprehensive Osteopathic Recognition Training Examination, which is designed to assess osteopathic competencies for residents who are training in osteopathically recognized training programs.
• Arizona Osteopathic Medical Association (AOMA), for its initiatives to advance membership and support member physicians by addressing burnout in a direct and forceful manner. The AOMA developed a list of issues that contribute to physician burnout and began working on legislative solutions to address these issues. Their targeted policy solutions include enacting comprehensive prior authorization reforms, mandating maximum credentialing timeframes and removing regulatory stigma confronting physicians who seek behavioral health help.
• Missouri Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons (MAOPS), for its key initiatives to advance membership and advance international activities. To support its members, MAOPS developed a physician wellness program to reduce burnout and fatigue, held a retreat specifically on physician wellness and subsequently created a member benefit to offer members and their immediate families access to six free visits annually at the Capital Region Center for Mental Wellness. The group also advances international awareness by continuing to support the mission work of member Logan Banks, DO, as he trains physicians to care for the population in Kibuye, Burundi.

George W. Northup, DO, Medical Writing award

The Northup Award, bestowed annually to the best article published in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (JAOA) the previous year, recognizes contributions to the JAOA that change the way DOs practice medicine and conduct research. Northup Award nominees are rated on the basis of clinical significance, scientific validity and content specific to osteopathic medicine.

The 2019 award recognizes the article “Lymphatic Pump Treatment Mobilizes Bioactive Lymph That Suppresses Macrophage Activity In Vitro,” which appeared in the July 2018 issue of the JAOA. The study was authored by Rudy Castillo, BS; Artur Schander, MS, DO, PhD; and Lisa M. Hodge, PhD.

Failure of the lymphatic transport system to transport tissue fluid has been associated with edema and diseases associated with inflammation. This study made important advances by showing that use of LPT significantly increased lymph flow and decreased macrophage activity, producing an anti-inflammatory effect.