Achieving New Heights

Highlighting the Accomplishments of Our Faculty, Staff and Physicians in Training

Natalie Crump, PAS II, has been appointed to the Advocacy & Policy Committee for the AAPA. This committee will review any submitted 2021 AOR resolutions to ensure they align with AAPA and Student Academy goals, policy, and ongoing work. This committee is also responsible for bringing to the Student Board any recommendations for achieving greater student awareness of AAPA’s ongoing work on behalf of the profession and recommendations on how to better engage students in advocating for PA-positive changes.

Elizabeth Kuge, OMS III, was named as RVU-CO's Student Doctor of the Year. The SDOY Committee believes her leadership, commitment to community service, professionalism, and dedication to the profession has highlighted her as an exceptional applicant. She exhibits all the valuable qualities of a DO, which has been shown through her work with SNMA, the MC2 Outreach Event, and many more. SD Kuge will compete against other COMs' nominees in the national competition.

David J. Park, FAAFP, FACOFP, Campus Dean for RVU-SU, was awarded 2020 W. Douglas Ward, PhD, Educator of the Year by the American Osteopathic Foundation. The recipient of the Educator of the Year Award must demonstrate a number of qualities to even be considered eligible for the honor including leadership skills, compassion as an educator, and a commitment to osteopathic medicine and the profession.

Dr. Park was also appointed to serve a three-year term on the AOA's Bureau of Osteopathic Education. The BOE oversees the full continuum of osteopathic medical education and makes recommendations directly to the AOA Board of Trustees. The BOE is a representative body of the osteopathic profession and receives reports from various educational councils and committees of the AOA in all aspects of undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education, and continuing medical education.

Mikala Russell, OMS III, was named as RVU-SU's Student Doctor of the Year. The SDOY Committee said of SD Russell, she "demonstrates excellent leadership in the RVU community, as well as a dedication to the osteopathic profession that will take her far in the national SDOY competition." SD Russell will compete against other COMs' nominees in the national competition.

Braiden Shumway, OMS III, received the NSC Scholarship for his third and fourth year of school. "This is a huge blessing for me and my family. I want to express my gratitude for all the time and effort [Dr. Park and Dr. Wardle] spent helping me get to where I am today. I am forever grateful for your decisions to work in academic medicine and to be such wonderful teachers and mentors to me and my classmates."

Yuri Anderson, OMS II, and Elizabeth Kuge, OMS III, were awarded the RVU Diversity Scholarship for 2020-2021. They were selected from a number of highly qualified applicants and have clearly demonstrated their commitment to promoting inclusivity and our core value of Diversity during their time at RVU. They will each receive a $2,000 scholarship from the RVU Education & Research Foundation.

Colorado Medicine, a local health care-focused publication created by the Colorado Medical Society, features a section in each issue for osteopathic medical students to submit written pieces and share their thoughts, as well. The reflections will be published bi-monthly. If you would like to submit an essay, contact Alexis Horst in the Writing Center at ahorst@rvu.edu for assistance with editing and submission guidelines.

In the September/October Issue, Ilma Chowdhury, OMS II, and Emilie Mathura, OMS II, wrote the article, "Considering social determinants of health for compassion and activism." They write of systemic racism and how seemingly minor measures can lead to increased incarceration rates and healthcare disparities.

In the November/December Issue, Mercedes Harvey, OMS III, wrote the article, "Black patients matter: The impact of the current radical climate on medicine through the eyes of a third-year medical student." In the article, she discusses not only the burden placed upon her as a person of color but also how experiences and symptoms of black patients can be overlooked in the medical school curriculum.