The LECOM Connection Summer 2012

THE

Summer 2012

ONNECTION

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine

Assistant Surgeon General Speaks to Pharmacy Graduates LECOM Contributes $500,000 to Erie County Government

Commencement 2012 page 6

www.LECOM.edu

A Message from the President

Summum Bonum – The Making of a Legacy John M. Ferretti, DO

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n the last issue of The LECOM Connection, my message focused upon our twenty-year benchmark - the epoch in our footprint of educational history and the step upon the threshold of that which demarcates all prodigious institutions of higher learning – in a word, our - “Legacy” I wish now, to turn our attention toward that which underpins the making of such a “legacy”.

Legacies do not spring fully-formed onto the coverpages of magazines; rather they are the result of a combination of elements, some of which form the central theme of this Message. Certainly, the setting of goals is the initial step; the achievement of them is the next step - and it is that all-encompassing second step that presents ones most obvious falters. One falters not because the goal is unachievable, rather because of unexpected obstacles and challenges that arise along the journey that make the goal appear unachievable.

It is imperative to understand that each goal is everattendant with a plethora of pitfalls that are attached to that goal. These pitfalls manifest themselves within our lives as a superfluity of obstacles, challenges, and problems that we must surpass in order to reach our destination. I submit that it is precisely from those pitfalls that are derived our strengths; the lessons that we must embrace and that we must welcome to augment the conscience of our character and to fortify the power behind our purpose. For it is from successfully learning to maneuver through these pitfalls and to overcome them that we define ourselves. In their absence, we fail to learn the valuable lessons that are required to realize our objectives and to find our better angels.

It is precisely the struggles, obstacles, challenges, and problems, in-and-of-themselves that are instructive; the adversity that makes us see with clarity - and the continued surmounting of which form a “legacy”.

That said; there is another aspect of this message that pairs intrinsically with the foregoing. A word that in our progressive era has grown to become oft ignored, dismissed, stifled, or made to appear taboo. It is more than a word to those who rely upon it; and for those who do – it is an element of our existence. It is “faith”.

When the founders of LECOM set upon the journey to establish a school of medicine, the path stretched before the group as a vertical climb. Naysayers abounded; educated, well-studied fact-finders were as harbingers of cynicism. Yet, the assemblage of determined physicians found that it was buoyed in the promise of something greater than itself. Slowly, it became clear that the seemingly impossible dreams were not impossible – rather they became highly improbable, and then somewhat attainable, and ultimately - glowingly successful. What encouraged that glowingly successful end result? Faith!

LECOM’s inspiring account of unlikely events, like those throughout history that have resulted in tremendous influences, were sustained by a belief in a confirmatory Providence. It is a perseverance of a principled mission that is reaffirmed within us when we act in accordance with our highest self and with the knowledge that there is a larger might that directs our course beyond the illusory present.

Do we not show ourselves to be Quixotic-fools if we allow hollow criticisms to destroy that which we have created and therefore, to thwart our aspirations?

What then, calls us onward to continue? Surely, it is the faith that our mission is just, our goals are wrought with purpose, and our efforts are worthy in the service of something greater than ourselves. Albert Einstein offered an aphorism that resonates still: “There are only two ways to live . . . one is as though nothing is a miracle . . . the other is as if everything is.”

In our College mission, we live for today, but we hold our hands and our hearts open to the possibilities of tomorrow as we anticipate the future and its consequent challenges with the knowledge that there is a kernel of Providence within every event - within every adversity and within every accomplishment.

We carry with us an unswerving belief and commitment to our faith – the imperceptible entity that guides our ambitions and motivations toward our summum bonum - the highest goal of living; which, like a wind is invisible, but sensed.

LECOM remains constant in the quest to advance our highest goal of living – making stronger our purpose, making clearer our vision, and making greater our legacy. We shall continue to learn through our trials, to grow from an inward journey of the soul, and to gain wisdom from our reliance upon Providence.

As we find the momentary ‘knight-errant’ glimpses of the importance of being true to our life’s calling, I invite each of you to embrace the adversities found in accomplishment and to be constant in faith, for within both of these entities can be found our summum bonum.

Mission Statement

2 lecom connection / july 2012

The mission of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine is to prepare students to become osteopathic physicians, pharmacy practitioners and dentists through programs of excellence in education, research, clinical care and community service to enhance the quality of life through improved health for all humanity.

Table of Contents

Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine 1858 West Grandview Blvd.

Erie, PA 16509 814-866-6641 www.lecom.edu

John M. Ferretti, DO President

Michael J. Visnosky, Esquire

Table of Contents

Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Commencement 2012

Silvia M. Ferretti, DO

• Assistant Surgeon General Scott Giberson speaks to the Class of 2012 • Outstanding Graduates and Purpose-Driven Goals 8 • 2012 President’s Award 15 • Joan Moore, DO Supports Scholarship 16

Provost, Senior Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs

Hershey Bell, MD, M.S. (MedEd)

Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of School of Pharmacy

Robert F. Hirsch, DDS

Dean of School of Dental Medicine

Robert George, DO

Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Bradenton

Sunil S. Jambhekar, PhD

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Education

Associate Dean for Bradenton Operations, School of Pharmacy

Pierre Bellicini

Director of Communications

Michael Polin

Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing, Bradenton

“Spending Wisely” - College Economics

17

LECOM President, Educators, and Staff Capture Awards at AACOM

18

MCH Residents Sweep POMA Writing Competition

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Rebecca A. DeSimone, Esquire Editor-in-Chief

Eric Nicastro

Community

Contributing Writer & Photographer

Carmen Miller Photographer

The LECOM Connection invites you to contribute to our publication. If you have news of alumni achievements, research or student activities, please contact the Communications Department, at (814) 866-6641, or e-mail communications@lecom.edu.

Celebrating National Osteopathic Medicine Week

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LECOM Provides Aid to Erie County Government

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On the Cover A display of LECOM’s 20-year history greeted guests on commencement day at the Erie Bayfront Convention Center. july 2012 / lecom connection 3

Table of Contents

Community LECOM and Bridging The Gaps Partnering for Almost Two Decades

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LECOM Receives National Recognition for Community Service

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New Exhibit at GWIZ Science Center in Sarasota

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Faculty/Administration Anthony Ferretti, DO, Receives Top Florida Osteopathic Medical Association Award

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Richard Terry, DO, Appointed Assistant Regional Dean of Clinical Education

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Former Florida Representative Bill Galvano Appointed to LECOM Board of Trustees

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LECOM Loses a Wise and Joyful Spirit - Philip B. Hultgren, PhD

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Erie Cardiologist, William Esper, DO, Reflects Mission of LECOM

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Community is Our Campus Events in Erie and Bradenton

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Alumni/Faculty/Student Class Notes Newsworthy Happenings

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Courage

Credos of Our Calling “Courage” has long been said to be the most important virtue of all - for from it emanates every act that one undertakes. Each deed that involves effecting a decision, no matter how overlooked, requires some level of courage.

Philosophers, Socrates and Aristotle theorized about it; orators, Ovid and Virgil spoke about it; and statesmen, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan esteemed it. Each of them knew that courage is the most important of the virtues for in its absence no other virtue may be practiced consistently. It is, therefore and rightly valued as the first of human qualities since, as Winston Churchill stated, “it is the quality that guarantees all others”.

LECOM, as an academic institution, would not have come to exist without courage; the courage displayed by its founders to persevere when told by experts that such a school was not needed. There will always exist those to voice disapproval and to proclaim wrong the path of the courageous. There will always exist difficulties that tempt one to believe the critics correct. Yet, to set a course of action and to follow it to its end necessitates courage. It is not the faultfinder who matters - not the critic who notes the stumble along the path, nor he who records wherein the doer of deeds could have better effected them - for those who truly live within

the trenches of life, where there is pain and loss, sweat and tears - only do they know courage. As medical practitioners, all come to know such pain and loss, sweat and tears, yet companioned with such adversities are attendant the greatest goods and the most prodigious triumphs of healing.

Courage is essential to the calling of medicine and to all of the health care disciplines, for in each profession will come a time wherein one’s courage to act will face the temptation to follow an easier path. LECOM understands that courage is at the heart of the medical practice.

It is central to the way in which physicians interact with their patients and with the often split-second decisions with which care givers are frequently confronted.

Courage is a distinctive attribute that does not allow one to shrink from taking the correct course of action even though such action may meet with resistance, ridicule, or retaliation. It is an intrinsic quality by which a heart and a soul of focused integrity is promulgated through right action. It rises to moral and to ethical worth to imbue within its progeny a vision of the cherished pinnacle of human attainment.

For this reason, “The LECOM Connection” highlights “COURAGE” as a “Credo of Our Calling”.

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear”. ~Mark Twain july 2012 / lecom connection 5

Commencement 2012

RADM Scott Giberson’s “Golden Mean” Purposeful Passion, Life Balance, and Building Bridges – The Admiral Discusses the Role of Pharmacists and his Model for Improving Patient and Health System Outcomes

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here are few objectives more worthy in a life lived in the service of others than that of a focused purpose. Aristotle spoke of the value of purpose – dependent upon oneself, rooted in balance, and facilitated by linking oneself with humanity. It formed the “Golden Mean”. In a recent interview with the LECOM Connection, Rear Admiral (RADM) Scott F. Giberson echoed the perspicacity and philosophic bedrock of that great thinker as he responded to questions about his Report to the Surgeon General, his views of the future of pharmacy, and his personal life credo – which he summarized as “passion – balance – and bridge-building”.

RADM Giberson personifies the quintessence of a prodigious scientist – fixed in his commitment to education and passionate in his desire to define the betterment of health care. LECOM was exceptionally proud to

have had the opportunity to welcome him as Commencement Speaker for the Pharmacy Class of 2012.

Proving, as Aristotle noted, that “pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work,” RADM Giberson was selected by Surgeon General, Vice Admiral (VADM) Regina Benjamin, as Director of the new Division of Commissioned Corps Personnel and Readiness (DCCPR). He assumed his role in September of 2011, transferring from Indian Health Service (IHS) as the National HIV/ AIDS Program Principal Consultant. Previous to this, VADM Benjamin selected RADM Giberson to also serve as Chief Professional Officer for the Pharmacy Category in his collateral duty since March 2010.

RADM Giberson began his Corps career in 1994 and he has served in roles as clinical pharmacist, chief pharmacist, senior public

School of Pharmacy Dean Hershey S. Bell, MD, RADM Scott Giberson, Trustee Chairman Michael Visnosky, Esq. and President John Ferretti, DO. 6 lecom connection / july 2012

health advisor, senior medical program officer, division director, and principal consultant. In a career marked by exemplary leadership and notable undertakings, RADM Giberson served as a clinical pharmacist in three IHS locales. He was a founding member of the IHS National Clinical Pharmacy Specialist Program and he served subsequently as faculty at the IHS Clinical Pharmacy Practice Training Program and as faculty at multiple schools of pharmacy.

His extremely cogent and well-presented 2011 Report to the Surgeon General entitled “Improving Patient and Health System Outcomes Through Advanced Pharmacy Practice” addressed concerns within the pharmacy and health care fields with a view toward solution-oriented objectives.

RADM Giberson spent more than three years examining the role of pharmacy in the health care system. His report has drawn quite a good deal of national coverage and community wide interest across the medical disciplines. RADM Giberson explained that the textual basis of the report is being received and adopted within the current health care climate in a very encouraging and affirmative way. “We have received positive response from multiple sectors within the health care communities and at the senior levels of national health care,” noted the Admiral. He offered a further elaboration, articulating his wish that patients could be more readily involved in the national discourse; but overall finding the material moving in “the right direction” for the betterment of overall health care.

Commencement 2012

The Admiral addressed the way in which his recommendations will affect those who will enter the workforce as new pharmacists as he expounded upon his objective to inspire and to advance the profession and to further its comprehensive mission. He clarified that the report should be viewed as “a tool” – and he continued to explicate his findings that the skills and benefits offered and provided within the pharmacy arena are vastly underutilized.

RADM Giberson elucidated that from an outcomes-based perspective adopting some of these expanded pharmacists’ roles, for every dollar spent, four dollars can be returned in cost-containment mechanisms.

He acknowledged the challenges at present arising from a strained economy, yet also addressed the need to reduce demands on the health care system using pharmacists at the highest level of their licensure and Hershey Bell, MD, welcomes RADM Scott Giberson. education. the right environment to undertake truly balance, and plenty of bridge-building RADM Giberson further explained that he advanced and momentous achievements,” to every experience in which he had an views the model set forth in his report as encouraged the Admiral. “LECOM has a opportunity to aid his patients and to further one which facilitates a symbiotic relationship good advocate in Dean (Hershey) Bell, full the betterment of health. between provider and market as well as of vision and innovation,” observed RADM Perhaps it is that passion that has driven between physician and pharmacist. Rather Giberson. “LECOM is just such a place for RADM Giberson to maintain his life-long than competition in the provider marketplace those achievements and it has the perfect focus commitment to our nation as a whole. as an implement of bettering total patient situation to position itself as one of the top As Aristotle wrote – life’s highest attainment care, RADM Giberson detailed that he would pharmacy schools in the nation.” is found in a man who has discovered a like to see a mutually beneficial interplay In summarizing his view of the role that calling of purpose. Indeed, RADM Giberson among the health care communities. Such osteopathic schools will play in 21st century has done just that – elevating and advancing a result would meld the disciplines to health care, RADM Giberson emphasized the the health of a nation and bestowing “work as a cohesive unit to the betterment value of the osteopathic “total body view of proficient skill, acute intellect, and palpable of comprehensive patient care”. Clearly, medicine” expounding upon his experience commitment to his calling. It is just that the notion that underpins “the model is in Indian Health Service and particularizing purpose that carries forth his passion and effective,” noted RADM Giberson. He that “for many thousands of years the that passion that builds the bridges to a continued, “physicians had the ability to stop total body view of health care worked well better tomorrow. it over time, but found it valuable, as we (and for American Indians and Alaska Natives. patients) have benefitted from the workings Wellness and overall health is where the It can be said that the greatest rewards in life are reserved for those who demonstrate a of similar models since the early 1960s”. nation needs to go.” never-ending commitment to act until they When asked about the advice that he Engaged in the arena of national health care achieve a purposeful result. This level of would offer to new pharmacists as they for more than two decades, it is evident resolve can move mountains - and for RADM face a changing economic climate, RADM that RADM Giberson has brought passion, Giberson it appears as his “Golden Mean”.

Giberson tempered a sober response with the evident heart of a passionate optimist and a reflective intellectual. “Climates cycle” he stated, “but, initiative, inspired young minds, innovation and vision – those are constants” he explained. “We have

Most people say that is it is the intellect that makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.

~Albert Einstein

july 2012 / lecom connection 7

Commencement 2012

Commencement 2012 Outstanding Graduates and Purpose-Driven Goals

Proud to Serve His Country – Prepared to Answer His Calling

you there”. Dr. Abtahi knows well the path along which he travels – that path is filled with purpose – and to be sure, it was one that was hard-earned.

Medical Graduate Embodies LECOM Mission

Self-described as half Salvadorian (mother) and half Persian (father), he was born and raised in Rolla, Missouri, a small agricultural town about two hours southwest of St. Louis.

His very humble beginnings entailed his single mother laboring at two jobs to provide for his four-person family, of which Ali Abtahi was the youngest and only male. He faced the burden of funding his own education; a challenge that he met with decided vigor. He did “whatever it took, living for four years in an unheated garage with a mattress for a bed and with furniture dug out of dumpsters”. Abtahi explained that he worked two jobs - phlebotomist and restaurant host - to pay tuition. In need of financial assistance, he joined the Air Force ROTC program where he received a military scholarship that enabled him to become the only member of his family to earn a fouryear degree.

Ali Abtahi, DO has served for four years in the United States Air Force. Earning the rank of Captain, Dr. Abtahi is no stranger to diligence and he is not one to shrink from a challenging situation. As a key officer in charge of manpower and personnel programs for a 400-person intelligence unit and a 75-member F-15C flying unit, Dr. Abtahi was afforded a “Top-Secret” clearance by the United States government with attendant Air Force “command authority” that enabled his management of a half-million dollars in Air Force assets. During the 2005, “Summit of the Americas” conference, he provided military support to President George W. Bush. In 2007, he was honored with an award for “Best Staff” and with a personal achievement tribute as “480th Intel Wing, Personnel Officer of the Year”. Dr. Abtahi also has toured with the Air Force F-15C Flight Demonstration Team as public affairs representative, during which time he garnered the Air Force Achievement Medal for two consecutive seasons with the team.

Education based in Pittsburgh. The high standard of his professionalism coupled with the unfaltering pledge to public service evinces his love of country and of his dedication to a greater purpose. Abtahi explained that one of the core tenants ingrained in every Air Force Officer is that of “service before self.”

At its essence, it means the success of the mission comes above one’s own needs or desires... many airmen have paid the ultimate sacrifice with this value in mind. With many of my friends still serving on active duty, it is the least I can do to continue this core value of giving 100% of myself to the service of others; particularly in the medical profession where it is needed the most,” concluded Abtahi.

Lewis Carroll once said “if you don’t know where you are going, then any road will get

Truly, Ali Abtahi understands a path wrought with challenge and he welcomes the purpose that can be derived from such challenge. He has found along his journey, a keen devo-

It is clear that Dr. Abtahi sees “service” as the highest spiritual discipline. As a man whose deep love of country and his commitment to service in all capacities has constantly guided his work ethic, this physician-airman understands that the goal of “service” is possessed with a dual effect; it extinguishes self-laudatory overstatement and it centers one upon the truest purpose of life. He has found that his truest purpose lies within his commitment to his country and to his calling of medicine.

Additionally, Dr. Abtahi is deeply involved with organ donation education and he volunteers with the Center for Organ Recovery and 8 lecom connection / july 2012

Ali Abtahi, DO, Class of 2012, (left) helped promote osteopathic medicine by appearing with Danielle Hansen, DO, Class of 2005, on WSEE-TV’s “The Insider”, hosted by newsman Scott Bremmer.

Commencement 2012

tion to “excellence” – a tenet embodied by, and inculcated at, LECOM. He has learned that such excellence is not found within a singular act, rather it is found within those continual acts that become as habits to one’s character. “Leadership by example”, said Dr. Abtahi. “The best leaders I knew were not always the best at everything they did, but they were the ones who always gave their best. They constantly drove themselves to become better through perseverance and thus, they served as inspiration to others. Ultimately, if you do only that which you know you can do - you never do very much...and surely no one will be following you.” He understands that limitations can be nurtured within the mind, but if one seeks instead to nurture possibilities then one’s purpose becomes limitless.

It is that limitless purpose that Dr. Abtahi seems to exude in all endeavors and one that he plans to carry forward into his medical calling. Recently, he represented LECOM to promote National Osteopathic Medicine Week during a broadcast of “Erie Insider” on WSEE-TV. Dr. Abtahi is a graduate of the University of Missouri from whence he earned his Master of Science Degree in Cell and Molecular Biology. His post-LECOM graduation undertaking focuses upon his plan to complete a general surgery residency at Wright State University Hospital in Dayton, Ohio.

The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure, recognizes Dr. Abtahi. “The Air Force was instrumental in training me to become a leader who harnesses fear, who recognizes the possible, and who breaks through adversity.

LECOM furthered this mentality by pushing me to my academic brink and by leading me to become the best physician I can possibly be.

I’m excited to see where the next set of challenges may lead me during my surgical training,” he said. He understands that obstacles are the impediments that one sees when one takes an eye off the goal – and if past is prologue, it is clear that Dr. Ali Abtahi has no intention of meeting insurmountable barriers.

The passing of each year inscribes into the history of LECOM those indelibly etched memories and achievements of the scholars who have held high the bar and who have borne the standard of all that is LECOM. This 16th class to graduate from LECOM leaves upon its legacy a mark of excellence and of outstanding achievement; and as family, friends, and colleagues gathered to rejoice for a world that will be made better by those who are answering their health care callings – LECOM pauses to reflect upon some of the graduates whose stellar undertakings have sparkled brightly among the College’s constellation of excellence.

Kevin Bartolomucci, DO – Spirit and Courage Lead Graduate to Overcome All Odds to Earn Degree Greensburg native, Kevin Bartolomucci, DO is a Primary Care Scholars Pathway graduate who, after taking a year hiatus to undergo cancer treatments, graduates with remarkable flourish. He is the recipient of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians Outstanding Senior Scholarship Award. The honor is bestowed upon the member of the graduating class who has demonstrated the characteristics necessary to be an exemplar within his class. What more inspiring role model can be found in a doctor who has endured and triumphed over cancer as a patient?

Dr. Bartolomucci graduated Magna Cum Laude from Duquesne University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science. He considered himself fortunate to be selected for the LECOM Primary Care Scholars Pathway, but his career aspirations were sidetracked at the end of his second year of medical school when unexpectedly, he was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma. The rare diagnosis would first require that he undergo multiple surgeries; it would then necessitate that he miss his third year of school in order to accommodate a rigorous 12 month cycle of radiation and chemotherapy treatment.

Optimistically, Dr. Bartolomucci discerned a silver lining through the darkness of cancer treatment. “I whole-heartedly believe that my struggle with cancer has put me in a better position to fulfill my goal of becoming a family physician; one who is capable of providing patient-centered care. I also believe that I will be better equipped to prepare my patients for their long journey with a chronic illness,” he stated. Dr. Bartolomucci was determined to be cancer free by June, 2011 and he was able to return to school to complete his final year of medical studies.

He was accepted into the family medicine residency program at Latrobe Area Hospital and he begins caring for patients this summer. Dr. Bartolomucci is grateful to LECOM for “having faith in me and for standing beside me in good times and in bad”. He credits the education that he received at LECOM as one that will allow him to excel as an osteopathic family physician. july 2012 / lecom connection 9

Commencement 2012

Sohini Sokar, DO – From Teacher to Physician, Pharmacist becomes a DO Sohini Sarkar, DO, came to Erie as a LECOM pharmacy faculty member who decided to pursue medicine. Dr. Sarkar calls South Brunswick, New Jersey home. She was accepted to the Doctor of Pharmacy program at Rutgers, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy in Piscataway New Jersey, from where she was graduated with honors, receiving her PharmD degree in May of 2006.

“The love and support from my mom, sister, and grandmother has carried me through all of my academic challenges,” remarked Dr. Sarkar. Completing her residency in Medical Literature Evaluation/Drug Information at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital/Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, her passion for teaching and patient care led her to pursue teaching as a career. However, as a young woman searching for a position as an assistant professor, she found a challenging market. “Interviewing at LECOM, I was offered a position as a professor and clinical pharmacist utilizing all of the skills that I had acquired through college and residency,” continued Dr. Sarkar. She emphasized her gratitude for the position calling it “the perfect blend of didactic and clinical skills”. She deeply valued her first two years at LECOM as a full-time professor and clinical pharmacist.

“I truly have passion for academia and medicine,” affirmed Dr. Sarkar. While at Millcreek Community Hospital, she was afforded the opportunity to work with cardiologist Kevin J. Mikielski, DO, who inspired her to pursue her dream of becoming a physician. “I was grateful for my acceptance to LECOM and I continued much of my teaching and pharmacy organization responsibilities. I felt that I could offer much to the medical community by combining my PharmD with my DO training,” she said. The dual degrees provided Dr. Sarkar with a greater understanding of pharmacy merged with a comprehension of disease and diagnostics.

Dr. Sarkar noted that the osteopathic training was instrumental to her dream of being a well-rounded physician. The additional hands-on training that only LECOM could offer is invaluable to Dr. Sarkar. “I do not have the words to express how appreciative I am for the opportunity to attend Medical School at LECOM,” emphasized Dr. Sarkar. She concluded, “Without the support and kindness of each of my colleagues in pharmacy, the faculty, staff, and physician mentors, I could not have fulfilled my dream of becoming a physician”.

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Marissa Elaine McNeal, DO – Student Government Leader Takes Her Community Service Experience into Practice Marisa Elaine McNeal, DO, received the College of Medicine Dean’s Award.

The prize is awarded to the member of the graduating class who, in the judgment of the Academic Dean of the College of Medicine, exemplifies the unique combination of character, moral, academic, and ethical behavior expected in an osteopathic medical student. Born and raised in Towanda, Pa., she attended Gettysburg College, receiving her undergraduate degree in Health Sciences.

While at LECOM, Dr. McNeal served as SGA President. She notes that her leadership position provided to her many opportunities for campus and community involvement Dr. McNeal credits LECOM with nurturing within her the precious value of giving back to the community through volunteer work, which she continued while on rotations during her last two years of medical school. This summer, Dr. McNeal will begin an Internal Medicine residency at Wilson Hospital in Johnson City, N.Y.

Jamie Melichar, DO – Hospital Volunteer Finds Path To Career at LECOM Bradenton The path to the medical profession is most challenging and many find their way to it in remarkable and motivating ways.

Jamie Melichar, DO’s experiences as a teenage hospital volunteer led her onto the path to become an osteopathic physician.

As a 17-year-old junior in high school, Dr. Melichar found a head start in her medical training when she volunteered as a patient care technician and phlebotomist at Morton Plant Mease North Bay Hospital in New Port Richey, Florida. “My experiences through the years have allowed me to appreciate the complexity of balancing medicine with compassionate care,” said Dr. Melichar, a 2007 graduate of the University of South Florida.

Commencement 2012 It is precisely the compassion for the patient that stands as the hallmark of osteopathic medicine and it is that selfsame compassion that remains steadfastly at the core of the LECOM philosophy. Not surprisingly, it is that philosophy – treating the patient mind, body, and spirit – that Dr. Melichar appreciates the most.

“The founder of osteopathic medicine, Andrew Taylor Still, said: ‘To find health should be the object of the doctor - anyone can find disease’,” recounted Dr. Melichar. “This is the most eloquent description of the osteopathic physician. Osteopathic medicine is a philosophy that helps us remember that a patient is more than just that which we see on a lab report or an X-Ray. Patients are complex puzzles with multiple components that osteopathic physicians must respect – as well as treat.”

Dr. Melichar played an active role as a LECOM student. She served as President of the Student American Academy of Osteopathy Club, Vice President of the Florida Osteopathic Medical Association (FOMA) student chapter, and she served as a member of the Integrative Medicine Club. In 2010, Dr. Melichar received FOMA’s Student Award.

Between studying and serving as a club officer, she gave birth to her daughter, Natalie, whom she calls “her inspiration.” Dr. Melichar continues along the path of her medical calling - taking her training and skill to Florida’s Largo Medical Center for a family practice residency.

As the way stretches broadly ahead of her, Dr. Melichar asseverated, “I am very well prepared to move to the next stage of my training and to begin residency.” She credits her experiences at LECOM for having laid the groundwork for her to continue to build upon the foundations that the College instilled within her and to travel the road of a calling filled with purpose and compassion.

of teaching guitar and drum lessons in a music store and playing gigs in smoke-filled clubs, Dr. Heck decided to change keys in the score of his life to become a physician. With the support of his family, he left the musical arena to return to school and earn his Biology degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. He entered LECOM Bradenton in the fall of 2008.

One of Dr. Heck’s challenges – aside from the rigorous medical school curriculum – was dedicating quality time to spend with his family. His wife, Laura, is a dental hygienist and the couple has an 11-year old daughter, Lizzie.

“Balancing medical school with family life has been a challenge,” commented Dr. Heck. “Although I do have more demands upon my time and more responsibilities, I have a great support system. Medical school is difficult no matter how you slice it, but I am glad that I have had my family’s support.”

Dr. Heck is grateful to LECOM for preparing him well for the next stage of his career: a psychiatry residency at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “Neuroscience research is only beginning to reach a point where we are able to examine the brain and to unlock its secrets,” he said. “I am particularly interested in the neuroscience of the emotional effects of music and of the way in which this information may better be applied as treatment in psychiatry and music therapy.” The lengthy and arduous road to a purposeful osteopathic mission in the life of Dr. Heck may blend his love of music and his passion for medicine after all – and that is music to everyone’s ears.

Miciah Jones, DO – No Longer Knocking on Doors for Sales, New DO Finds Door Open Michael Heck, DO – Former Musician Finds for Him in Medicine His Rhythm in Osteopathic Medicine Where there is a will, there Music and medicine are intertwined by rhythm.

For years, Michael Heck, DO pursued his passion and he kept a steady rhythm as a musician. Now, the 33year old father of one will monitor the rhythms of his patients’ heartbeats as an osteopathic physician.

is a way, states the adage – and so it is for LECOM Bradenton graduate and Class of 2012 President, Miciah Jones, DO. Finding a will to help defray the expense of undergraduate school, Dr. Jones traveled door-todoor, selling books for the Southwestern Company.

“Music and medicine go hand-in-hand,” contended Dr. Heck. “Medicine, like music, is an art, which must be practiced and Dr. Heck with father-in-law William Viglione, MD. perfected.”

He knows that the best musicians are those who can practice a skill relentlessly, for hours upon end; as does a medical student by perfecting his or her skills through constant study and training. It is this ability to practice that “differentiates between a skilled guitarist and the fellow who can pluck out a couple of chords,” explained Dr. Heck.

The experiences of knocking on doors, trudging through neighborhoods, and dealing with the ups and downs of Dr. Jones with step-father Bruce Jones, MD. salesmanship in a town far from his own, gave him the wherewithal to pursue his dream of becoming a physician.

Dr. Heck’s musical talents began in the elementary school choir. From there, he studied the saxophone and drums; and later he honed his guitar skills as a member of his high school rock band–“Wish”. After seven years

“I was a 19-year old student selling books door-to-door in Minnesota,” recalled the Chicago native. “I made $3,000 that summer; averaging 75 hours a week for 13 weeks. Truly, it put matters into perspective. Many people don’t know what it means to grind away and to motivate oneself; whether it may be selling books or taking care of a patient, one must go into it with a positive attitude.” july 2012 / lecom connection 11

Commencement 2012 That positive attitude has carried Dr. Jones through medical school; and he made the choice to pursue that calling later than most students. Upon high school graduation, he considered pursuing a marketing career. However, after majoring in exercise physiology at Florida State University, Dr. Jones seriously began considering a career in medicine. Inspired by his step-father, Bruce Jones, MD, a family practice physician, the FSU graduate chose LECOM “because of its curriculum and commitment to professionalism”. “I had aspirations of playing soccer overseas or perhaps becoming an entrepreneur,” mused Dr. Jones, who worked as a personal trainer. He explained that he always had enjoyed the sciences and he found great interest in learning about the human body. “As I got older, I found that medicine truly was my calling,” he concluded.

Dr. Jones noted that he particularly appreciated talking with the students during his LECOM interview day; and he recalled the sparklingly clean building and the air of professionalism that emanated from the student body. “That setting makes for a great learning environment,” he stated .

Dr. Jones undertook a leadership role during his first year at LECOM. He was named President of the Class of 2012 - a role he greatly valued and seriously honored.

“Class leadership is very important to me,” said Dr. Jones, who is off to Olympia Fields, Ill. for an internal medicine residency at Franciscan St. James Health Hospital. “Efficiency and work ethic are the keys to accomplishment. We had a very diverse class with people interested in a variety of areas; it was exceptionally important that we gave back to the community and that we spread the word about LECOM.” Likewise, there is no doubt that LECOM finds it exceptionally important to spread the word about these accomplished and caring graduates, who will carry the shining imprimatur of their college to all points along their paths as they live to serve in the calling of their lives.

Arpit Mehta, PharmD – Commitment to Community and Profession Lead Graduate to State and National Service Arpit Mehta, PharmD feels strongly that his training at LECOM has successfully prepared him for an excellent and challenging future in Pharmacy. Dr. Mehta is a member of the New Practitioners section of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and he is the recipient of the Pennsylvania Society of Health-System Pharmacists Student of the Year Award.

Arpit Mehta started the LECOM Health Fairs and he proved an instrumental leader of many organizations at the College.

“My interest and career in Health-System Pharmacy started in 2004 as a Certified Pharmacy Technician at Howard County General Hospital, in Columbia, Maryland” recalled Dr. Mehta. He worked part-time at 12 lecom connection / july 2012

the Johns Hopkins affiliated hospital while completing his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and minor in Economics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Upon completion of his Bachelor’s degree, Dr. Mehta enrolled in the Pharmacy Post-Baccalaureate Program at LECOM; from there he was accepted to the LECOM School of Pharmacy where he continued to explore Health-System Pharmacy. As an intern at UPMC Hamot Hospital in Erie, Pa., Dr. Mehta developed and matured as a pharmacy student, noting the experiences offered by LECOM as invaluable to his growth.

As Vice-President of the Student Government Association (SGA) and President of the Student Society of Health-System Pharmacists (SSHP), he noted that the experiences gained with these positions and others prepared him for a future as a Health-System Pharmacy leader. From LECOM, Dr. Mehta plans to conduct a two year PGY1/PGY2 combined Health-System Pharmacy Administration residency at West Penn Allegheny Health System in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania along with a Multidisciplinary Master of Public Health degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

Rebecca Bollinger, PharmD - State Pharmacists Recognize Advocacy of LECOM Graduate The 2012 Class brims with noteworthy distinction in such students as Rebecca Bollinger, PharmD, a pharmacy student scholar who, as the President of American Pharmacist Association, was one of the recipients of the American Association of College Pharmacy Walmart Scholarship for teaching in 2011. Active in pharmacy advocacy, Dr. Bollinger finished her clinical rotations with the Pennsylvania Pharmacist Association. She was instrumental in authoring a proposal that was submitted to the Pennsylvania Senate regarding allowing pharmacy interns to provide immunizations. The last line of her proposal was incorporated into the pending Senate Bill. “I am most excited to know that by taking the time to put my thoughts into words and then to present them to my colleagues, I have essentially helped to bring about a change in the law and pharmacy education,” affirmed Dr. Bollinger.

Born and raised in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Bollinger completed her undergraduate studies in Chemical Biotechnology at East Stroudsburg University. She pursued a PhD at Carnegie Mellon University. Bollinger chose her pharmacy path at LECOM because she sought a career that combined science with one-on-one interaction with people. There is little doubt that her career will involve lobbying efforts coupled with a keen interest in community service. A newlywed of sorts, Bollinger has been married for just over one year and she resides near Pittsburgh with her husband, a dog, and two cats.

Commencement 2012

Mitchell Ranzenberger, PharmD – Lake Erie Swim Reveals Character of a True Champion Mitchell Ranzenberger, PharmD notably swam across Lake Erie while in the pharmacy program at LECOM. Ranzenberger, who swam nearly 24 miles to cross Lake Erie, became the 12th person ever to successfully swim the lake. Of the 57 people who have attempted to swim across Lake Erie, he holds the distinction of being among the select few who have actually completed the challenge. Dr. Ranzenberger knows that being the Dr. Ranzenberger with his father Steven Ranzenberger, DO. best is not so much about overcoming the barriers that others erect as it is about overcoming the barriers that one places in front of oneself.

For Dr. Ranzenberger, his mission had nothing to do with the barriers of breaking records, rather it did have everything to do with having the vision to dream, the courage to recover from adversity, and the determination never to lose sight of a purpose. His purpose was to swim in memory of three of his close friends who had committed suicide; dedicating his race to them and to suicide awareness. For that reason, and for those friends that he lost to suicide, Dr. Ranzenberger took the perilous plunge.

The Kansas City native attributes success to an indomitable will and a focused determination. Recalling the event, he stated “if I didn’t have my team there, I wouldn’t have made it”. With the encouragement of his wife and three children - his support team, which accompanied

Mitchell Ranzenberger, PharmD, 2012, helps a young patient with his medications.

him in a power boat and kayaks, and buoyed by friends and onlookers, Dr. Ranzenberger completed the crossing from Long Point, Ontario to Freeport Beach in North East Township in eighteen hours. It was a memorable moment for Dr. Ranzenberger and it was an extraordinary first for a LECOM student. Such events do not build character, they reveal it; and LECOM is proud to recall the accomplishment of this amazing athlete and scholar in his triumphant achievement.

Breanna Coletta, PharmD – First in Her Family to Practice in Health Care, Graduate Learned Value of Patient Care Breanna Coletta, PharmD calls Northeast, Pa. her home.

As one of five children in her close knit family, her mother is a high school principal and her father is a grape farmer, Dr. Coletta will be the first in her family to practice in the health care arena. Her decision to enter the pharmacy field was solidified when her grandfather became very ill.

During his care, her grandmother grew increasingly concerned as to whether she was making the best decisions regarding his care. Absent needed information and with no one to whom she could turn for guidance, Dr. Coletta’s grandmother feared that the medications were causing more harm than good. She decided at that moment that she would be a person that any of her patients could approach to obtain information that they needed about medications.

Dr. Coletta expressed her good fortune to have attended LECOM

LECOM School of Pharmacy Dean Hershey S. Bell, MD, was on shore to give congratulations as Ranzenberger emerged from Lake Erie at Freeport Beach in North East, Pa. july 2012 / lecom connection 13

Commencement 2012 and to have been able to remain near her family. She has signed with Walmart to remain within the Erie region that she calls home and to give back to her community. Dr. Coletta emphasized that during her rotations she developed solid associations and deep respect for faculty members and for the amount of time and effort that they devote to making their students great future pharmacists. “Experiencing the excellent mentorship that they provided to me has compelled me to want to be a preceptor in the future and to impact students’ lives as positively as they have impacted mine” averred Coletta.

College’s unique demonstration of encouragement and motivation has unveiled a radiant future for me with endless possibilities”. Brother, Philip plans to work for Walmart in Minneapolis, as well, and to further pursue his MBA.

Kelley Moore, PharmD and Brett Moore, PharmD – Older Sister Takes Cue from Brother to Pursue Pharmacy Degree

Brandon Flohr, PharmD’s path to pharmacy school was paved long before he entered LECOM Bradenton in the fall of 2008.

In the category of sibling success stories, brother and sister - Kelley Moore, PharmD and Philip (Brett) Moore, PharmD graduated together with the 2012 Class of the LECOM School of Pharmacy.

The siblings hail from Rimersburg, Pa. where the genesis of their health care interest was formed. “Three years ago, I was sitting in an undergraduate classroom with no idea what I wanted to do with my life,” recalled Kelley. Her family had been encouraging her to apply to LECOM, knowing that her brother, who is two years younger than Kelley had been accepted into LECOM. Phillip was accepted into the 2 + 3 matriculation program through the University of Pittsburgh at Titusville that led him to LECOM’s pharmacy school.

Both his great-grandfather, Richard Siebens and grandfather, Edward Beverly, were pharmacists and the two men owned the Smith Brothers Drugstore in McKinney, Texas.

Smith Brothers Drugs opened on the square in downtown McKinney in 1880. It was the oldest continuously run business in the bustling town until its closing in 2008.

“As a LECOM graduate, now ready to begin the next chapter of my life, I cannot believe that I once questioned my future career path,” mused Kelley. She praised LECOM providing her with a different perspective regarding her pursuit of a career in pharmacy. “They supplied all of the opportunities necessary to develop and sharpen the core skills needed for a successful future,” she asserts. The high standards that LECOM sets for its students were evident to her brother as well. Philip explained that “LECOM aided my efforts by having a very approachable open door policy with educators”. He noted that many of the educators are still practicing pharmacy themselves, which facilitated a real world practical application within the classrooms. “Rotating with preceptors was a blessing” affirmed Philip. He clarified that “they directly applied classroom material to real-time cases” proving most beneficial for him.

“I believe that my education at LECOM helped me to mature and to learn a great deal about pharmacy, leadership, and future initiatives,” stated Philip. Kelley has accepted a position as a staff pharmacist with Walmart in Minneapolis, Minn. Of LECOM, Kelley commented “the 14 lecom connection / july 2012

Brandon Flohr, PharmD - Graduate Can Trace His Pharmacy Roots to Texas in the 1880s

Dr. Flohr’s father-in-law, aunt, and uncle are pharmacists as well. “The tradition of the hometown pharmacist is built upon patient interaction,” said Flohr. “Everyone knows the neighborhood pharmacist. They are first in line to help with patient care outside of the doctor’s office.”

Despite an influx of chain pharmacies permeating most towns, Dr. Flohr insists that there is still room for the small, hometown pharmacy. “I truly believe that the small town pharmacies can survive,” he confirmed. “They may not be able to compete with the bigger names, so they have to make their service unique; they have to carve out a niche – like compounding – to make them stand out from the big companies.”

Dr. Flohr’s mission and his determination are reminiscent of the innovative and indomitable foresight that two decades ago, laid the groundwork for LECOM. That very spirit and pioneering vision is effervescent in Dr. Flohr. It is patient care that remains at the core of the LECOM School of Pharmacy mission and it is patient care that he sees as his objective.

“There were many moments when I was on clinical rotations that I was able to help somebody,” he recalled. “To help someone and to touch someone’s life is the reason that we are in the health care field in the first place.”

Dr. Flohr’s call to pharmacy took him 900 miles from his hometown of Dallas to Bradenton, Fla. After marrying in his home state of Texas in 2010, he returned to Florida, while his wife, Melissa remained in Texas to continue her nursing career. “It is challenging to be away from home,” he admits, “but, I love the learning environment at LECOM with small class sizes and availability of faculty – and that played into my decision to travel the distance to Bradenton.” Dr. Flohr returns to join his family fraternity of pharmacists in the Lone Star state with his position reserved at CVS Caremark Pharmacy in Dallas. His advice to those interested in a pharmacy career is simple: “Love what you do”.

Commencement 2012

2012 President’s Award – Dennis E. Agostini, DO

T

hose who know LECOM are aware of how the school advocates the pursuit of excellence in education and a purpose in our mission that translates into great success.

Our success has come through the work of individuals such as the man we honored at Commencement for his dedication to building the dream that has become LECOM.

As one of the founders of LECOM, Dr. Dennis Agostini’s history with the school creating clinical education opportunities for our students parallels the growth that has made our college the largest medical school in the country.

The combination of his honorable character, vibrant spirit, and singular focus upon improvement comprises just one part of the reason that LECOM has selected Dr. Agostini as the recipient of the 2012 President’s Award. He committed more than twenty years of unparalleled service to the college.

This fitting tribute recognizes his esteemed positions at LECOM, including those of Associate Dean of Clinical Education, Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine and Biochemistry, and Chief Academic Officer of the Lake Erie Consortium for Osteopathic Medical Training.

As Associate Dean, Dr. Agostini built the clinical education program from one teaching hospital to more than 100 hospitals and clinics where our students pursue their thirdand fourth-year training. Today, nearly 2000 clinical adjunct faculty teach our students.

As the LECOMT Chief Academic Officer he worked diligently to attract new post graduate teaching hospitals as that program grew from one hospital to nearly 40.

Dr. Agostini grew up in Erie and attended Gannon University. He did not start out to become a physician. He first went to Cleveland and earned a Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University in 1971. But later, he returned to Pennsylvania to become a physician.

Michael Visnosky, Esq. and John Ferretti, DO congratulate Dennis Agostini, DO (center) after his award.

After receiving his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree in 1978 from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, he trained with the Family Practice Residency Program at Millcreek Community Hospital in Erie. He also became certified in Emergency Medicine. He has earned a lifetime certification from the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians and he enjoys the status of Lifetime Fellow in the American College of Emergency Physicians.

In keeping with LECOM’s commitment to serve not only our community but our

Country, Dr. Agostini earned the rank of Major while providing medical services in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps as a military physician during the Gulf War. In serving the health care needs of our community, he became Director of Emergency Services and Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Millcreek Community Hospital. Dr. Agostini has served as chair and/or member on a number of professional committees, associations, and boards; and he is the author of numerous publications.

LECOM is particularly pleased to recognize Dr. Dennis E. Agostini, DO as a most deserving and dedicated physician, educator, administrator, and patriot – and the recipient of the 2012 President’s Award. july 2012 / lecom connection 15

Commencement 2012

The Lamp of Learning Burns Brightly for Dr. Joan Moore Marie L. Mazzio and Dr. John D. Latorella Memorial Scholarship Award “Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing”. Such are the words of Albert Schweitzer and such is the life’s purpose of Joan Moore, DO. With this announcement, her luminescent example is recognized and extolled by LECOM as Dr. Moore steps forward with delighted dedication to announce the establishment of the Marie L. Mazzio and Dr. John D. Latorella Memorial Scholarship Award.

The Scholarship Award will benefit a deserving LECOM student exhibiting need of financial support. The memorial award is instituted in honor of Dr. Moore’s mother, the late Marie L. Mazzio and it is jointly named for Dr. Moore’s Joan Moore, DO presents the Memorial Scholarship uncle, Dr. John D. Latorella.

Award to Susan Overkamp, DO, Class of 2012

to others. Whether it was service to his country or service to the patients who packed his office in Boston, those who came to know “Dr. John” departed his presence feeling soul-touched and spirit-restored. “He was a man who cared for the ‘whole person’ at a time when the nowrecognized benefits of osteopathic medicine were still in the fledgling stages,” explained Dr. Moore. “When he died, 46 years ago, people poured into the streets of Boston to pay their respects.” The Latorella family of five siblings was well-educated and successful; exhibiting always a joy of life that they shared with each other and with their children. To them and to all, Dr. John Latorrella gave of his healing hands with a happy and exultant heart.

Dr. Moore dually credits her mother and uncle with the realization of It is little wonder that Dr. Moore “They were the inspiration, the champions, and the her life’s dream. “They were the has demonstrated through her inspiration, the champions, and collectively dynamic force that shaped the person that I actions and to all those whom she the collectively dynamic force that grew to become. There was nothing more central or more has touched in practice and in shaped the person that I grew to important than education; there was nothing more valued community, a character built upon become,” asseverated Dr. Moore. giving back and giving to others.

“There was nothing more central or more encouraged than giving back to others; there was She embodies the very principles or more important than education; no purpose or attainment more meaningful than family.” of the legacy that came before and there was nothing more valued or she reflects the very mission and more encouraged than giving back purpose of the Lake Erie College to others; there was no purpose or attainment Dr. Moore’s mother, Marie L. Mazzio, of Osteopathic Medicine. For her mother and more meaningful than family.” Imbued with personified the pioneering ‘woman of uncle – who so clearly shaped her destiny, Dr. those core life lessons, Dr. Moore found her tomorrow’ before the notion of an educated and Joan Moore marks their gifts with her own gift accomplished woman became conventional. to the future of medicine. passion in her calling to medicine.

Marie Mazzio was a certified public accountant Dr. Moore has committed herself to work that is and she offered a vigor and dynamism that set For, if as the Bible illuminates, “it is in the giving unique and highly characteristic of LECOM. Her high the bar for her children. With a determined that we receive”, or as the Hindu scriptures general practice of medicine in radiology and and singularly focused mission, Marie ensured explain, “they who give, have all things; they who oncology spanned over 30 years, during which an education for her children; her son – withhold, have nothing” – Dr. Moore advises time Dr. Moore took successful multitasking became an attorney and her daughter became “give back and give thanks” – there is going to to an art form. She served concomitantly as a physician. Their achievements filled Marie be some person in each of our lives to whom Professor of Radiology and she devoted much Mazzio with deep and ebullient happiness. It we attribute that power of self that we came of her time as Medical Director for the Anthony is with beloved admiration and unparalleled to discover. Each of us has cause to think with Correctional Center in West Virginia. She was an respect for her mother’s vision and unremitting profound gratitude of those who have lighted acclaimed Division Surgeon in the United States love for her children that Dr. Moore sought to the flame within us. For Dr. Moore, she extends Army Reserves from which she has retired as Lt. put in place this scholarship award. her gratitude to continue the brightly burning Colonel and she served as Medical Director to lamp of learning, the circle of compassion, Dr. John D. Latorella embodied the epitome and the selflessness of giving to the benefit of the Army EMT course for over a decade. of an American doctor - one who lived in All this and so much more, she selflessly credits Winthrop, Mass. and practiced in Boston; one the LECOM family and to enrich the future of as the resultant effect of the enthusiastic who was a surgeon-soldier in World War II; medicine – and wouldn’t her mother and uncle encouragement and dedicated guidance of her and one whose life’s work centered upon the smile broad and beaming smiles to know just how far their gifts will extend? mother and uncle. principle and fundamental purpose of service 16 lecom connection / july 2012

Education

As a Nation Examines Spending, a Return to American Foundational Values Proves Instructive – “Spend Wisely” It was the entrepreneurial spirit that allowed Benjamin Franklin to build wealth, to serve his community, and to create a better world for future generations. However, Ben Franklin did not merely leave the world with his numerous inventions or with a young country called the “United States of America”; he also contributed a legacy of boundless personal wisdom and advice from his many writings - some of his best advice is financial.

A recent report generated by the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP) has exposed, for some - a thought-provoking, attention-grabbing, and ostensibly curious “discovery”. Indeed, for most, it may not be deemed “discovery” at all – it may be just good old common sense; or as Franklin would instruct, “do the right thing, and live below - not at your means”.

With such an aphorism in mind, AICUP has determined that private dollars spent to educate future scholars are better utilized, more effectively spent, and result in more favorable outcomes across the board than those expended by stateoperated institutions of higher learning.

AICUP echoing Franklin’s maxim: “if you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone”.

Here are the facts as keenly, methodically, and scrupulously parsed by the AICUP: After studying independent college and university costs across the Commonwealth to assess multitudinous factors such as degree, graduation rate, economic impact, and minority benefit; then subsequently comparing those findings to state-funded and statesupported institutions – the bottom line results unequivocally demonstrate that independently operated colleges and universities save dollars while making the greatest and most favorable economic impact upon the communities and regions in which the schools are located.

The AICUP study was conducted by way of a scrupulous examination of records - including enrollment, graduation data, community benefit, dollars expended, value-ratios received by communities, and comparative analysis of colleges and universities across

the Commonwealth. AICUP’s results are evocative of fellow Pennsylvanian, Franklin, who counseled, “Spend one penny less than thy clear gains”.

Independent colleges and universities throughout Pennsylvania are the first choice for post-graduate work in the Commonwealth.

With 65% percent of advanced degrees As for maintaining low-cost tuition – awarded, independent college students were independent and privately run schools lead found more likely to earn a degree within four state-managed institutions by large measure. years than were their public school counterparts.

Between 2006 and 2012, a nation-wide Thousands of undergraduate, graduate, and evaluation of room-and-board costs found professional students whose permanent home the average total net price of a per student address is within Pennsylvania and who were education increased by only $450 in private, awarded degrees over the past several years non-profit four-year institutions. When only chose to remain within the Commonwealth. tuition and fees were considered, net prices This “choice” serves to quell the “brain drain”; the consequence of which presents great public benefit.

The report further underscored the fact that Pennsylvania’s independent colleges and universities remain a major driver of consumer spending within the Commonwealth with over $16.1 billion dollars in economic impact generated within the region. Students and their families, as well as the faculty and staff, often patronize local restaurants and retailers.

per student actually decreased. Compare those findings to the cost of tuitions that state institutions recorded and the study charted an across-the-board nearly 40% percent increase for each student.

Benjamin Franklin cautioned, “think what you do when you run in debt: you give to another power over your liberty”. During the 2009-10 school year, first-time, full-time undergraduates at Pennsylvania independent colleges and universities receiving financial aid garnered an average of $16,150 in grant aid from federal, state, and institutional sources.

State-funded schools - proving the statesman’s adage that “great spenders are bad lenders” almost tripled that number.

Meanwhile, transmuting value to the dollar, independent colleges have demonstrated their commitment to increasing access for low income students. Graduation rates for minorities attending independent schools also topped those graduating from state institutions.

Independent colleges and universities pay over $4.58 billion dollars in salaries each year to almost 80,000 employees; making independent colleges and universities the fourth largest private sector employer in the Commonwealth.

The taxpayer cost per degree for private and independent colleges was just over $3,000 per student as compared to the state-funded tax expenditure per student degree that surpassed $22,000.

The current national economic crisis and the attendant challenging fiscal climate has emphasized to most discerning Americans, that taxpayer funds need to be spent wisely and efficiently. Nowhere is that fact more evident than in the field of higher education.

Independent colleges and universities are the most efficient investment Pennsylvania can make in higher education. Taking a line from Benjamin Franklin’s Almanac - “a penny saved” truly is “a penny earned”.

Illustration courtesy of AICUP: Making an Impact, The Economic Impact of Independent Higher Education in Pennsylvania, 2012 .

july 2012 / lecom connection 17

Education

LECOM President, Educators, and Communications Department Capture a Bevy of Awards at AACOM LECOM President Receives National Medical Education Award; Dr. Richard Ortoski and Dr. Mark Andrews Accept Awards in Innovation; Dr. Richard Keller is Inducted into NAOME; and Pierre Bellicini Garners Media Triumph The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet held on March 31, 2012 in Washington, D.C. was the setting for an evening that highlighted an accoladefilled program for the President of LECOM, two award-winning LECOM educators, and the school’s Director of Communications.

All told, LECOM was honored with six separate tributes at the AACOM annual meeting.

AACOM presented the 2012 Robert A. Kistner Award to LECOM President John

M. Ferretti, DO. The Robert A. Kistner Award is named for the distinguished Dr. Kistner, who served at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine for 26 years. The award is presented to an individual who has made a significant contribution to osteopathic medical education. Dr. Ferretti, President, CEO, and co-founder of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, has made substantial contributions both to the education of the next generation of physicians and to improving health care for the underserved. Under his unfaltering leadership, LECOM has become the largest

medical college in the United States.

In accepting the award, Dr. Ferretti affirmed his commitment to the purposeful mission first established by LECOM and he further explicated his profound honor in being recognized with an award that paid tribute to Dr. Kistner as an outstanding medical educator of our time. While the Kistner Award may be conferred upon a recipient for past achievements, Dr. Ferretti avowed his determination to press ever onward to achieve even greater advancements in health care training and instruction. In his

(L-R) Richard Ortoski, DO, Pierre Bellicini, Christopher Keller, Phd, Mark Andrews, PhD and President John Ferretti, DO accepting awards.

18 lecom connection / july 2012

Education

remarks, LECOM’s President affirmed the unlimited potential coupled with estimable goals that can be conquered in medical education through companioned efforts with organizations such as AACOM. On the heels of that inspirational moment, came yet another round of honors.

AACOM’s Society of Osteopathic Medical Educators (SOME) Innovation in Medical Education Awards recognized the educational innovations that have resulted in meaningful change at the developer’s institution.

Richard A. Ortoski, DO, was named as the recipient of the very first Marguerite Elliott Innovation in Clinical Medicine Education Award based upon his development of the Primary Care Scholars Pathway (PCSP) Enrichment Module. The Society of Osteopathic Educators requested entries in the competition to which Dr. Ortoski, Chair of the LECOM Department of Primary Care Education and Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Human Sexuality submitted the foundational work-product that he created to establish the Pathway.

Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians and he operates an active family medicine practice in the Erie-Fairview area. In 2011, Dr. Ortoski was named as the Fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians. As part of the LECOM family since its inception in 1993, Dr. Ortoski continues to lecture and to coordinate the college courses that focus upon primary care medicine, physical diagnosis, and topics involving human sexuality.

The awards continued to flow at AACOM with Mark A. W. Andrews, Ph.D. accepting the Innovations in Basic Science Medical Education Award. Dr. Andrews is a Professor of Physiology and the Director of Examination Management and Evaluation for LECOM at Seton Hill.

While Dr. Ortoski’s award was presented to him in the clinical education area, Dr. Andrews was awarded his honor in the field of basic science. The award was presented in recognition of Dr. Andrews’ educational appraisal project that centered upon the assessment of basic medical science knowledge demonstrated by matriculating students during preclinical years, and beyond.

Dr. Ortoski established the enrichment module curriculum for the PCSP - one of the two, three-year pathways offered at LECOM. When the program began in 2007, it was the Dr. Andrews was enthusiastic about only three-year medical degree program in the introduction of the new awards. He explained that the Innovation Awards “may the country. bring some life to the educational research Dr. Ortoski serves as the Clinical Director side of AACOM, which truly is deserving of the new Primary Care Scholars Pathway, of emphasis and support, especially in an accelerated pathway into the specialties consideration of the excellent work that the of Family Medicine and General Internal various COMs are doing”.

Medicine. He received his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Degree from the Dr. Andrews is a Specialist in Physiology Philadelphia College of Osteopathic and Biophysics and past Director of the Medicine. From there he pursued his post- Independent Study Pathway at the LECOM doctoral training at Flint Osteopathic Erie campus. As a Director at LECOM at Seton Hospital in Flint, Mich. (now Genesys Hill, Dr. Andrews works closely with students Regional Medical Center). Dr. Ortoski is and faculty to assure a quality, integrated certified in Family Medicine and Adolescent basic and clinical science education, and and Young Adult Medicine by the American to develop lifelong learning skills within

the students. Passionately involved in educational research, Professor Andrews has authored a number of publications and has been a well-received presenter at national and international meetings of educators. He was honored as the LECOM Distinguished Educator of the year in 2006.

Dr. Andrews has numerous publications and research grants focusing upon the way in which Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy may aid recovery of muscle function. His work has been noted and published in a number of newspaper articles and periodicals such as USA Today, Newsday (NY), Fitness Magazine, and Runners World, and he is a regular contributor to Scientific American and Scientific American Mind.

Dr. Andrews, along with Christopher C. Keller, PhD, Director of Microbiology/ Immunology at LECOM was inducted into the National Academy of Osteopathic Medical Educators (NAOME). NAOME is a community of outstanding educators (termed Fellows) who have met rigorous standards of academic excellence within the last five years. Membership is earned for five-year intervals during which, Fellows are asked to mentor and to support academic excellence and scholarship in the osteopathic medical education profession. Dr. Keller has long served LECOM as Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and as the Director of the Laboratory of Human Pathogens. During his NAOME term, Dr. Keller will continue his history of estimable leadership as an instructor and mentor of academic scholarship.

The LECOM Communications and Marketing Department, led by Pierre Bellicini, received a first place award in the Best AdvertisingMultimedia category for the College. The new TV ad campaign, “Can You Hear the Calling?” received the first place prize in the AACOM Excellence in Communications competition.

LECOM is especially proud of these honorees. The College recognizes and lauds the significant body of work together with the indefatigable effort that was expended by all of the recipients to carry them to this estimable outcome. july 2012 / lecom connection 19

Education

MCH Residents Sweep the POMA 104th Annual Clinical Assembly Writing Competition Millcreek Community Hospital (MCH) Residents swept the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Medical Association (POMA) 104th Annual Clinical Assembly Writing Competition this year with particularly noteworthy distinction.

Awards were presented to five MCH residents at the conference gathering in Valley Forge, Pa. The award recipients this year penned their pieces to feature a wide range of medical topics from Spinal Cord Injury to Osteoporosis.

Taking the first place award, LECOM graduate, Fernando Melaragno, DO, found that routine screening for thyroid dysfunction of psychiatric inpatient admissions was not beneficial and it had no positive affect upon therapy in this group.

Dr. Melaragno compared local populations to national averages with a pivotal aspect of his presentation addressing cost-effective medicine. “Reduction of unnecessary cost in the hospital is a place where we can have an impact from day-to-day,” explained the doctor.

“Some tests are antiquated and practices need to be made current. Cost effective medicine is imperative today as insurance companies play an increasing role in health care.” Specializing in Endocrinology with a goal of decreasing and preventing the severe morbidity and mortality associated with diabetes, Dr. Melaragno is grateful to LECOM for the wherewithal to follow his dream. Born and raised in Erie, Pa., Dr. Melaragno noted that LECOM made it possible for him to remain near his “big Italian family” to whom he is very close while providing the opportunity for him to study within a “great learning environment and still be able to pursue a specialty”. Dr. Melaragno is very proud of his Golden Quill Award and he noted that LECOM and Millcreek’s resident research requirement allowed him the occasion to pursue such an interesting topic.

The second place honor was bestowed upon Joshua Tuck, DO, a University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine graduate, whose piece addressing Nail-Patella Syndrome was of resounding note. His win this year denotes the third time that Dr. Tuck has bested the competition, having earned three consecutive POMA Annual Clinical Essay Contest awards. Dr. Tuck placed second in 2010 20 lecom connection / july 2012

Michael Zal, DO presents the first place writing award to Fernando Melaragno, DO. and third in 2011. His 2012 entry was entitled “Nail-Patella Syndrome in an Amish Family - A Case Series and Review of Current Literature”.

This study followed one Amish family afflicted with a rare genetic disorder known as Nail Patella Syndrome. The Ohio family was treated at the Shriner’s Hospital for Children in Erie, Pa. Nail-Patella Syndrome consists of absent or hypoplastic fingernails, dislocated radial heads, iliac horns, and absent or hypoplastic patellae.

The paper focused upon genetic inheritance patterns, physical characteristics, and longterm limitations related to the disease. Dr. Tuck noted that his interest in Nail-Patella Syndrome first became piqued during his second year of residency training, while completing a pediatric orthopedic surgical rotation at Shriner’s Hospital. He credits the orthopedic surgery residency at MCH and LECOM with affording him, and all residents, an ample ability to experience a wide variety of adult and pediatric orthopedic injuries and diseases. “These opportunities, along with a clinical faculty dedicated to resident education, make the pursuit of quality independent research possible,” affirmed Dr. Tuck . Dr. Tuck

explained that the diverse clinical experiences provided in the MCH orthopedic surgery residency program exposed him to advanced surgical treatments that he might otherwise never have seen.

Gaining the distinguished spots of Honorable Mention were Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine graduate, Preethi Ravichandran, DO; Western University of Health Sciences graduate, Jeffrey Biehn, DO; and LECOM graduate, Michael Corum, DO. Dr. Preethi Ravichandran, centered her topic upon “Investigating Medication Compliance in Osteoporosis Patients within Erie, Pennsylvania”. Medication compliance is a challenging subject as patients across the nation fail to take medications as prescribed by their physician. “Patients with silent, asymptomatic diseases are often noncompliant for multiple reasons. These include high cost of medication, concern about medication side effects, and distrust of medications in general,” explained Dr. Ravichandran. Her research project explored medication compliance in osteoporosis and

Education

it surveyed more than one thousand patients within the Erie region to investigate the issue.

Dr. Ravichandran commented that LECOM supported her ideas, providing guidance and resources to facilitate her research. Dr. Ravichandran noted with deep gratitude that “to be a part of a community hospital with the LECOM medical school affiliation gives each individual the encouragement to grow as a physician and to make dreams become a reality.”

Dr. Biehn’s topic “An Evidenced-Based Review of the Therapeutic Effects of Hypothermia after Spinal Cord Injury” was developed to provide readers with an understanding of the theory behind hypothermia as a treatment protocol for spinal cord injury and to evaluate the current literature for its possible use. Dr. Biehn became interested in the experimental treatment modality when Buffalo Bills’ football player Kevin Everett sustained a spinal cord injury in 2007. His dramatic neurologic recovery exceeded expectations and it caused

Dr. Biehn to ponder the benefits of intravascular hypothermia. Unfortunately, Dr. Biehn explained “there is a paucity of clinical trials on this subject, but a plethora of experimental animal studies; therefore, I felt it pertinent to provide a concise review of the published data in order to evaluate the possible rationale for the use of hypothermia in the acute setting”. Dr. Biehn attributed the success of his paper to the atmosphere at MCH Orthopedic Department and its focus upon the educational goals of conducting high-quality research pertinent to his specific interests. “The faculty and administrators were always there and eager to help in any capacity,” affirmed Dr. Biehn.

“The Socioeconomic Influence on the Prescribing and Use of Narcotic Analgesics in Orthopedic Pain Management” was the topic scrutinized by Dr. Michael Corum, a PHY-2 in Orthopedic Surgery at MCH. The paper represented his first submission to the POMA essay contest. The study explored the use of narcotics by patients seen in an orthopedic

office as compared to an orthopedic clinic treating socioeconomically disadvantaged patients. Dr. Corum noted that “MCH and LECOM provide its students and residents an extremely diverse clinical experience by setting up opportunities to work within office settings as well as in community based clinics”.

He further explained that having attending physicians and staff so dedicated to research created the outstanding environment for conducting high caliber research.

The laudable showing of these fine physicians in this year’s POMA writing competition underscores the fact that the LECOM methodology is highly beneficial to its residents. LECOM is very proud of its myriad programs and of its unflagging support of superior research and residency training; moreover – LECOM is tremendously proud to pay tribute to these five physician-scholars in recognition of their admirable achievements.

Dr. Melaragno (left) with honorable mention winners (L-R) Jeffrey Biehn, DO, Michael Corum, DO and Preethi Ravichandran, DO. july 2012 / lecom connection 21

Community

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LECOM and the ERIE Community Celebrate National Osteopathic Medicine Week

he Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Millcreek Community Hospital, and the Erie community came together during the week of April 15th to recognize the commitment and professionalism of American osteopathic physicians. National Osteopathic Medicine (NOM) Week is an event that is celebrated each year by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA). The event draws together those within the osteopathic medical profession with a view toward a common goal – that of increasing awareness throughout the nation about osteopathic medicine and about the great proficiencies, benefits, and comprehensive value of doctors of osteopathic medicine (DOs). It is held each year to coincide with the founding date of the AOA, which was April 19, 1897.

present the osteopathic message and to start people thinking of ways to make their own lives healthier.

health, travel safety, heart health, skin safety, osteopathic medicine, poison prevention, and so much more.

In Erie, the students set up health screening and information tables at the Millcreek Mall. More than 70 students, representing 15 different clubs and organizations, provided handouts and information on various health-related topics.

Visitors learned about women’s

Bradenton medical students organized two health and wellness fairs held at Buffalo Creek Middle School and Manatee High School in Bradenton. In Greensburg, the Emergency Medicine Club from LECOM at Seton Hill took osteopathic medicine to an older generation

At LECOM, the physicians of today are training the doctors of tomorrow. The College is nurturing within its students, the comprehensive understanding and pivotal importance of preventive health care and of the principles of osteopathic whole-person medicine. Primary care physicians and health care professionals focus upon an all-inclusive approach to the maintenance of health.

To ensure the health of the citizens who live near LECOM campuses, medical and pharmacy students used NOM Week as a platform to

Erie City of Erie Mayor Joseph Sinnott (right) presented a proclamation for National Osteopathic Medicine Week to Michael Pham, OMS2 (left) and Kristi Braunlich, OMS2 (center).

bradenton City of Bradenton Mayor Wayne H. Poston (fifth from left), proclaimed National Osteopathic Medicine Week with LECOM Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Robert George, DO (center) and LECOM Third-year medical students (L-R) Anthony Dominick, Katherine Lambert, Kimberly Feltner, Kelly Rosborough and Alan Mashraghi.

22 lecom connection / july 2012

Community

seton hill L-R: Samuel Fam (OMS2, 1st Vice President, SGA); Nicholas Swerchowsky (OMS3, Class of 2014 President); Kai Schlingmann (OMS3, former SGA President); Mayor Ronald E. Silvia, PhD; Anna Jones (OMS2, SGA President); Kaitlyn Mainwaring (OMS2, 1st Vice President, Class of 2015); Margaret Ciavarelli (OMS2, SGA Secretary); Kristin Gales (OMS2, 2nd Vice President, Class of 2015); and Heather Krasa (OMS2, 2nd Vice President, SGA).

with a “game day” at the Redstone Highlands Senior Living Community where they assisted the residents with social activities.

The significance of osteopathic medicine was not lost upon the Mayor of Erie, who enthusiastically lauded the value of the osteopathic medical field. As part of the local acknowledgments, Erie Mayor, Joseph Sinnott presented an official proclamation to representatives from LECOM’s Student Government Association (SGA) and Provost, Senior Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs, Silvia Ferretti, DO. Christine Kell, PhD; Susan Lazarro; Regan Shabloski, DO; Theodore Makoske, MD; Hershey Bell, MD; Patricia Epple, President Pennsylvania Pharmacy Association; and Kristina Braunlich, OMS2, SGA President participated in the program. The tribute was held on the LECOM campus on April 17, 2012 with the proclamation recognizing the contributions of osteopathic

physicians in the Erie area and honoring their dedication “to improving the health of their community through education and awarenessbased efforts, as well as by delivering quality health services.”

The mayors of Greensburg, Pa. and Bradenton, Fla., likewise recognized the impact that LECOM students, along with faculty and staff, have on their communities.

For those who ask the question “what is a DO?” – NOM Week provided the answers. Osteopathic physicians are fully licensed to prescribe medication and to practice in all specialty areas. Currently, there are more than 78,000 DOs and 19,000 osteopathic medical students in the United States. At LECOM, the future of osteopathic medicine is a bright and promising one – and NOM Week is ever a highlight of a unified mission to shape the future of medicine.

Angela Virgilio (OMS2) takes the blood pressure of one of the many visitors to the blood pressure screening table during the wellness fair.

LECOM medical students hold up a sign celebrating National Osteopathic Medicine Week during a career fair at Manatee High School in Bradenton, Fla. From L-R: Jenifer Bryant (OMS2), Cydney Godman (OMS2) and Kristen Wetherell (OMS2)

Josephine Shen (OMS2) (far left) describes the OMM techniques that Eric Krohn (OMS2) is performing on Joanna Aiken (OMS2). july 2012 / lecom connection 23

Community

LECOM and the Erie Community Celebrate National Osteopathic Medicine Week

(L-R) Silvia Ferretti, DO, John Ferretti, DO, Erie County Executive Barry Grossman and Michael Visnosky, Esq. dedicate the new computer lab named for the two LECOM leaders.

LECOM Provides $500,000 to Aid Erie County Government LECOM President and CEO John M. Ferretti galvanized the ever-present commitment of the College to underscore civic service as he announced a landmark contribution by the school that will bolster the coffers of Erie County while simultaneously bettering the community.

The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine will give $500,000 to the Erie County government over a five-year period. The county will use the funds for two important projects that will support emergency services and improve the county library. The announcement was made in partnership by

Erie County Executive, Barry Grossman and LECOM’s President during a news conference at the Blasco Memorial Library in late May. The announcement of the community gift entailed discussions between college officials and government leaders that resulted in LECOM retaining its tax-exempt status in exchange for the county receiving the contribution. The Erie County Board of Assessment Appeals dropped a challenge to LECOM’s educationally based tax-exempt status with the government’s receipt of the funds.

The county Public Safety department will use most of the funds, $350,000, to purchase and to install mobile computers in 40 fire vehicles and in 63 ambulances; all vehicles used by volunteer and municipal fire departments throughout the county. The computers link directly to the county dispatch center and the devices will improve communications between emergency crews on the scene and the dispatch center.

24 lecom connection / july 2012

Community

LECOM has never shirked from its time-honored credo: “not for ourselves, but for others.” The magnanimous gift to the Erie County government is yet another example of the integrity of a college true to its motto. LECOM remains an inspiration for all - not only for the purpose of charity during challenging economic times, but for leadership both in public and private life.

The Blasco Library will receive the remaining $150,000 to upgrade computer equipment used by library patrons to access the Internet, to search library catalogs, and to educate children. Additionally, LECOM is funding the creation of the Dr. John M. Ferretti and Dr. Silvia M. Ferretti Family Learning Center.

The new area located in the library computer lab will provide early childhood learning computers and software that parents and children can explore together. The LECOM contribution also will allow the library to replace all 34 of its computers in the Internet lab and to transform the online catalog into a user-friendly search engine.

“For years, LECOM has contributed to the quality of our community by providing outstanding education programs that focus on the health and safety of our residents,” recognized County Executive Grossman.

Previously, LECOM agreed to support educational activities by providing $620,000 over five years to the School District of the City of Erie.

Attorney Michael Visnosky, Chairman of the LECOM Board of Trustees, worked on the plan with county officials and he secured approval of the agreement with the Trustees. In a separate arrangement, LECOM will provide

Todd Geers, Erie County Director of Public Safety, demonstrates lap-top computers that will link emergency vehicles directly to the 9-1-1 dispatch center.

$55,000 per year to the City of Erie and help pay for a traffic light near the main campus.

“We think it is the proper approach for LECOM to contribute this way,” said Attorney Visnosky. “We try to tailor our projects where they meet our mission.” Thus, the decision was made to promote emergency services and to improve education.

LECOM President, Dr. John Ferretti, noted that LECOM has embraced the principal of service from the very inception of the College. LECOM is a cornerstone of the Erie community and as such, the College is committed to assisting the county during these economically challenging times.

“The College remains solidly in the vanguard in its duties to serve,” affirmed Dr. Ferretti, “whether as a good corporate citizen, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars in educational and community grants to the city, county, and school district, or as a major sponsor of numerous charitable and cultural events, or most importantly, through the volunteerism of our faculty, staff, and students in donating countless hours to improve the life of the less fortunate and those in need.”

It is exceedingly apt that the Family Learning Center at the Blasco Library will be named in honor of Dr. Silvia Ferretti and Dr. John Ferretti. For they are nothing less than the standard-bearers of exceptional community leadership rooted in service and economic development. They are exemplars of the pledge to family and to an ever-burning lamp of learning. As LECOM celebrates its 20th anniversary, it is a time to reflect upon the many accomplishments that LECOM has achieved in only two short decades. The school has provided untold economic benefit to the Erie community with students and scholars making the Erie county region their home. The presence of a medical college and related health care operations has consistently insulated the Erie region from experiencing “brain drain” – as many LECOM graduates remain within the area to establish thriving practices that treat and care for thousands of its neighbors. LECOM has built the luxurious 31 million Health and Wellness Center and it has developed programs that reach into the most underserved areas of the Erie community. It is – without question – the proud parent of a growing community and one whose foundation of purposeful service has formed the core of all that is LECOM.

july 2012 / lecom connection 25

Community

LECOM and Bridging the Gaps – Partnering for almost

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roviding community service, promoting public health in underserved communities, and training community-responsive health and social service professionals are principles that are, and that have remained, at the core of all that is the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The Director of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine Bridging the Gaps (BTG) program, Raeann Carrier, PhD, understands those core principles and she is very proud to note LECOM’s 20th Anniversary of medical scholarship as it coincides with BTG’s 20th Year of service. For 17 of those years, LECOM has been a steadfast and unswerving “community service partner” with BTG. As BTG celebrates the history and growth of bridging those gaps, it seems a fitting time to reflect upon the history of the program and the way in which it grew into existence. In a world

rife with imbalances and incongruences, BTG found its purpose in providing support to the crucial work of organizations that serve the most vulnerable within local communities. The BTG organization has sought to produce a group of health and social service professionals who possess both the passion and skill to advocate coupled with the care and compassion for those facing the direst of needs. BTG-involved students evidence a changed perspective after participating as community allies who serve to reduce the barriers to health and well-being created by poverty and education deficits. The daily commitment of the BTG educational and medical partners is essential to fostering the betterment of society. As LECOM looks to the next decade in health care education, it will remain resolute in its fundamental pledge of purposeful community service which has come to form a cornerstone of its hallmark educational principles.

Making a Difference Shawna Kubasky, OMS3 worked with children at the Barber National Institute in Erie.

26 lecom connection / july 2012

As the LECOM mission unites with the BTG purpose, the resultant blend of commitment to service resonates throughout the region. In the absence of such community service, quality of life becomes contracted and society as a whole becomes dispirited. LECOM holds as a tenet the principle that service is as vital to the person who serves as it is to the recipient of the service.

It is the way in which one finds purpose and it underscores the essence of societal growth and development. The mission of community service, and of its consequent commitment to serve, encompasses the fundamental substance of LECOM. With the aphorism of “The Community is our Campus” as the credo of the College, the institutional mission of LECOM recognizes that the magnitude of social complexities will require that all citizens and institutions make an earnest commitment to service as a way of life and as the purposeful responsibility of humankind. Providence and a caring heart, rather than governments or mandates, lead one to service. With a core rich in purpose and with a soul sustained by grace, it can be said that volunteers may well be the only human beings upon the face of the earth who reflect the compassion of a nation with their unselfish caring, patience, and humanitarianism. LECOM is proud to train such men and women and prouder still to note the value that their deeds carry to others.

LECOM understands the principle of service; yet more than mere “understanding” - it practices that very principle in all of its endeavors as it encourages broad-based student participation in service-related programs such as BTG. As an annual project, each summer, many LECOM students choose to voluntarily sacrifice their only break in four years of medical school to participate in the seven-week “Bridging the Gaps” session. Each year, LECOM’s BTG interns develop projects to serve the Erie community sites to which they were linked.

That service-based mission and parallel objective is shared by the BTG Program organizers. Integrating the educational preparation of health care and social service

Community

Two Decades professionals with the offering of health-related services for the benefit of the underserved and the fiscally disadvantaged public, the program is a liberator for many people throughout the region. This cutting-edge program has placed LECOM students into several social service and healthcare agencies where they serve to make a valued difference within the lives of the people who attend those groups. BTGinvolved medical students provide service to underserved populations while learning to be community-responsive health and social service practitioners.

Program Director Dr. Carrier has served as a principal team leader for the past several years and she continues to offer the merit of her skill, aptitude, and knowledge in each of the many areas in which she advises and guides students. BTG provides truly significant service within a system of care that is frequently indifferent to the needs of vulnerable populations. Dr. Carrier has demonstrated consistent enthusiasm about the program and about its myriad benefits. She understands the attributes necessary to become a health care provider in every sense of the word, previously noting that “BTG facilitates a wonderful experience for our students. It provides an outlet for them to develop and to practice the humanistic domain of medicine.

They’ve spent a year in the classroom learning with their brains, they now get seven weeks to learn with their hearts.”

LECOM takes great satisfaction in inculcating the notion of “learning with the heart” to its students, stressing the value in assisting people and in bettering their conditions while concurrently teaching them to better their own conditions. In this way, there exists mutual learning about the way in which the lives of others are entwined with one’s own.

For many of the LECOM students who choose to participate in BTG, the hands-on personal experience of truly affecting the life of someone in need of care constitutes a significant manifestation of “making a difference”. The classroom, though flush with the newest

Learning with the Heart Jennifer Saad, OMS3 assists patient during her Bridging the Gaps service. advancements in innovative medical education cannot produce the soulful response of a senior citizen receiving urgently required care or of the appreciative countenance of a neglected young mother as she acquires skills to care for her child. The future healthcare professionals involved in BTG learn about the way in which to be gentle with the young, empathetic with the aged, concerned for the struggling, and aware of both fragile and firm alike as they encounter daily challenges throughout the health care community. Students learn that lightening the burden of someone else is at the heart of that which it means to be participant in this world; and they begin to more fully comprehend that this indisputable truth in the link of humanity is shared by all. The moral test of an individual turns upon the way in one reaches out to those who are in the dawn of life - the children; those who are in the twilight of life - the elderly; and

those who are in the shadow of life - the ill, the disadvantaged, and the handicapped.

LECOM’s mission is nothing less than to spur a renewed sense of self-examination, a new wisdom that embraces a season of service.

Volunteers, such as those who work in the BTG program, are vital to enabling this country to live up to the true promise of its heritage, not by top-down intervention, rather by bottom-up fellowship. LECOM, with its mission to guide its students to an awareness of community, sets this venerable example by supporting those organizations such as BTG that encompass analogous objectives. BTG promotes health care, wellness, education, and it improves the well-being of children and adults throughout the region. With BTG, LECOM will continue to play a pivotal role in improving the health of individuals, of communities, and of the nation for decades to come. july 2012 / lecom connection 27

Community

LECOM Receives National Recognition for Community Service For the sixth successive year, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.

The prestigious accolade of recognition from the National Community Service Corporation in Washington, D.C. is the highest Federal recognition bestowed upon a college or university for its commitment to volunteerism, service-learning, and civic engagement.

“The Honor Roll schools should be proud of their work to elevate the role of service-learning on their campuses...”

The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll pays tribute to the work of students, faculty, staff, and alumni who support local communities through their commitment of time and service.

“The Honor Roll schools should be proud of their work to elevate the role of service-learning on their campuses,” said Eduardo Ochoa, the United States Department of Education Assistant Secretary for Post-secondary Education.

“Galvanizing their students to become involved in projects that address pressing concerns and that enrich their academic experience has a lasting impact both within the communities in which they work and upon their own sense of purpose...I hope that we shall see more and more colleges and universities following their lead.”

LECOM Medical and Pharmacy students in Erie, Greensburg and Bradenton volunteered over 30,000 community service hours, helping local community organizations during the 201011 academic year. Many of these volunteer hours are attributed to LECOM programs such as Bridging the Gaps, which places medical students with local social service and health care agencies helping underserved populations.

Other student-run activities provide after

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school tutoring and mentoring with the Erie YMCA, the Erie Housing Authority, and the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch.

LECOM students also participated in Habitat for Humanity home building projects, elementary and middle school reading programs, YMCA Healthy Kids Day, and a health initiative for Greensburg seventh grade students. LECOM continued a partnership with Wellsville USA, supplying volunteers to provide healthy living lessons for Erie school children.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, which has administered the Honor Roll since 2006, admitted a total of 642 schools for consideration in their accolade assessment. Of that total, 513 were named to the Honor Roll, 110 received the recognition of Honor Roll with distinction, 14 were identified as finalists, and only five received the Presidential Award.

“Galvanizing their students to become involved in projects that address pressing concerns and that enrich their academic experience has a lasting impact both within the communities in which they work and upon their own sense of purpose...I hope that we shall see more and more colleges and universities following their lead.”

As a member of the Honor Roll, LECOM highlights its strong mission of volunteerism and service-learning efforts and it underscores its principle as a civic-minded institution.

LECOM is ever cognizant of the contributions to service that are incumbent upon the medical professionals that it educates and it has consistently and soundly supplied a crucial facet of neighborhood betterment in the many areas in which it has been involved in the Erie area.

Placing the highest value upon indefatigably expanding its community engagement offerings, LECOM welcomes the challenges of continuing to demonstrate its ability to support and to promote all aspects of service with an everincreasing involvement in the enhancement of its community.

Community

LECOM and Local Medical Companies Sponsor New Exhibit at GWIZ Science Center in Sarasota A collaborative project developed by Sarasota’s GWIZ Science Center and IVIR Incorporated, a Lakewood Ranch-based medical simulation, engineering, and pioneering research enterprise, has resulted in the creation of a trailblazing exhibit at the science center.

“Meduzone” is a 5,000-square-foot interactive medical education and science exhibit that occupied the entire second floor of the GWIZ Center.

The exhibit ran through the end of June.

that the project blends amusement with an atmosphere of informative learning for children.

The attitude expressed by the GWIZ-IVIR team is echoed by LECOM as it supports public health care education as a vital aspect of community service.

The “Meduzone” is the first medical exhibit of its kind established during the twenty-two year history of the GWIZ Center. The group is considering taking the exhibit on a national tour with a view toward encouraging people of all ages to enter the medical science and education fields.

“Meduzone” consists of a career zone, an interactive zone, an operation simulation area, a 3-D learning zone, and a medical artifacts and computer quiz area.

LECOM along with several local medical companies and colleges helped to develop and to sponsor the exhibit. The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine sponsored the career zone, providing ample written information explaining all that is required to become an osteopathic physician, pharmacist, dentist, or other related health care practitioner. The career zone also informs visitors about the various employment opportunities within the medical field and the way in which to obtain them. In addition, LECOM provided information detailing the various college requirements necessary to achieve specific medical degrees and the concomitant estimated salary wages of each.

LECOM Trustee Joan Moore, DO checks out X-Rays with GWIZ program director Jennifer Holt.

The Lakewood Ranch Medical Center sponsored the cardiovascular system area and it provided information for that zone while the South Florida Museum in Bradenton provided medical artifacts; CAE Healthcare of Sarasota supplied a human simulation mannequin that re-creates heart failure; and Biolucid, a Sarasota medical animation and communication solutions company, donated a 3-D hologram to demonstrate the way in which the human system reacts to specific medications.

The idea to create the exhibit manifested itself last year when Molly Demeulenaere, the Executive Director of GWIZ, met IVIR Resource Manager Pamela Ferrara at a medical luncheon.

“We really felt that GWIZ is a very important community asset,” Ferrara averred, explaining

GWIZ presented LECOM President and CEO John Ferretti, DO with a wooden replica of the LECOM shield. The wood structure was made in GWIZ’s fabrication lab. Pictured with Dr. Ferretti are GWIZ program director Jennifer Holt, Fabrication Lab director Eric McGrath and GWIZ Board President Kelley Lear. july 2012 / lecom connection 29

Faculty/Administration

Anthony Ferretti, DO Receives Highest Award from Florida Osteopathic Medical Association

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nthony J. Ferretti, DO, Associate Dean of Clinical Education at LECOM’s Bradenton Campus was the honored recipient on Saturday, February 25, 2012, as the Florida Osteopathic Medical Association (FOMA) bestowed upon him the highly praised Distinguished Service Award. The respected accolade and accompanying award is presented to an individual in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in scientific, professional and osteopathic education; in service to the osteopathic profession or to citizens of Florida at a state or national level.

The prize is the highest and most prestigious honor that the FOMA can bestow upon an individual.

The event was held in Weston, Fla. as a wellattended gathering lauded the voluminous accomplishments achieved throughout Dr. Ferretti’s distinguished career.

Indeed, the award was well-deserved in that Dr. Ferretti’s successes and undertakings are many and far-reaching.

First and foremost, it must be mentioned that Dr. Ferretti was a dedicated and steadfast officer in the United States military. As a Major in the U.S. Army Reserves, he was activated to serve in Desert Shield/Desert Storm in the early 1990s. Later, as a Lieutenant Colonel, Dr. Ferretti served as a member in the U.S. Army Medical Team and as a Field Surgical Team Commander. As Colonel, in 2003, he was activated once again for Iraqi Freedom. His service to this nation and to the mission of liberty is one of which LECOM is very proud.

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Dr. Richard Terry Appointed Assistant Regional Dean of Clinical Education

R Dr. Ferretti’s medical training and expertise are equally prodigious in that he has directed countless medical facility operations and he has held positions of leadership that have been noticeably effective throughout his terms.

During the last three decades, he has been a Member of the Department of Surgery at Millcreek Community Hospital (MCH); Past Residency Director of MCH’s orthopedic residency program, and Chairman for the Division of Orthopedics at the hospital where he has served on the board of directors. Dr. Ferretti was a member of the founding board of LECOM and currently, he serves as a member of LECOM’s parent corporation, Millcreek Health System.

He is also Past President of POMA - District VII and Past Chief of Staff at MCH. The pooled skills of physician, administrator, soldier, and scholar find a purposeful congruence in Anthony Ferretti, DO, as he influences lives with the love of his work and with the productive results of a passionately manifested career. LECOM applauds this fitting FOMA tribute to a man who carries with him enthusiasm and fervor into his every endeavor and whose contagious spirit is a positive exemplar to the entire arena of health care.

ichard Terry, DO has joined the LECOM faculty; appointed to Assistant Regional Dean of Clinical Education and Chief Academic Officer of Lake Erie Consortium for Osteopathic Medical Training (LECOMT), he hopes to expand student clinical rotation sites across East and Central New York State and into the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

With the influential and sweeping view of LECOM peering ever-optimistically into the future, the growth of the College is an enduring and continual initiative. As the College of Medicine expands, LECOM is unceasingly seeking new clinical rotation sites. As the former President of the New York State Osteopathic Medical Society, Dr. Terry possesses a robust background in clinical aptitudes that will assist the College in increasing clinical education opportunities across the East and Central regions of Upstate New York and North East, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Terry comes to LECOM as the former Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and SUNY Upstate Medical University. Working with Arnot Ogden Health System in Elmira, New York, Dr. Terry is already recruiting adjunct clinical faculty and rotation sites. Additionally, he serves as the Academic Officer for LECOMT. His work at LECOMT includes that of creating new residency programs for post-doctoral education.

Faculty/Administration

The clinical campus model has been developed and instituted by Dr. Terry for LECOM. It carries with it innovative and pioneering attributes including ongoing curriculum for students, web-based lectures, studentstructured learning that facilitates regional interaction throughout the year, regular OMT training, ongoing didactic sessions, as well as continuing student advocacy and support. Dr. Terry enthusiastically pointed out that this program “is a never before tried model that will offer unparalleled educational opportunities”.

Recently, Dr. Terry was conferred the estimable “American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians’ Educator of the Year Award”. Dr. Richard Terry is a 1988 graduate of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in Old Westbury, N.Y. and he holds an MBA from the University of Massachusetts. He concluded a one year rotating internship at the Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn and he completed his residency in Family Medicine at the University of Rochester/Highland Hospital in Rochester, N.Y. Dr. Terry has been an innovative educator in osteopathic education for almost two decades. He has served as the Director of Osteopathic Medical Education since 2002 and as the Director of the Family Medicine Residency since 1998 at United Health Services Hospitals - one of the oldest and most successful dually accredited programs in the country.

Dr. Terry’s further interests focus upon the areas of obesity and eating disorders. He is the founder and Medical Director of the Southern Tier Eating Disorder Program. In addition to presenting numerous regional and national programs and peer review publications, Dr. Terry has co-authored a book addressing weight management entitled “Tomorrow’s Weigh - The No-Diet Way to Lose Weight”.

Dr. Terry is an avid runner with nine marathons to his credit. He resides in Apalachin, N.Y. with his wife and five children. LECOM eagerly welcomes this innovative and accomplished physician-educator to the LECOM family.

Former State Representative Bill Galvano Appointed to LECOM Board of Trustees “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success.” ~Henry Ford

N

o one knows that maxim better than LECOM’s newest board member, former Florida State Representative Bill Galvano. In fact, Galvano has earned a reputation for his remarkable ability to join people together to build success; and for all who have come to know him, both personally and as a state representative, his leadership, integrity, and achievements are stellar.

Bill Galvano was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives - District 68, in November of 2002 after which, he won reelection for three successive terms. In his final term in the state house, Galvano served as Chairman of the Rules and Calendar Council and as Chairman of the Select Committee on Seminole Indian Compact Review. He also served on the Full Appropriations Council and on the Joint Legislative Budget Commission.

Galvano is noted for his important work as Chair of the Healthy Families Committee and for his leadership on the Committee on the Future of Florida’s Families. Representative Galvano consistently has been recognized by numerous organizations for his work to protect children and to support the disabled.

As the past Chairman of the eight-county Bay Area Legislative Delegation, he earned the estimable Chair’s Cup for Excellence in Regionalism for his creation of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority. Recently, Galvano was bestowed the Manatee Chamber of Commerce Statesman Award, Florida Sheriffs Association Legislator of the Year Award,

and the Healthy Families Florida Leadership Award.

In addition to serving as a trustee of Mote Marine Laboratory, Galvano is a member of the Bradenton Kiwanis, the Manatee County Sheriffs Advisory Council, the Manatee County Gold Star Club, and the Manatee County Bar Association. Through the Phil Galvano Golf Classic, Representative Galvano raised more than one-million dollars for Manatee County public schools to provide enhanced educational opportunities for students and teachers. He and his wife, the former Julie Arme Forrester, have been married for 19 years and they are the proud and much satisfied parents of three children: Michael, William, and Jacqueline.

Galvano earned an Associate’s Degree from Manatee Community College before receiving a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Florida and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Miami, School of Law. He joins the LECOM Board of Trustees bringing with him a depth and breadth of significant knowledge and expertise in public and political affairs. Though foundationally securing the ability to connect with legislative entities and in providing an amalgam of manifold community associations, Representative Galvano places LECOM front and center in the realm of community and regional interaction. The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine is honored to welcome Bill Galvano as its newest board member. july 2012 / lecom connection 31

Faculty/Administration

LECOM Loses a Wise and Joyful Spirit Philip B. Hultgren, PhD, Professor of Physiology

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he skies are darker over LECOM today as the college family takes heart-heavy note of the loss of Philip B. Hultgren, PhD, Professor of Physiology. Dr. Hultgren was a vital and foundational thread running through the fabric that has come to form the tapestry of all that is LECOM. The bright color of his spirit and the vibrant cheerfulness that accompanied his presence from classroom to the world at large imbued those around him with his infectious joy. LECOM collectively extends its deepest and most sincere condolences to the entire Hultgren family.

Dr. Hultgren has been part of the LECOM community since the very inception of the school. In the early 1990s, he allied with the founders to lend his enthusiastic support and his indefatigable energy to the development of the visionary dream that would become the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. His buoyant optimism and skilled experience, carried with him from his years of professorship at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, brought not only a great man of science to LECOM, but one steeped in the full understanding of the osteopathic principles.

At LECOM, Dr. Hultgren served as Assistant Dean of Research from 1995-2006, facilitating faculty and student research. He also designed the LECOM research facility. In addition, Dr. Hultgren served as Course Director of Physiology. In 2005, Hershey S. Bell, M.D. and Dr. Hultgren developed the Master of Science in Medical Education Program. Dr. Hultgren was a published researcher in the area of Cardiovascular Medicine and he was an active member in the American Physiological Society, the American Heart Association, and the International Society for Heart Research. Dr. Hultgren’s greatest love was for his sons, Bobby and Erik, and he guided them devotedly in their education and sporting endeavors.

Dr. Hultgren demonstrated that a happy spirit does not suggest that all is perfect; rather that one has determined to look beyond imperfection - for he knew that to be happy was to be wise.

Indeed, Dr. Hultgren was a wise man. Dedicating his life to science, he leaves his earthly body to the calling that he so loved in the name of research. He committed his life’s charge to abating misery - his work, his purpose, his research, and his very mission was to heal; yet in so doing, his ebullient spirit scattered joy around him. In the joys of his achievements, in the students that he touched with his gift of knowledge, and in the family that is LECOM - Dr. Phillip B. Hultgren will leave his legacy.

As per Dr. Hultgren’s request, his body was donated to medical science through the Humanity Gift Registry. The family has requested that donations may be made to the “LECOM Dr. Philip Hultgren Memorial Scholarship”, 1858 W. Grandview Blvd., Erie, PA 16509.

32 lecom connection / july 2012

Faculty/Administration

“Healing Femurs” - Erie Cardiologist, William Esper, DO, Reflects Mission of LECOM

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n interviewer once asked the anthropologist, Margaret Mead: “What is the first sign that you look for that tells you about an ancient civilization?”

The examiner had in mind perhaps a tool or an article of pottery. Ms. Mead stunned the questioner by answering, a “healed femur”.

“When someone breaks a femur, they can’t survive to hunt, fish, or to escape enemies unless they have help from someone else,” she explained. “Thus,” the anthropologist continued “a healed femur indicates that someone else helped that person, rather than abandoning them and saving themselves”.

Mead concluded, “Isn’t that what philanthropy is all about? Healing femurs of one sort or another?”

Certainly, William Esper, DO is not an orthopedic physician, but he has been passionately “healing femurs” for quite some time. The Erie cardiologist and internal medicine specialist is a volunteer of the first order. Regularly, Dr. Esper provides his medical services to the St. Paul’s Neighborhood Free Clinic, an organization that serves those who have the most desperate medical needs coupled with the most distressed financial straits – Erie’s working poor. The Free Clinic serves those individuals who have slipped through the cracks of society – a problem that is increasing with the dire and deteriorating economic climate. Dr. Esper is ready to provide care. In 1993, when Dr. Esper was asked to assist at the clinic, he was informed that he would not be treating only heart patients, rather any person who may need help on a given day.

“That idea appealed a lot to me” affirms Dr. Esper, whose cheerful eyes and animated smile display an eagerness to roll up his sleeves in service.

Unmistakably, “service” has been a touchstone for the Erie native who has spent most of his life in the calling of medicine and in offering his

skill and his profound compassion to others.

As an Adjunct Professor of Medicine and Clinical Instructor in Cardiology at LECOM and as one who provides his practice as a rotation site for LECOM medical students, Dr. Esper has long been devoted to his community. Dr. Esper hails from a large Erie family of osteopathic

that they exhibit are the very values that society must encourage to fulfill the glorious promise of America. Stirred by the poverty within his community, Dr. Esper works with doctors, nurses, and dentists to support a free medical clinic that now serves thousands of people.

His earnest and optimistic participation serves

“It’s a great feeling to help good people who are just down on their luck.” ~Dr. William Esper physicians, which include his many cousins.

His daughter Jessica Esper Embrecia is a thirdyear medical student at LECOM. Since 1995, Dr. William Esper has been a skilled and expert faculty member at LECOM, amplifying his support of the school since LECOM opened its doors in 1992. Dr. Esper reflects and personifies the LECOM credo of sound and solid commitment to community service.

Recently, Dr. William Esper was recognized in the St. Paul Neighborhood Clinic Newsletter for his outstanding volunteer work. Each day, volunteers help to reshape this nation; men and women from across the country who, through their own sacrifice, dedication, and generous hearts, have improved the lot of their fellow citizens. Dr. Esper is such a man. The values

as a message in a world growing increasingly self-absorbed Dr. Esper is one who is actively making a difference in the lives of fellow human beings because he believes sincerely that it is the right course to take. As an ordinary person doing extraordinary acts to change the face of his community for the better, Dr. Esper offers a motivational, inspirational, and thought provoking example to all within his sphere of influence. His work is relevant in signifying all that one can accomplish in service to others and in reshaping communities. LECOM celebrates Dr. William Esper as an outstanding community servant whose inexorable spirit will be “healing femurs” for many years to come. july 2012 / lecom connection 33

Health Care Awareness

With 20 Years as a Leader in Health Care Education – LECOM Encourages Alumni and Administrators Alike to “Become Involved” If one sits upon the sidelines, it is quite likely that one will never make the decisions that affect life.

With health care laws in the crosshairs, economic crisis spanning the globe, and families struggling as never before in recent decades, LECOM is reflecting upon its position as a leader in health care education to impart a message of involvement upon alumni, administrators, and its present student body.

Edmund Burke admonished that “all that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing”. That aphorism is intended to impart upon the reader the reality that in the absence of action, governing bodies will effectuate decisions that will contravene the objectives of the majority. An understanding gained through acquiring information and increasing awareness is essential to a fully

functioning society. Such notion is equally true within the field of medicine.

Prodigious purpose in the arena of health care demands commitment and involvement; to become supremely aware of, and intimately involved in, the pivotal issues of this time; issues that affect family physicians, their practices, and their patients. There exist wide-ranging opportunities for physicians to become involved and to shape the future of medicine.

Issues that influence physicians and patients on a daily basis, particularly malpractice reform and access to care, are areas in which one may choose to become involved. Examination of the effect of the current health care law is another area that requires scrutiny.

To those who may contend that they lack the time to become involved in the efforts of or-

ganized medicine, LECOM hopes that they will consider devoting a more focused effort to make the time. If doctors fail to step up and to become involved, someone else is going to make those decisions in the place of the physician. It is likely, given the current environment, that it will be government or governmental bodies carrying out those decisions. If that happens, the outcomes may not be beneficial for the medical community and certainly, they will not be beneficial for patient care.

LECOM asseverates that there are several ways in which physicians may become involved in medical action organizations:  Examine the objectives of your state Osteopathic Medical Society Political Action Committee or join the PAC;  Contact colleagues in the area who are in-

Millcreek Community Hospital Welcomes Largest Class of New Residents and Fellows The largest ever first-year class of interns, residents and fellows have started their post-graduate medical education at Millcreek Community Hospital(MCH). Twenty-nine physicians have filled the first-year positions for Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Psychiatry, Orthopedic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Ophthalmology, Sports Medicine, Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine/Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, Gastroentrology, Geriatrics, and Podiatry. Of those new residents and fellows, 13 are LECOM graduates.

As the founding hospital of LECOM, MCH has a long tradition of post-graduate medical training. MCH is a member of the Lake Erie Consortium of Osteopathic Medical Training, which now has 38 teaching affiliates with more than 800 post-graduate training positions.

Physicians from more than a dozen states have entered Residency and Fellowship programs offered through the Medical Education Department at MCH. They are (left to right, seated): Diana Trister, DO; Stephen Watkins, DO; Zarinah Hud, DO; Sean Larner, DO; Jessica Morel, DO; Farzad Pouranian, DO; Bo Xiao, DO; Jessica Svingen, DO; Andi Woodbury, DO; Sehee Kim, DO; (left to right, standing): John J. Kalata, DO, MCH Director of Medical Education; Nicholas Crossman, DO; Richard Mitchell, DO; Justin Aleia, DO; Russell Samofal, DPM; Jason Carlson, DO; Daniel Jones, DPM; Adam DeBusk, DO; Sean Kelly, DO; Michael McCafferty, DO; Eric Brewer, DO; Anand Popuri, DO; Nicholas Loffredo, DO; Desmond Paul-Coker, DO; Michael Frazier, DPM; Peter Hoftiezer, DO; Tyner Kuehn, DO; Justin Weisenberger, DO; Brandyn Mason, DO; and Richard Goodrich, DO. 34 lecom connection / july 2012

Alumni volved in medical organizations and join a local osteopathic medical society;  Advocate to local, state, and federal legislators about issues that affect practice, patients, and health care;  Focus upon not only improving patient care, but also upon improving population health and health care reform on a grander scale;  Carry an attitude of empowerment and enthusiasm as a force that unites good health care teams.

It can be said that vision in the absence of action constitutes nothing more than a wish and action in the absence of vision produces nothing more than chaos; therefore, well-defined objectives and thorough understanding of the needs of the profession are indispensable for the betterment of health care and for the benefit of the medical profession as a whole.

In the arena of human life, fruitful results fall to those who put their good qualities into action.

All too often, history has shown that inaction breeds doubt and fear while action creates confidence and courage. If one hopes to conquer

“Action is eloquence”

~William Shakespeare

the doubt and fear, one must not sit silently by contemplating it; one must venture forth and become involved.

Dale Carnegie once said that “we cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”

Accordingly, good actions give strength to ourselves and they inspire good actions in others.

Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and action. There are risks and costs

to a program of action, but they are far less incapacitating than the long range risks and costs of apathy.

The medical community, in the present environment, faces an onslaught of change. It is incumbent upon its practitioners to remain aware, astute, and involved.

When one does nothing, one accepts powerlessness; when one becomes involved, there is an immediate sense of hope and accomplishment attendant with the knowledge that one is working for a principled goal or purpose. The entire notion of purpose is based upon a keen awareness of the interdependence of humankind involved in one another. Goals and objectives find success or failure because of people who are willing to become involved to affect change. Only by attracting the very best people may great deeds be accomplished.

LECOM is confident in the quality of its people and of the resolute objectives of its alumni, administrators, and students alike. It is with energetic enthusiasm that LECOM hopes that each of those groups will – become involved.

MCH Orthopedic Surgery Residents Excel in Clinical Research

The MCH Orthopedic Surgery residents keep a close watch on patient cases that present unique diagnoses that can be studied to improve health care. The residents present their research findings during workshops at the hospital. Many of those research papers and posters will be submitted to medical journals and writing competitions. MCH residents have competed effectively in recent years winning top honors.

See page 20 for the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Medicine Association essay winners from MCH. With 21 current residents, the MCH Orthopedic Residency is one of the largest in the country.

Steven Habusta, DO, Director of the MCH Orthopedic Surgery Residency program, congratulates Josh Tuck, DO, and Jeffrey Biehn, DO, physicians who have completed the five-year Residency program. Dr. Tuck, chosen “AOA Resident of the Year,” begins a one-year Fellowship in orthopedic sports medicine in Massachusetts, then plans to return to Erie. Dr. Biehn is entering a Fellowship in spinal surgery at the Texas Back Institute. Other Residents pictured participated in research and presented findings June 22 at the LECOM Medical Fitness & Wellness Center. They are, left to right: Michael Corum, DO; Joseph Borruso, DO; Nicholas Loffredo, DO; Robert Ogg, DO; Warren Rogers, DO; Geoffrey Cornelsen, DO; Randy Pearce, D.O; Hans Joseph, DO; Tyler Christman, DO ;Jeffrey Jenks, DO; Bryan Jarvis, DO; Timothy Volk, DO; Michael Sobolewski, DO;Daniel Cowley, DO; Thomas Revak, DO; and Brandon Trale, DO. july 2012 / lecom connection 35

Community is Our Campus/Erie

PPhA President Speaks at LECOM The chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association, Patricia A. Epple, CAE visited the LECOM Erie campus to congratulate the pharmacy students for their achievement in winning the Script Your Future award in March.

(L-R) Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of LECOM School of Pharmacy Hershey S. Bell, MD, Matt Madurski, Brittany Pryor, Lia Phan, Patt Epple, Kelcey Noble, Kim Andrews, Andy Rayer, Brenda Cheung, Chelsea Rashid.

Bowling DO’s The ‘Bowling With DO’s’ is an annual social gathering for an evening of bowling at Rolling Meadows Lanes. It’s a chance for students to spend some free time with the faculty members who helped train them. (Top Row, L-R): Micalyn Baney, DO; Richard Ortoski, DO; Beth Ricci, DO; Amando Ricci, DO; Mark Kauffman, DO. (Bottom Row, L-R): Ravi Chekka, MD; Christen Nardozi, DO.

Rhyan Maditz, OMS2

Mark Kauffman, DO 36 lecom connection / july 2012

(Top Row L-R): Second-year medical students Talha Masood, James Nash, Alise Farr, Paul Chenowith, Todd Fogelsong, Richard Ortoski, DO. (Bottom Row, L-R): Second-year medical students Lauren Young, Seth Maurer, Esther Hutchinson.

Community is Our Campus/Erie

Relay For Life LECOM Erie students and faculty members participated in the Relay for Life on March 24th, 2012 at the LECOM Medical Fitness and Wellness Center. From this event, the LECOM Student Government Association presented a check for $9,430.45 to the American Cancer Society.

(L-R): Second-year medical students Hye-Rim Stuhr, Matt Chiu and Edward Conuel walk to raise funds.

Clutch, the Erie BayHawks mascot, walks with second-year medical students (L-R) Kristina Braunlich , Dhavel Patel, Edward Conuel and (far right) Prashant Patel.

Presenting the Relay for Life check to the American Cancer Society are (L-R) Theodore Makoske, MD, Assistant Professor and SGA advisor, Molly Reichard, Development Specialist for the American Cancer Society and students Kristi Braunlich, OMS2 and Michael Pham, OMS2.

july 2012 / lecom connection 37

Community is Our Campus/Bradenton

Community is Our Campus

Summer Camp Physicals: Eight LECOM Bradenton osteopathic medical students provided free summer camp physicals for 89 Boy Scouts in Manatee County on May 12. The 3rd annual event was sponsored by LECOM. Assistant Dean of Clinical Education Anthony Ferretti, D.O. was the attending physician for the event. From left (Students are current OMS4): Rianna Sonny, Caroline Davis, Patricia Chun, Leana Garibova, Assistant Dean of Clinical Education Anthony Ferretti DO, Kirk Szustkiewicz, Michael Young, Joshua Watson and Charles Miller.

Dania Rehman Award: Third-year pharmacy student Dania Rehman received a national award for her leadership on public health issues from Dean Hershey S. Bell, MD. Rehman received the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) Excellence in Public Health Pharmacy Practice Award. The USPHS recognizes and encourages students to become involved in public health issues in their community as well as to increase awareness of the Public Health Service and its mission to protect, promote and advance the safety of the nation.

Operation Prom: Bayshore High School students received a sobering reminder about the dangers of drinking and driving thanks to the LECOM Bradenton annual Operation Prom event.

In conjunction with Manatee County emergency operations personnel, LECOM’s Emergency Medicine Club members staged its annual re-enactment of a drunken driving crash.

Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, EMS, Fire Rescue and Bayflite personnel, shown with Daniel Martino (OMS2), responded to the school’s football stadium as though the crash were real. LECOM students posing as crash victim were positioned in and outside of wrecked cars.

38 lecom connection / july 2012

Community is Our Campus/Bradenton

Articulation Agreement with State College of Florida: LECOM School of Pharmacy and the State College of Florida (SCF) have partnered to facilitate the admission of SCF graduates into the LECOM Doctor of Pharmacy program.

The articulation agreement establishing the SCFLECOM School of Pharmacy Early Acceptance Program was signed March 13 at SCF’s Bradenton campus.

“The LECOM School of Pharmacy is pleased to partner with the State College of Florida,” said Hershey S. Bell, MD, Dean of the LECOM School of Pharmacy. “This is a great opportunity for SCF students who wish to pursue a pharmacy degree to do so locally.”

The Early Acceptance Program calls for LECOM to reserve five slots for SCF students who complete an undergraduate (associate) degree, including or in addition to required higher-level math and science courses.

SCF President Lars Hafner, PhD; LECOM Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the School of Pharmacy Dean Hershey S. Bell, MD; SCF Faculty member Anthony Gambino, PhD; SCF Board of Trustee member Craig Trigueiro, MD; LECOM Associate Dean for Bradenton Operations Sunil Jambhekar, PhD; LECOM Vice President of Medical Education and Program Development Chet Evans, DPM.

Medical Science Academy: LECOM Bradenton held its annual Medical Science Academy twoweek summer program June 11-22 for high school students. Students experienced an academic medical school environment by participating in small group instruction, hands-on laboratory experiments and clinical shadowing experience.

Thirty-two MSA students participated in a Problem Based Leaning (PBL) curriculum in which groups of eight students and a medical-student facilitator utilized a case presentation format to explore selected medical concepts. The laboratory experiences are designed to expose MSA students to hands-on practical clinical skills such as splinting, suturing and basic wilderness First Aid.

july 2012 / lecom connection 39

Primary Care Olympics

Community is Our Campus

Primary Care Olympics LECOM Erie’s Department of Primary Care Education held the 2012 Primary Care Olympics at the LECOM Medical Fitness and Wellness Center on Saturday, March 10, 2012. There were 12 student and 3 resident teams with approximately 150 total participants. Teams competed in various athletic activities such as track relay, golf, spinnning, swimming, and basketball.

Gold Winners Team 15: (Top Row, L-R): John Cremin, Andrew Agnew, Zebulun Cope, Ben Dodsworth, Daniel Fosselman. (Bottom Row, L-R): Stephen Casey, Leonard Costantini, Jacob Seymour, James Davis Silver Winners Team 2 (Seton Hill): (Top Row L-R): Daniel Ying, Kyle Schroering, Kunal Vani, Kai Schlingmann, Brett Davenport. (Bottom Row L-R): Pat Olsen, Nick Swerchowsky, Ben Miner, Amy Hausner, Nate Kriger Bronze Winners Team 6 (Orthopedic residents): (Top Row L-R): Drs. Dan Cowley, Hans Joseph, Josh Tuck, Kent Kim, Tony Ferretti. (Bottom Row L-R): Brian Jarvis, Jeff Jenks, Rob Ogg, Nickolas Loffredo

Gold

40 lecom connection / july 2012

Silver

Bronze

A Proud Accomplishment

LECOM Advances in U.S. News and World Report Rankings The essence of clinical training and first-rate medical education embodies experience with graduated responsibility - a concept that has ever been embraced and advanced at LECOM. It seems that the U.S. News & World Report has noticed this persuasive combination.

The well-known rating arm of the nationally recognized magazine recently increased the LECOM Primary Care ranking among all medical colleges countrywide in its yearly compendium of college ratings. The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine rose from number #63 in 2011 to number #52 in 2012 in the report announced on March 12, 2012.

LECOM’s recognition by its peers (College Deans and hospital Directors of Medical Education) continues to grow. LECOM is one of only a few osteopathic medical schools in the nation to make the prodigious U.S. News list. LECOM also has demonstrated a favorable showing in areas that include: the top ten medical schools for graduating primary care physicians, the lowest tuition among private medical schools, and the top schools for attracting applicants.

Bolstering the report, LECOM takes satisfaction that from its inception it has been an institution that has eschewed strict adherence to the formulaic modalities in which medical students found themselves ensconced within classrooms or laboratory settings impatiently awaiting the moment when they would venture into the real world of patient care. LECOM has long viewed such practice as divergent from keeping pace with the changing needs of health care education. LECOM supports an

expansive curriculum that does not limit clinical experience to only third-year and fourth-year year medical students; rather its “Pathway” models allow students to gain experience and exposure to actual patient care in the clinical setting. As a result, medical students are able to connect the diseases that they observe in patients to the science that they are studying in the classroom. By providing care to the real public who exhibit genuine illnesses, medical scholars at LECOM are afforded a valuable edge upon traditional medical education.

The resultant effect is that primary care is recognized at LECOM as a valued practice area. LECOM teaches its medical students to connect the diseases that they observe in patients to the science that they are studying in the classroom. Abundant programs and services at LECOM ready students for the next generation of medical care and it seems that the rating-makers at U.S. News and World Report have taken notice.

The latest edition of U.S. News and World Report Best Medical College Rankings shows LECOM continues to improve its reputation among the nation’s leading medical schools. #1 Medical Colleges Over 1000 Students #2 Lowest Tuition Among Private Medical Colleges #5 Most Applied-to Medical Colleges #7 Colleges Graduating the Most Primary Care Physicians #27 for providing the most tuition assistance #52 for Primary Care rankings among all medical colleges

july 2012 / lecom connection 41

Alumni Notes

Alumni Notes Class of 1998 Brian Kessler, DO is the 2012 recipient of the American College of Osteopathic Family Practice Paper Crest Award for his paper Analyzing the Impact of Accountable Care Organizations of Healthcare Delivery, the Primary Care Physician and the Medicare Patient.

Class of 2003 Louise Del Negro, DO received Delaware Community College’s (DCC) Star Alumni Award, which honors a DCC alumnus for professional achievement. Del Negro will be honored on Sept. 28 at Harrah’s Casino in Chester, Pa. Class of 2005 Lauren Donatelli-Seyler, DO has completed an acute care surgery residency in Las Vegas and returned to Erie, joining UPMC- Hamot’s shock and trauma unit in July.

Class of 2006 Jamie Broekhuizen, DO has joined KishHealth Physician Group in Sandwich, Ill. Dr.

Broekhuizen completed her residency in family medicine at Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies in Michigan.

William Harvey, DO recently joined St. Alexius Heart & Lung Clinic in Bismark, N.D., as an anesthesiologist. Dr. Harvey completed his anesthesiology residency at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Ill., and his internal medicine internship at Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Christina Lucas, DO has opened Rockwood Family Practice in South Gate, Mich. Her practice includes OMT consultations at Riverside Family Physicians.

Osteopathic Medicine in Bradenton, Fla. He completed residency at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa. He is currently employed as an Internal Medicine Physician at St. Clair Hospital near Pittsburgh.

Class of 2012 Jamie Melichar, DO received a scholarship from the Sun Coast Osteopathic Foundation.

Benjamin Cox, DO received a scholarship from the Sun Coast Osteopathic Foundation.

Sara Lammers, PharmD received a scholarship from the Volusia/Flagler County (Fla.) Pharmacy Association.

Class of 2008 Kevin Capp, DO is now at Titusville Primary Care, in Titusville, Pa. He completed his family medicine residency at Millcreek Community Hospital.

Robert J. Thurick II, DO has opened a private practice at 6 South Oak Street in Mt. Carmel, Pa. Dr. Thurick is also medical director at Ridgeview Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center.

Samuel Urick III, DO of Aliquippa, Pa., is engaged to Dana Alexandra of Hopewell Township. He attended Lake Erie College of

Faculty Notes Patrick F. Leary, DO, Erie, co-authored Considerations in the Management of Concussion with an Illustrative Case Example in the March/April issue of the Osteopathic Family Physician. Dr. Leary will serve as chairman of the American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine’s 28th annual clinical conference March 6-9, 2013 in Colorado Springs, Co.

Upcoming Events August 9

Millcreek Community Hospital Golf Tournament, Lake Shore Country Club, Fairview

August 13 - 16

LECOM Summer CME Conference – Las Vegas

September 6

LECOMT Board of Directors Meeting – Clearwater

September 7

LECOM Bradenton Hospital Day

September 15

LECOM Erie White Coat Ceremony

September 17 U.S. Constitution Day September 29

LECOM at Seton Hill White Coat Ceremony

Mind + Body + Spirit 42 lecom connection / july 2012

LECOM believes that when mind, body and spirit come together the impossible becomes suddenly possible. It is this mission that we strive for everyday. It is a calling each and every one of our students embodies to become the best they can be. To see human potential taken to the next level – and beyond.

Faculty & Student Notes Ali Moradi, MD, MPH, Bradenton, had his article Right Atrial Leiomyosarcoma: A Very Rare Cardiac Tumor published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology.

Julie J. Wilkinson, PharmD, Bradenton, has been accepted into the American Association of College of Pharmacy’s Academic Leadership Fellows Program (ALFP). The ALFP is a year-long program designed to develop the nation’s most promising pharmacy faculty for roles as future leaders in academic pharmacy and higher education.

Julie K. Freeman, JD, Seton Hill, has joined the Greensburg, Pa. Community Development Corporation Board. She will serve a three-year term.

Amy Yonick, MLIS, Seton Hill, co-authored Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh LYNCS: Bringing a Library to the Pittsburgh Public Market, which was published in the Journal of Library Innovation Vol. III. Seher Khan, PhD, Erie, published Targeted Therapies for Philadelphia Chromosome-Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at www.uspharmacist.com.

Student Notes Class of 2015 Zebulon Cope (OMS Erie), Scott Cooper (OMS Erie) and Jessica Rimkus (OMS Bradenton) were named Paul Ambrose Scholars and attended the Ambrose Scholars symposium in Washington, D.C. The program invited only 46 medical students from across the country to learn about preventive medicine education with support from the Association of Prevention Teaching and Research.

Beth Koh (OMS Seton Hill) has been chosen as an Albert Schweitzer Fellow for 20122013. Fellows are chosen to address health disparities and the social factors of health throughout the greater Pittsburgh (Pa.) area including Greensburg where Koh will work with the Pressley Day School students.

Class of 2014 Chelsey Rashid (Pharm. Erie) received an award from the Catholic Campus Ministry

Association for “excellence in appropriating the faith” during alumni weekend at St. Bonaventure University (SBU). Rashid cofounded Students for Prayer, Action, Reflection and Knowledge (SPARK) at SBU. Kai Schlingmann (OMS Seton Hill) has been appointed as a student member of the American Academy of Osteopathy Foundation Board of Directors for a two-year term.

Tolulope Akindo (Pharm. Bradenton) was one of 12 students in the country to receive an American Society of Health Systems Leadership Scholarship.

Amy Blanchette (Pharm. Bradenton) received a scholarship from the Blake Medical Center Auxiliary.

Class of 2013 Jeremiah Libby (OMS Bradenton) received a Sun Coast Osteopathic Foundation scholarship.

Mitchelle Rodriguez (Pharm. Bradenton) received a scholarship from the Broward County Pharmacy Association.

October

Pharmacist Month

October 9

LECOM Alumni Reception and AOA OMED 2012, San Diego

October 25

LECOM Erie Research Day

October 27

LECOM Bradenton Scholarship Auction

November 3

LECOM Erie Scholarship Auction

November 6

LECOM Erie Early Acceptance Affiliate Campus Day

November 9

LECOM Erie Admissions On Campus Day

November 19

LECOM Bradenton Pharmacy Career Day

December 5 – 6 MS Med Ed Capstone Conference, Erie As one of the largest and most progressive medical colleges in the nation, LECOM offers a unique, affordable and innovative education in osteopathic medicine, pharmacy and dental medicine.

Around the country, LECOM graduates practice at a higher lever in every specialty of medicine and pharmacy.

They hear a calling to help people. To treat disease. To give hope. These are the students of the 21st century and the ones that will make a difference in people’s lives today and tomorrow. july 2012 / lecom connection 43

1858 West Grandview Blvd. Erie, Pennsylvania 16509 (814) 866-6641 www.lecom.edu

Save the Date LECOM

Student Scholarship Fund Auction 2012

Bradenton Erie Saturday Saturday October 27, 2012 November 3, 2012 We invite you to join us for a “Holiday Celebration.�

Come and bid on your choice of many fabulous items in Erie and Bradenton.

The LECOM Student Scholarship Fund helps deserving students manage the high cost of medical, dental and pharmacy school.