Peter Bell, D.O., receives national lifetime achievement award
OU-HCOM assistant dean recognized for contributions to emergency medicine

(ATHENS, Ohio – May14, 2012) Peter Bell, D.O., MBA, HPF, FACOEP-Dist., FACEP, an assistant dean at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-HCOM), received a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to emergency medicine.

The American College of Osteopathic of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians (ACOEP) bestowed upon Bell the 2012 Bruce D. Horton, D.O., FACOEP Lifetime Achievement Award, the college’s highest recognition.

This award, established in the late 1970s in honor of the ACOEP’s first president, is awarded annually to a physician who has made significant contributions to the specialty of osteopathic emergency medicine throughout his or her lifetime

Bell was chosen based on his role as inaugural director of the emergency medicine residency program at OhioHealth Doctors Hospital in 1991, consistent service to the ACOEP as a board and committee member from 1993 to 2011, officer from 2002 to 2011, editor of The Pulse in 1995 and 2004, and for his leadership role at OU-HCOM and the Centers of Osteopathic Research and Education (CORE).

His first job was as medical director of the Emergency Department at Doctors Hospital in 1988, and he has been an attending faculty member there for the past 24 years. Bell was appointed OU-HCOM assistant dean for the CORE in 1995 and professor of emergency medicine in 2002.

In 1999, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) honored Bell by naming him National Teaching Faculty, a distinction given to the best teachers in emergency medicine. In the spring of 2011, he was awarded Master Clinical Faculty status, joining an elite group of 119 clinical faculty members who have also received the distinction.

In 2001, he became a facilitator for Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits for Highly Effective People.” He then completed a two year Fellowship in Dean’s Administrative Management from OU-HCOM. Actively engaged in patient care, clinical teaching, research, and education, Bell saw a need for advanced expertise in business management. In 2008, he graduated first in his class from the Ohio University Executive MBA program.

He also completed the Health Policy Fellowship, a certificate program in health policy coordinated by OU-HCOM and the New York Institute of Technology/New York College of Osteopathic Medicine through a collaboration of the American Osteopathic Association, the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) and AACOM member colleges. For the past 10 years, he has served as chairman of the Ohio Osteopathic Association’s (OOA) Health Policy Committee. 

Bell has served in many national leadership positions, including as president of the Ohio Osteopathic Association in 2002 and 2003, president of Ohio ACEP in 2005 and 2006, and most recently as president of the ACOEP in 2006 and 2008. He continues to serve on a variety of state and national bureaus and committees.

Bell, who resides in Hilliard with his wife and children, is a 1980 graduate of Hamilton College and obtained his medical degree from the University of New England College Of Osteopathic Medicine in 1984. He completed residencies in both family medicine and emergency medicine, and he is board certified in both.