News from ACOI

Thankful. That is the feeling as I reflect on the ACOI 2024 Annual Convention & Scientific Sessions held in Arizona this past month. I am in awe of those that worked so hard to make the Annual Convention a success.

I have had the pleasure and honor of being the ACOI President from 2023-2024. I am proud to report that working with the ACOI Board of Directors, the ACOI leadership team, and the ACOI Committees, it has been a successful year.

Being an academic physician and medical school dean, I have often been asked why physicians should do research, heard the various objections to research, and have had folks ask for inspiration for conducting research. I thought I would try to capture my thoughts and experience here on the topic. I hope it is helpful and inspires folks to do more research and scholarly activity.

I have been asked a few times to teach others about how to network and to share my networking skills. I am so grateful for my network of friends and relationships, and they have been incredibly meaningful and valuable for me personally as well as the institutions that I have served.

I have talked with admissions/enrollment experts at medical schools, other medical school deans, and prospective medical students about the medical school admissions process, and I hear growing frustration with the process from nearly everyone. I would like to know if the time has come for a match to matriculate into medical school.

Physicians are expected to be leaders in healthcare. However, many medical schools still lack formal medical education in leadership. The need for more physicians to be formal leaders is exemplified by research suggesting a positive link between hospital quality and physician leadership.

One important topic that I was never formally taught in medical school (nor were any of the physician colleagues that I have spoken with about the subject) was productivity. Interestingly, productivity is an important topic to physician employers.

Considering that thousands of our members are medical students and that so many of our members advise medical students, I decided to share my top 10 pieces of advice for getting into residency programs.

A time honored tradition at many medical schools is a presentation where the Dean gives advice to the entering medical students on becoming a physician. In preparing for our inaugural class at the Orlando College of Osteopathic Medicine (OCOM), I have often thought about what my advice will be for the freshly-minted medical students at the nation’s newest and most modern medical school.

I had the honor of giving the “first lecture” in the brand new OCOM (Orlando College of Osteopathic Medicine) building recently as part of our faculty development series. My presentation was focused on how to give effective presentations.

As many members may know, I am the Dean & Chief Academic Officer of the Orlando College of Osteopathic Medicine (OCOM), Central Florida’s first osteopathic medical school. Since I frequently get asked about OCOM by ACOI members, I thought it may be of interest to readers.