Mehlman receives distinguished service award

Charles T. Mehlman, D.O. (’89), M.P.H., received the Distinguished Service Award from the Ohio University Alumni Association on Friday, Oct. 12^th, for his contributions to Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-HCOM) as a medical educator, researcher and mentor.

That day, he presented a lecture to first and second year students titled "When should I operate on a kid's FX [fracture]? A case based approach.” Dr. Mehlman is a member of a 10-person pediatric orthopedic group in Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, director of musculoskeletal outcomes research and co-director of the Brachial Plexus Center.

 “This college did amazing things for me,” Dr. Mehlman said. “It gave a farm boy from eastern Ohio amazing opportunities. Of all my alma maters, the one that I feel the most love for, without a doubt, is Ohio University.”

The Distinguished Service Award, established in 1982, recognizes exceptional service on behalf of alumni chapters, clubs, constituent societies and, in special instances, the university and its colleges and schools. Dr. Mehlman was selected for his engagement with students on pediatric orthopedic surgery, career paths and research opportunities during visits to campus as well as his mentorship in the Careers in Medicine program. He also serves on the OU-HCOM capital campaign committee. 

This is not the first recognition Dr. Mehlman received from Ohio University.  In 2006, he was awarded the OU-HCOM Medal of Merit, in addition to numerous other honors for his research and scholarly publications. Writing on a full range of orthopedic diseases, deformity, trauma and tumors in children, he published more than 80 peer reviewed articles and an equal number of book chapters.

“I like to point out that all of us have jobs because kids get hurt. Trauma in kids is important. Trauma has been the number one killer of children since they started measuring,” he said. “You can combine all other causes of death for children, like infectious diseases and cancer, and trauma is still the biggest killer.”

Raised on a farm in Bellaire, Ohio, Dr. Mehlman joked about how his family still teases him, asking, “why couldn’t you be something useful, like a veterinarian?” He had early experience in sports medicine and worked for some time as an athletic trainer. After graduating from OU-HCOM in 1989, Dr. Mehlman completed a rotating internship and an orthopedic surgery residency at Grandview and an internal medicine residency at Akron General Medical Center. After completing a pediatric orthopedic surgery fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, he went on to earn an M.P.H. degree in clinical effectiveness and outcomes research at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Through the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center’s Healing the Children program, Dr. Mehlman has traveled to Shanghai, China, to volunteer medical service. His wife, Elsira Pina, D.O., who graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1989, is an associate professor of medicine and pulmonologist at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Institute.