by Tara Beverly
Doctors Hospital Family Practice Center’s (FPC) residents have
distinguished themselves on the national stage. Since 1998, five
FPC residents have earned the prestigious American Osteopathic
Foundation (AOF) Resident of the Year award. This includes four
OU-COM alumni — (1998) Chau Pham, D.O. (’95); (2001)
Wendy Wozniak, D.O. (’98); (2003) Tinisha Jordan, D.O.
(’00); (2004) Jason Dapore, D.O. (’01) — and (2000)
Inga Jolly, D.O.
Bill Burke, D.O. (’88), director of the Doctors Hospital
Family Practice Center and OU-COM associate professor of family
medicine, is very proud of the program and the residents’
outstanding achievement.
“The individuals that received the award had a tremendous work
ethic and a keen interest in increasing their knowledge and
skills. They demonstrated a strong commitment to osteopathic
philosophy and medicine,” says Burke.
“They all were excellent clinicians and were able to establish
an effective rapport with their patients. They understood the
importance of being a physician and giving back to their
community. They served in ways over and above what is expected
of physicians in training.”
That the center has produced five AOF award recipients, says
Burke, “shows more than anything else the quality of the
individuals that have chosen to train with us and the mentoring
that senior residents give to their junior colleagues.”
The center, located in Grove City, is an outpatient training
site currently for 24 interns and residents and has been a
family practice residency program for 27 years. Doctors Hospital
is one of the 13 teaching hospitals in the Centers for
Osteopathic Research and Education system.
“Doctors Hospital has been a strong supporter of the family
practice residency program and has provided us with the
excellent facility and equipment that we need,” says Burke.
Program directors such as Burke can nominate one person a year
for the AOF award.
“The faculty and I nominated Dr. Dapore, but an AOF panel made
the final decision at the national level. There are four
recipients of the national award each year. The winners are
picked based on five criteria.
“The first is the commitment to the osteopathic profession. The
second is the compassion and commitment to patient care. The
third is strong leadership skills and experience. The fourth is
the commitment to the community. The fifth is commitment to
education and enrichment of self and others through continuing
research, publication and education.”
Dapore, Burke says, earned his award because of his dedication
and the tremendous contributions he made as a resident at FPC.
Dapore, who is married and living in Columbus, says he was very
honored to receive the prestigious national award and lauded the
center.
“It was a great honor, and I was very humbled,” says Dapore.
“The center has an excellent program that provides a variety of
invaluable experiences. I was able to get very, very sound
family practice training at FPC. I was able to further develop
my skills in osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) as well as
sports medicine.
“The faculty is very impressive and very professional. There
always was a lot of enthusiasm.
“When you work hard, you get rewarded. It makes you a better
physician. The AOF award is a testament to the great training I
received at OU-COM and the great training Doctors Hospital
provides.”
Burke says that physicians and staff at FPC strive to work as a
team with interns and residents.
“Our residents all know their responsibilities and are dedicated
to excelling at them,” Burke says. “We emphasize community
service in our program in addition to physician education and
teaching. We have a large number of medical students and
graduate and undergraduate pharmacy students who rotate through
our facility.
“Part of their training is didactic, consisting of five hours a
week of lectures and presentations. There is a strong academic
base here. Our residents all know coming into the program that
teaching will be a large part of what we expect from them as
well.”
As an American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians approved
program, there is also a large emphasis on scholarly activity
and research.
“Our residents have ‘senior’ projects — research papers — that
they complete as part of the American Osteopathic Association’s
Clinical Assessment Program to meet their graduation
requirements,” he says. The projects — retrospective chart
reviews — cover a variety of areas, such as diabetes, coronary
artery disease and lower back pain.
“We strongly emphasize the osteopathic approach and philosophy
and the use of OMM. We also emphasize the importance of lifelong
learning after leaving our program.”
.- 30 -
