During their Fourth Quarter Board meeting on Saturday, December 6, 2008, the TOMA Board of Trustees overwhelmingly supported and then approved the following position statements in the form of motions from the floor.  I believe the first two were unanimous, and the third may have had one dissenting vote based on language, not intent.  They are as follows:

1)    The Texas Osteopathic Medical Association opposes the granting of an MD degree by the University of North Texas Board of Regents.

2)    The Texas Osteopathic Medical Association supports and re-affirms Texas statutes that prohibit the University of North Texas System from awarding the MD degree.

3)    The Texas Osteopathic Medical Association Board of Trustees supports the appointment of a task force to formulate an immediate course of action to address issues affecting the osteopathic integrity of UNTHSC/TCOM including, but not limited to, the concept of granting the MD degree by any entity of the University of North Texas System.

These motions were then discussed with the board members of the TCOM Alumni Association, who also agreed unanimously to support and echo TOMA’s position statements.  The minutes from the TOMA meeting can be found at their website at www.txosteo.org.  I am sharing this information with you merely to keep you up to date with accurate information on this topic.  Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

David E. Garza, DO, FACOFP, FAAFP

President, TCOM Alumni Association 2008-2009, Graduate, UNTHSC-TCOM, 1989, Member, TOMA Board of Trustees, Immediate Past President, Texas Society of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians

These and other events at the Health Science Center have brought to light several troubling questions concerning the leadership and direction of the HSC.  Since Dr. Ransom’s arrival, we have watched an exodus from TCOM of some of the finest osteopathic educators, physicians and researchers in the nation.  Unfortunately their replacements are much less oriented to osteopathic medicine and the bedrock of primary care.  Research and specialty training are displacing primary care as the educational focus and the “new direction” of the institution.  Is that by Dr. Ransom’s design, your design or is this “new direction” the course charted and supported by the UNT Board of Regents? 

We are hearing strong rumblings that, at some level in the leadership hierarchy, there are plans to use the UNT/HSC to offer the M.D. degree to facilitate our “new direction”.  Please honestly assure me and all TCOM graduates that these rumors are not true.  Alumni are appalled by the idea.  As well, many TCOM students have expressed fear and anger that they could wind up with an M.D. degree that they did not seek nor desire.  My great fear is that you or the Board might be enamored by the idea and not realize the terrible harm to the HSC that will result.  Such an action would split resources and funding and would result in diminished quality at your already premier medical school.  Many TCOM alumni are leaders of the osteopathic profession and will fight diligently against such a plan.

Osteopathic philosophy and focus on primary care have always been the unique strengths of our institution.  These have propelled us to the top.  These qualities have built TCOM into one of the premier medical schools in the country and by far the premier osteopathic medical school.  TCOM has garnered support for state funding and expansion because of our unique ability to produce the practicing primary care providers that our state desperately needs.  Other Texas medical schools don’t even come close.

I challenge you, the UNT Board and Dr. Ransom to consider the following.  If we combine the school’s traditional yet unique strengths in primary care and the underpinnings of osteopathic philosophy with the considerable talent, business knowledge, energy and tenacity of Dr. Ransom, we can leverage UNT into the medical care trend setter of the world.  We could shift the paradigm.  That should be our future vision and our "new direction".

Thank you for your attention to this matter,

J. E. Froelich, D.O., TCOM Class of 1981

Past President TCOM Alumni Assoc

As a proud 81 TCOM class graduate, and TOMA’s first Hispanic President, I was amused with the whispered “allopathic TCOM change” rumors, but shocked to hear that two of TCOM’s premiere staff members had been terminated in order to accomplish a detrimental change of direction for our beloved Alma Mater.  I recall my father telling me that if our home was on fire, we better not stand around talking about it. Thus, I am glad that you will soon have a meeting of the minds to discuss this crisis of identity by our TCOM leadership and the future direction of UNTHSC.

For over 20+ years I have worked with six TCOM Presidents, loyally and financially supporting TCOM. Never did any of these fine Presidents ever consider instigating an allopathic program in our campus. After surviving blatant allopathic ostracism based on my TCOM Osteopathic upbringing I am deeply chagrined at the thought of offering an MD degree at TCOM. Not surprisingly, this unwarranted and foolish effort to dilute TCOM’s prominence, has fostered a united groundswell  and cooperative Professional and public community empowered and capable of fighting to preserve what we all historically struggled to win in Texas. The TCOM Hispanic colleagues that attended TCOM have confided in me that they share the same strong sentiments and will do whatever is necessary to prevent this change from happening.

My hope is that you and the Board will respond to our outcry and expeditiously work to maintain the status quo at TCOM. May you not fiddle, like Nero, while Rome burned. The time has come, once again, for all DOs, UNT leaders, and friends of TCOM to unite relying on each other to successfully overcome the divisive crisis that confronts TCOM and Texas Osteopathic Medicine!

Sincerely,

Hector Lopez, DO

Commissioner USDHS Commission to End Health Care Disparities

AOA Chair Council Minority Health Issues

In my first letter, sent Thanksgiving weekend, I asked you to “honestly assure me and all TCOM graduates” that rumors concerning granting an M.D. degree from the UNT/HSC were not true.  Much has transpired since then.  I am sorry that I did not hear back from your office but now it is abundantly clear that Dr. Ransom’s goal of offering the M.D. degree at the UNT/HSC is going to move forward despite opposition from alumni and osteopathic leadership.  The so-called “study” is a biased sham that will yield obvious conclusions and no doubt be used to claim that a consensus was formed.  Ultimately, I believe that an informed Texas Legislature will be able to easily see through any prevarications or misrepresentations in the “study’s” design and conclusions. 

Change comes with a price.  The price of offering an M.D. degree from the HSC will be high and will harm TCOM, your flagship.  Is this gambit worth taking that chance?  Why are you willing to risk your premier medical school?  UNT’s resources would be much more wisely spent pursuing a UNT pharmacy school or UNT law school rather than getting bogged down in a battle with its alumni and state legislators over changing existing statute.

Your online “survey” touts “utilization of existing and currently planned infrastructure, faculty and other resources to support a very cost-effective means to expand the supply of physicians”.   Our resources are already being used to support and expand our entering classes of D.O. students.  Dr. Hahn repeatedly projected an expansion target of 250 D.O. students per class, but he stated that he did not have the resources yet.   The use of any part of the physical facility or the limited resources of the HSC to educate M.D.s will obviously compete with and detract from TCOM and D.O. students while further taxing the already overworked staff.

I reiterate what I stated in my original letter:  “I challenge you, the UNT Board and Dr. Ransom to consider the following.  If we combine the school’s traditional yet unique strengths in primary care and the underpinnings of osteopathic philosophy with the considerable talent, business knowledge, energy and tenacity of Dr. Ransom, we can leverage UNT into the medical care trend setter of the world.  We could shift the paradigm.  That should be our future vision and our ‘new direction’".

I urge you and the UNT Regents to reconsider,

Jim Froelich, D.O.    TCOM ‘81

Dear Fellow Osteopathic Physicians:

I have been quiet for the past several weeks on the issue of the joint M.D. degree plan for UNTHSC. Initially, I had some strong feelings and made them known. I have read all of your letters, all of the information that has been gathered and the information and rationalization from Dr. Ransom.  I have not changed my mind from my first reaction.

There is nothing to be gained for the osteopathic profession, the people of the State of Texas, the school or our graduates in pursuing this course. Those resources that are now limited will only be further strained by being made to cover two programs. Osteopathic physicians, and especially TCOM graduates, have provided more primary care to the citizens of Texas proportionately than all the MD programs combined. The changes anticipated for medicine will rely even more heavily on primary care physicians. If we don’t have those doctors available, it leaves the door open for justifying the use of physician extenders to provide that care. This is something even the MD’s would not like to see happening.

There are things that the National Osteopathic Organization can do to help solve some of the problems cited by Dr. Ransom.  Some changes in how mixed staff residencies are approved for AOA credentialing should be looked at.  More effort, not less, to have effective outreach and liaison with current MD programs and hospitals is needed. Look at what Dr. Palmarozzi accomplished with JPS hospital. This needs to become a model for approaching other hospitals. Those hospitals that do take our (TCOM’s) residents into a mixed program have no complaints about the DO’s. Many times a DO becomes chief resident, this has been happening since 1985 when Tom Walker was chief in an MD program.

If increasing grant money for research is the main force behind this change, then I suggest that the current research oriented staff members buckle down and start writing some proposals. NIH does not care if the school grants an MD or a DO degree. I doubt if any of the major granting agencies or pharmaceutical firms cares either.  If Dr. Yorio and Dr. Ransom are embarrassed by being associated with an Osteopathic institution and feel that is what is holding them back, there is a much more straightforward solution, and that would not have created nearly the outcry that their current plan has elicited.

Sincerely,

Nancy Chasteen, President TxACOFP

I am writing this letter in response to the “study group” appointed by the President of UNT-HSC to consider granting the MD degree at the institution which houses the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine.

While this is an extremely emotional issue to me personally I will try to keep my points factual.  In order to provide background on myself I have included a Curriculum Vitae in additional to the personal points I will provide.

I grew up in Ardmore, Oklahoma which at the time was much smaller than it is now.  In my town I witnessed firsthand professional prejudice against Osteopathic physicians up until the late seventies and early eighties when there were just not enough qualified MD physicians to keep the hospital viable at which time the Osteopathic physicians in town who had quite successful practices were allowed to obtain privileges at the hospital.

I attended the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine which was a significantly smaller school than TCOM and received a completely osteopathic education including a traditional rotating internship and then enjoyed the opportunity to complete my surgical training at the Osteopathic Medical Center of Texas which partnered with TCOM.  My trainer and mentor W.R. Jenkins D.O. taught me to be tenacious in my pursuit of excellence but to never forget where I came from and to be loyal and supportive of the Osteopathic background where I was taught to care for the whole patient and not to be disease centered.

I was so enamored with the collegiality and excellence of TCOM that after only 2-3 years of private practice in Oklahoma City I returned to teach at TCOM and carry on the tradition of surgical excellence in clinical practice and education.  In fact many of the surgical residents I trained at OMCT/TCOM went on to obtain awards for scholarly excellence, clinical achievement, and some “Resident of the year” which is the highest award offered to a resident by the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons.

Many of the benefactors and graduates of TCOM have gone on to achieve high levels of distinction both within the communities where they practice, the professional organizations they belong to, or in corporate America where the sound clinical instincts and “people” skill which typify many osteopathic graduates shine through.  Sadly almost none of these are represented on the “study group” put together by Dr. Ransom.

In fact right here in Fort Worth are board members, and or Presidents (either past or president) of the American College of Osteopathic Family Practitioners, American  College of Osteopathic Internists, American College of Osteopathic Surgeons, American Osteopathic College of Proctologists, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery, and American Academy of Osteopathy.

I have reviewed the published members of the study group and it is quite clear that the outcome of the study has already been decided simply by the makeup of the group.

I will not engage in character assassination, however, it would be patently unfair to not point out the perceived biases of certain members of this group.

The MD members of the group I know by casual acquaintance and reputation only so I cannot comment.

Sam Buchanan was one of my trainers who I care about deeply, I actually worked with him for ten years in the surgery department prior to its implosion which started with the change in direction of TCOM initiated under Dr. Blanck and championed by Dr. Ransom.  Under that leadership we went from a clinical department of at one time twelve board certified osteopathic surgeons many of whom served as officers or board members in their specialty colleges to the department as it exists today which includes some surgeons who are not even board certified.

Dr. Deluca is probably the only member of the committee in active clinical practice who is not financially beholding to the School.  He actually probably represents mainstream osteopathic physicians.

Todd Richwine is a young osteopathic primary care doctor who I trust will do the right thing despite his relative inexperience.

Dr. Schranz and Dr. Troutman are in the employment of UNT.

With the possible exception of Dr. Peska none of the study group staff see patients in active clinical practice.

The potential advantages espoused by Dr. Yorio are patently obvious that he is of the opinion that he might be able to wrestle additional funding because of the additional degree program and potential additional enrollment, this is clearly self serving.  If Dr. Yorio and his non-clinical faculty cannot produce enough quality research to generate their own funding they really should be replaced by higher quality, more motivated faculty members.  The fact they practice in an institution associated with quality Osteopathic medical education has no bearing on the scope, quality, and consistency of the research he and his cohorts should be producing.

I would suggest a glance at the previous clinical productivity, scholarly productivity, and national prominence of the members hand selected for this group.  An additional comparison of the faculty now compared to only eight years ago would be very insightful.

A superficial perusal of the lay members of the study group includes many people who represent entities that have historically been quite unfriendly and in some instances hostile to osteopathic physicians.

I will not dwell further on the composition of the study group but it is consistently not what I would consider in any way shape or form a balanced group.

Why the need for an additional degree?  Osteopathic medical education is experiencing its largest growth in decades.  We provide graduates centered on the patient the majority of who still enter primary care related fields.  TCOM itself has produced nearly 3000 graduates, 65% practice in primary care fields.  A large proportion of the graduates of TCOM remain to practice in the state of Texas.  In fact when you look at the smaller towns in the state many of our graduates are there “in the trenches”.  Many osteopathic physicians historically take care of those who would otherwise be without care.

TCOM has historically represented some of the best and brightest faculty and leaders in the osteopathic profession, sadly that star has lost its shine as under the current and recent former leadership many excellent faculty have left the institution to pursue educational careers at other schools.  While this exodus can be “spun” that they were furthering their careers, in fact the hostile work environment that has developed over the years is the real culprit. I myself could see this change coming in 2003 and 2004 which facilitated my departure from the faculty to pursue private practice. 

I left TCOM in part because I could not stand by and watch an excellent clinical faculty be destroyed by policy change causing attrition one person at a time.  I have committed ten years of my life to osteopathic education; serving as General Surgery residency director, teacher and facilitator of many undergraduate courses, serving for over ten years as chairman of the General Surgery In-service exam for the entire country, and currently serving the 4^th year of a 6 year tem on the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons Board of Governors.

The manner in which previous faculty members including department chairpersons and even deans have been terminated is shameful and sheds a very unfavorable light on the University.  The most prominent recent terminations are Osteopathic physicians who have earned the respect of their colleagues locally and nationally and certainly deserved better treatment at the hands of the current administration.

In a changing environment we should never be afraid to look at options, but if we really want to look at a realistic validity of this option then we should include people who might actually have an opinion and express that opinion without fear of retaliation in the work place. We should also include people who have practiced and committed their lives to the promotion of osteopathic medicine and education. 

TCOM is too important to our profession and our community to allow Dr. Ransom to set forth a hypothesis and then set out to prove its accuracy by stacking the committee with people he knows will promote his idea.

I will continue to support Osteopathic medicine and education in this community and throughout the country wherever I might no matter what result this so called study group comes up with.  The Osteopathic profession remains strong with or without the University of North Texas but we surely benefit most from a cordial inclusive relationship rather than the current adversarial one.

I look forward to your response and actions and stand ready to help in any way I can.

Sincerely,

Adam B. Smith D.O., FACOS

Laparoscopy, Bariatrics, and Surgery

To: lfj0004@unt.edu
Subject: Proposed MD degree at UNTHSCFW

Dear Chancellor Jackson:

The forced resignation of Dean Marc Hahn from his position at TCOM/UNTHSCFW was a huge mistake.  As dean, he had led TCOM to the number one position on COMLEX I and II CE, adiministered by the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners.  Not only that, he also had oversight over great expansion in the college's impact and program development.  He was popularly supported by the alumni, because of his great leadership.  He has served the college and the university well.

Why have you allowed this to happen on your watch?

You currently have a president of the HSC who is alienating all of the TCOM alumni and in fact the DO professional community, not only in Texas but throughout the country.  This is by his plan to establish a competing school at UNHSCFW which would grant the MD degree.

Do you support this?

At a time when the citizens of the state of Texas have desperately needed more primary care physicians, especially in rural and underserved areas, TCOM and the University of North Texas Regents have for decades supported the best solution in the state to this problem.  Yet the Board of Regents is allowing the president of the HSC to promote an idea that will completely detract from the mission the state mandated when adopting TCOM and funding the school.  It will also contribute to the future shortage of primary care physicians by taking away resources which could be devoted to solving the problem.

I cannot conceive of any possible reasons why you would undermine this successful mission by adding in an educational model which has not been successful in meeting the citizen's needs in this way.  It is also hard to imagine that  the regents have not understood why such leaders as Michael Clearfield, DO, Frederick Schaller, DO, and others have left the institution rather than continue to serve the present administration. 

Again I ask, why did you and the other regents allow the current president to force the resignation of Dean Hahn?  Dean Hahn has a long track record of faithful service and tremendous productivity for the school.  The forced resignation of the Chair of Family Medicine, Dr. Elizabeth Palmarozzi, was likewise an indication to potential faculty recruits that it would be well for them to reconsider working for an institution that rewards its faithful leaders and employees in such a manner.

Please consider carefully what you are doing.  Please communicate with the leaders of the TCOM Alumni Association and Texas Osteopathic Medical Association to let us know why these forced resignations are being tolerated, and why the Board of Regents is allowing the current UNTHSCFW President to consider policies that would undermine the legislation's efforts to meet the needs of Texas citizens.

Sincerely,

John Jones, DO

TCOM 1987 Graduate

Past SGA President

Current Alumni Board Member

Chancellor Jackson,

I would like to respond to UNT awarding the MD degree at TCOM. I feel I have a unique perspective to speak, in that I am currently the associate Dean at our nation’s newest Osteopathic Medical School. I have 160 students that are honored to be allowed to be part of the Osteopathic profession, and proud to know that they will be entering into the one profession, who turns out a majority of their physicians as primary care providers.  Chan cellor Jackson, to a man and woman they are proud of their DO degree, and have chosen it over an MD degree! We a health care crises looming, and in fact here; our nation is in dire need of primary care providers and the Osteopathic profession in general, and TCOM in particular has always met that need. Furthermore, I travel yearly to China, at the request of the Chinese government, because they see the value of the Osteopathic profession, helping them change their physician training toward  primary care, where now they are only specialty driven.

As I have helped set up our Osteopathic school, in a state that for 120 years has been predominated by MD's, I have found all the private and city hospitals to being open to both my medical students and future residents in the Osteopathic profession. Not one hospital CEO, or medical staff here in Colorado has voiced concern for having Osteopathic physicians train and be trained in their hospitals, in fact they have been delighted that we have united with them. These include hospitals of over 600 beds, and three level one trauma hospitals, large allopathic institutions. A large percentage of my adjunct faculty are MD's and have expressed how excited they are to teach in an Osteopathic medical school, as are many physicians in other Osteopathic institutions across the United States

Talking to MD leaders in Fort Worth, I have also been told that there is not an issue having either DO students or residents in the hospitals in Fort Worth, so what is being shared to TOMA and the Alumni board by the present administration of TCOM is not the feeling in the city, by the leaders of the major institutions. With all that I have shared, I feel that there is a problem in Fort Worth, and it is not with the hospital's or the physicians in Fort Worth. Spending my last two years talking to hospitals across the Rocky Mountain Region, I have found only strong acceptance for what we do as an Osteopathic profession, and the strongly allopathic institutions are honored to work with us and be a part of the awarding of the DO degree. Therefore, if people are saying that they need an MD school for training purposes, they are not being forthright with the truth. I have found that any institution will work with those people who show integrity and have high ethics, especially to one's own profession.

Respectfully Submitted,

Greg Smith, D.O., PhD, MDiv, FACOFP
TCOM Class of 1983

Dear Chancellor Lee Jackson,

Let me extend Happy Holidays and best wishes to you and your family.  I am Jay Beckwith, DO, and would like to present a quick background on myself.

I received my undergraduate degree from Texas Christian University, attended Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, and completed my rotating internship in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I completed three years of internal medicine at Detroit Osteopathic Hospital and became a Fellow at Tufts Medical School in Boston, MA.  I was the first DO physician ever at Tufts Medical School.  After leaving Boston I taught and ran the GI Department of Kansas City College of Osteopathic Medicine and was voted Teacher of the Year.  I relocated to Ft. Worth, Texas and was Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at the hospital and taught at TCOM for over 25 years.  I was voted Teacher of the Year at your institution.  I was the last part-time employee of TCOM.  I still have students come through my service and have been involved in training residents and interns all of my medical practice.  I am Past President of the American College of Osteopathic Internists, a national organization.  I was chairman of the Fort Worth Air Power Council, a businessman’s organization limited to 200 members only by invitation, and have been the only doctor to be president of that esteemed institution. 

I write all of this not to flatter myself, but hopefully you will begin to see that the mail you have received or receiving now, and much more to come in the future, is from people with character, class, integrity, and not with a special agenda.

TCOM has arrived at its place in medicine today because of the hard work and giving of time and money of a small group of physicians and community leaders.  It has gone from a small institution to a large nationally ranked institution and is recognized as a premiere, primary care teaching institution in America as the government HMOs, and the public have asked us to do.  It has the possibility to be the #1 primary care teaching facility in America with the proper leadership.

Under recent leadership, that is not happening, and many distinguished physicians have left and many still at the institution are very unhappy with their leadership and with the status of the institution.  These people are obviously not going to speak out but I can speak for them because I know them intimately, my office is located right across the street.

I am speaking for 3000 DO physicians, the public, most of the patients in Ft. Worth and surrounding areas, and most of the community when I say you are taking a great and unique institution and moving to an area that the great majority of Texans and families do not want.  I will soon be sending you and your Board a detailed letter from A to Z which will include much more, and I hope you will read carefully.  I would be more than happy to speak to your Board at any time, any place, anywhere about the history, the past, the present, and the future of this great institution.  Jeter Nolan came to me and spoke to me privately about moving the school, and we prevented that when he was Chancellor.  Also MDs wanted to take over the school and Speaker Gib Lewis prevented that also.  We have gone through this before.  As we become bigger and more precious, obviously more people want us.  The great thing is that we have become so unique like the Northside, like the Museum and Arts District, like Ft. Worth, and why anybody would want to change it is beyond my strongest imagination. 

I have a lot of facts that will help you make this decision that you are about to make.  By the way, Scott Ransom called me two weeks ago and I know most of the people on the committee, except for two, I have not seen a more stacked committee.  It is noted that they are adding more people on all of a sudden because they are aware of this problem, and hopefully the Board of Regents is aware of it.  I asked Dr. Ransom if I could come and sit in on the Committee and he said he did not think there were enough seats, so I told him I would stand in the back, and he had no answer to that.  I have spoken to him subsequently once or twice about it, but I am sure that is not likely to happen.  What I would like to see are people of impeccable reputation that understand what most Fort Worth residents really want.

It is critical that you have the whole story by people with impeccable reputations and credibility.  It is vital that you not just be another medical school, but that you be unique and you continue to develop more uniqueness, and with the correct leadership you can be the number 1 ranked primary care institution in the country, and we know how to do that much better than the MDs and I will show you many ways to do that with the problems that you present.  There are many very simple solutions, and I would be glad to discuss that with your Board and with you. 

In conclusion, I hope you have a great holiday and I anticipate an honest dialogue concerning this matter with all parties so that the University of North Texas Health Science Center will not make a huge mistake here. 

Thank you for your attention to this matter.  It is hugely important.

Sincerely,

Jay G. Beckwith, DO, MACOI

Dear University of North Texas Chancellor Lee Jackson:

You will be meeting with Mark Baker, D.O., Robert DeLuca, D.O., and David Garza, D.O., on Tuesday, December 23, 2008.  Please consider my opinion with theirs at this meeting.  I implore you to stop Dr. Ransom and his campaign to take TCOM in a “new direction” because it is the wrong direction for the future of Osteopathic medicine in Texas.

TCOM should not consider awarding an M.D. degree. Osteopathic medical students need Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine's environment to learn the philosophy and application of osteopathic principles.  It lays the foundation for their continuing medical education. There are already seven allopathic medical schools in Texas, but there is only one osteopathic medical school in Texas.  Patients want a choice in their healthcare and they need access to more primary care physicians.

And, it's the law.  The State of Texas legislated that an M.D. degree may not be awarded at TCOM (Senate Bill 216, passed in 1975). The Texas Legislature mandated that more osteopathic physicians be produced to solve the shortage of primary care doctors in our Texas Communities.  TCOM has met that mandate by producing over 2800 physicians, 65% of whom provide primary care; defined as family practice, pediatrics, general internal medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology.

Students who graduate from TCOM place highest in the U.S on the osteopathic profession's board scores and earn spots in some of the most demanding residency programs in the nation.  The fact that there are fewer osteopathic internships and residencies is precisely why we do need to Keep TCOM D.O.

To award an M.D. degree as well as a D.O. degree would be to sacrifice TCOM's distinction and focus as a highly successful osteopathic teaching institution.

My views and experiences represent those of an allied healthcare provider who has observed osteopathic healthcare, participates in the delivery of nutritional assessment and counseling with patients of osteopathic and allopathic physicians, and who utilizes osteopathic physicians for my own healthcare.

I graduated from Texas Christian University in 1991 and am in private practice as a consulting dietitian in bariatric medicine.  I completed my clinical dietetic internship in nutrition at the Osteopathic Medical Center of Texas. My experience in an osteopathic teaching hospital gave me many opportunities to observe the application of the osteopathic philosophy of patient care. A vigorous proponent of "treating the whole person", I have advocated for patients and osteopathic medicine for almost twenty years. I am a past-president of the Advocates for the Texas Osteopathic Medical Association.

Thank you for your very careful consideration of what Dr. Ransom is trying to do. This puts the future of Osteopathic medicine in Texas at a dangerous crossroads.  A fatally wrong turn will be made if Dr. Ransom is left “at the wheel.”

Sincerely,

Beth Zuber Beckwith, RD/LD