More than 4,700 members of the osteopathic profession attend OMED21

Over 4,700 attendees recently participated in OMED21, the world’s largest gathering of osteopathic physicians. OMED21 wrapped up on Sunday, but all of the content from the virtual conference will be available on-demand through Nov. 25. Registration for the conference is open until Nov. 19.

Some highlights of OMED21 include:

• A keynote panel with three DOs who supported world-class athletes representing the United States in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. James M. Lally, DO, chief medical officer for the International Shooting Sports Federation, was asked to describe what it’s like to be a team physician.

  “It sounds glamorous, getting to be around all the athletes,” said Dr. Lally. “But it’s a process of servitude – they don’t know you; they don’t trust you; but their whole lives are this sport.”

• WNBA basketball legend Lisa Leslie spoke to attendees on Saturday and attributed her success to working hard, challenging herself and being proud of who she was. This is an attitude that osteopathic physicians can use in their practices and consider when working toward their career goals.

  “You provide a whole-patient approach in a field where it’s about the body, mind and spirit, a field where you get to put the lab coat on and be proud to be a DO and what you bring to the health care industry,” she said. “Your distinctiveness is what makes you special.”

• Psychiatrist Mona Masood, DO, founder of the Physician Support Line, a free, confidential peer-to-peer hotline for all physicians ((888) 409-0141), spoke about physician mental health and urged the profession to join her in championing and supporting clinician well-being.

  “I hope that in whatever ways you can, when you talk to colleagues, when you talk to, especially the ones who are residents, or medical students, that you remind them that they are important,” she said. “That they are not just a part of your team or a part of your service, that you center them in their humanity and you ask them and you talk to them about who they are as people, not just the specialties they want to go to, you ask and you care about whether they’re sleeping, whether they’re eating, whether they have families, what are their goals in life, what are their interests in life, that you remind them that their importance is not just patient care.”

• AOA President Joseph A. Giaimo, DO, MACOI, recognized six different sets of award recipients for advancing the profession through research in the Journal of Osteopathic Medicine. These recipients are a diverse group of academics, osteopathic students and DOs.

  Additional AOA awards presented during OMED21 include the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Unification awards for an osteopathic physician and a college of osteopathic medicine, the AOA Mentor of the Year award, and three Outstanding Affiliate Awards. See the full list of award recipients here.

• Hundreds of CME sessions from 18 different specialties ranging from talks on clinician mental health to handling medical emergencies on commercial airline flights and the basic tenets of skincare were held during this year’s conference.