Interview with first-generation DO highlights the importance of mentorship

The AOA’s newest video series, “First Generation DO to Know,” highlights the resilience and passion behind DOs who are the first in their families to become osteopathic physicians. The inaugural video showcases AOA Trustee Joshua D. Lenchus, DO. Dr. Lenchus shares how he started looking into medicine and kept coming across only allopathic paths—it wasn’t until a childhood memory came back to light that he started to think about the DO path.

“My parents did remind me that as a young child, I had an injury and an osteopathic general surgeon took care of me,” said Dr. Lenchus. “So I started to explore that.”

Dr. Lenchus shares how he ended up applying over multiple years to attend DO school, not giving up until he was accepted—having no set DO role models prior to medical school, his path needed to be created from thin air.

“Not having anyone before me was incredibly difficult,” said Dr. Lenchus.

Watch the full segment below.

Dr. Lenchus stresses how important his mentors have been to him, especially because he is a first-generation DO. Because of his experience, today he prioritizes mentoring DO students and trainees.

Knowing what he needed back when he was starting out on his path in osteopathic medicine helps Dr. Lenchus guide today’s future DOs. He encourages other DOs to embrace mentorship as well, reminding us all that community and helping each other align with osteopathic principles.

“I think mentorship was probably the single greatest solution to obstacles that I had in stumbling along the path to become an osteopathic physician,” said Dr. Lenchus. “Medicine is about serving others, putting others before yourself … I think it’s important to pay it forward.”

The American Osteopathic Information Association’s new Emerging DOs platform can connect those in the osteopathic medical profession with a mentor or a mentee. Sign up for the program via this mentor/mentee interest form. More information about the Emerging DOs platform and the mentor program is available on the Emerging DOs home page.

To all aspiring osteopathic physicians, Dr. Lenchus says: “Don’t ever let where you come from dictate where you can go.”

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