OU-COM alumni, faculty recognized at OOA convention

Ohio Osteopathic Association elects OU-COM alumni as president, president-elect 

The Ohio Osteopathic Association’s 110th annual convention June 19-22 recognized Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine alumni and staff with appointments to key leadership roles and honors for outstanding service to the profession. 

Two OU-COM alumni, Barbara Bennett, D.O (’84), and Christopher Loyke, D.O. (’88), were installed as president
and president-elect, respectively, of the Ohio Osteopathic Association.

Carl Denbow, Ph.D., OU-COM special media project director, and Katherine “Toni” Clark, D.O. (’88), received special awards. Denbow was recognized by the OOA with a Meritorious Service Award, while Clark was given the Distinguished Service Award by the Ohio State Society of American Osteopathic Family Physicians. 

Bennett is the fourth OU-COM graduate and seventh woman to serve as president of the association. She succeeds as president William Emlich Jr., D.O. (’86), clinical professor of gastroenterology (Doctors Hospital, Columbus) for the Centers of Osteopathic Research and Education (CORE), OU-COM’s statewide consortium of teaching hospitals. The OU-COM Society of Alumni and Friends hosted a reception honoring Bennett and Emlich during the convention.

Bennett is board-certified in family medicine and has a private practice at Suburban Family Practice Associates in Huber Heights, Ohio. At Grandview Medical Center in Dayton, where she completed her internship and residency, she has served as board trustee, chief of staff and Family Practice Department chair. Bennett also served on several committees at Kettering Medical Center and is a past president of the Dayton District Academy of Osteopathic Medicine.

For 14 years, Bennett was a clinical faculty member for CORE. She also served on both the OU-COM Society of Alumni and Friends and the OU Alumni Board of Directors. She was named Outstanding Alumna by OU-COM in 2005.

In 1995 the Dayton Daily News named her one of the Top 10 Women of the Year in the Miami Valley. That same year she received both the YWCA’s Tribute to Mentors Award and Wright State University’s Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award. In 2001, Bennett received the Family Physician of the Year Award from the Ohio Society of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians.

Also at the convention, Denbow received the Ohio Osteopathic Association Meritorious Service Award, which recognizes non-physicians for outstanding accomplishments in service to the profession.

Denbow is the co-founder and project director of the Family Health^® radio program, a daily series about health care that reaches 11 million listeners in the United States and is also heard worldwide on the U.S. Armed Forces Radio Network. Denbow has published several articles and textbook chapters about osteopathic medicine and public relations. His 30 years at OU-COM include 25 as director of communication and unofficial “college historian.” His brief history of the college is on the OU-COM Web site.

Clark, a CORE clinical professor of family medicine (Grandview Medical Center, Dayton), received the Ohio State Society of the American Osteopathic Family Physicians Distinguished Service Award, recognizing her leadership to the Ohio osteopathic profession in the field of family medicine.

During her first year at OU-COM, Clark received the Family Medicine Award as Outstanding Freshman. She was chief resident at Grandview Hospital in Dayton and received the Southeast CORE award during her final two years of medical school. She was twice honored with Family Practice Faculty of the Year Awards and was designated a fellow of the American Institute for Healthcare Quality. Currently, Clark is a physician at Indian Ripple Family Health Center in Beavercreek, Ohio.

OU-COM Society of Alumni and Friends, Family Health^® radio program, and the OU-COM Health Policy Fellowship program each had exhibits at the convention, with the Family Health^® radio exhibit—developed by Don Bilski, producer at the WOUB Center for Public Media, and Denbow—winning the “Judges Choice Award.”

OU-COM faculty and alumni on the Athens campus who presented at the OOA convention included: Dean Jack Brose, D.O.; Peter Dane, D.O., associate dean for predoctoral education; Christopher Simpson, D.O., chair of the Family Medicine Department; Jay Shubrook Jr., D.O. (’96), assistant professor of family medicine; and Stevan Walkowski, D.O. (’89), assistant professor of family medicine.

CORE clinical faculty who presented included: George Seese III, D.O. (’87), clinical professor of cardiology (Affinity Medical Center, Massillon); Ben Graef, D.O. (’03), clinical assistant professor of internal medicine (Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital); Robert Cain, D.O. (’86), clinical professor of pulmonology (Grandview Medical Center, Dayton); and Timothy Barreiro, D.O. (’97), clinical assistant professor of critical care medicine (St. Joseph Health Center, Warren).