Early Friday morning, 80 additional medical students arrived in Buies Creek for the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents. The presidents came from their respective osteopathic medical schools nationwide to participate in an annual winter meeting.
COSGP serves as the official national representative voting voice of all osteopathic medical students and meets four times a year. COSGP works to maintain communication, disseminate information, foster student leadership, and provide a mechanism for the exchange of ideas between students of different colleges of osteopathic medicine.
“The meeting involved a lot of leadership training as well as resolutions and school discussions where we gain insight on how other schools operate,” said Kate Taylor, CUSOM SGA Vice President. “The meetings give us a chance to offer advice based on things our school does well and then also gather information on how we can advance and improve our own schools.”
“It was awesome to welcome the future leaders of the osteopathic profession this past week,” said Robert Hasty, associate dean for postgraduate affairs. “I am even more enthusiastic with the future of our great profession after meeting these incredible student leaders. I focused on sharing with them the guiding principles of servant leadership at CUSOM because we feel leaders are most effective when they focus on serving the needs of their followers.”
The conference featured the Campbell Research Poster Exhibition and Competition – an interprofessional research competition with thirty posters submitted not only from CUSOM and the visiting osteopathic medical schools, but also several departments within the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences including Clinical Research, Pharmacy, and Exercise Science.
As part of the competition, two teams were invited to give oral presentations: “Diabetes Type Three: The Freakonomics of Alzheimer Disease” was presented by Eric Luria Goldwaser, OMS4, DO/PhD Candidate from the Rowan University New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine and “International Outreach Experience: Infectious Diseases” was presented by Ricky Kalia, OMS3 from Lincoln Memorial University – DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine.
The winning poster presentation was by a team from Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine. “The research presented was in regard to a patient’s respiratory responses to cranial manipulative techniques,” said Elizabeth Willis, MS-II. “Studies like these are unique to osteopathic medicine and help to expand the knowledge about manipulative treatment, a subject with a growing amount of evidence.”
The conference always concludes with a service project – DO4U – and the Campbell medical students chose to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project by hosting Reps4Vets with CrossFit007 of Lillington, NC. Participants donated $40 per team for the CrossFit workout in pursuit of a $2,000 event goal. The high light of the event was Captain Ivan Castro, – CU alumnus, wounded warrior, and active Special Forces soldier –brining words of inspiration.
“You get all kinds of injuries…there is nothing like Military medicine,” Captain Castro said. “You aren’t going to see just a stab wound or one gunshot wound. You will see all kinds of things…when you see a guy who has been hit by mortar fire – it blows your body apart – it’s not like anything you will see anywhere else.”
Castro went on to share his reflections on the healthcare he has received and why he wanted to speak to the future physicians at Campbell this weekend.
“So, why am I here to speak to you today? Because very soon you will be treating guys like me…This is why [my doctors] were great doctors: it is because they are first a great human being.”
“The way they spoke to you,” Castro continued. “I’m not a doctor… All I know is how to patch up a wound in order to get a guy out of the field…[but]the way [my doctors] spoke to [me] as a patient…they were great doctors. Your bedside manner has to be impeccable. You have to be able to talk to a patient in a way they can relate to and to listen.”
“Reps4Vets was an important opportunity to educate future doctors on the sacrifices, struggles, and abilities of our wounded warrior population to overcome hardship,” said John Bunyasaranand, 2nd Lieutenant US Army and second year medical student at Campbell. “By having these experiences, they can better communicate, relate to, and treat this patient population that has given so much.”
“Acts of service like Reps4Vets,” said Bunyasaranand. “Are a tangible reminder of why we came into medicine in the first place – to help others. It helps us to zoom out and see the big picture a little more clearly, and we need that once in a while.”
CUSOM Hosts COSGP