WesternU associate dean named Educator of the Year

The American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians – California (ACOFP-CA) named COMP alumnus and faculty member David Connett, DO, FACOFP, as “Educator of the Year.”

The greatest crisis to the integrity of osteopathic medicine since the merger in 1962 with the MDs is destined to take place in 2015, said ACOFP-CA President Steven H. Barag, DO, FACOFP. That is when the number of residency slots available to the graduates of osteopathic medical schools is less than the number of graduates entering the residency pool. Rather than fretting or ignoring this fact, one of ACOFP-CA’s members has taken the task of remedying the situation, he said.

“Dr. David Connett has tirelessly and skillfully set about establishing new residency programs both in California and beyond,” Barag said. “He has studied the problem and plans to set it right. Generations of osteopathic physicians will owe their post-graduate training to the efforts of Dr. Connett.”

ACOFP-CA bestowed the honor at its annual meeting at the Disneyland Hotel on Aug. 3, 2012.

Connett, the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Associate Dean for Clinical Services and Post Doctoral Education, said he and Dr. Michael Finley, COMP Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education, have had success in starting postgraduate training programs at a number of hospitals in Southern California and Oregon.

“I’m honored and humbled,” Connett said. “It’s going to allow students here to be able to have more options for postgraduate training in the western United States.”