A physician, medical practitioner, medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease, injury, and other physical and mental impairments. Physicians may focus their practice on certain disease categories, types of patients, and methods of treatment—known as specialities—or they may assume responsibility for the provision of continuing and comprehensive medical care to individuals, families, and communities—known as general practice. Medical practice properly requires both a detailed knowledge of the academic disciplines, such as anatomy and physiology, underlying diseases and their treatment—the science of medicine—and also a decent competence in its applied practice—the art or craft of medicine.
Osteopathy is a type of alternative medicine that emphasizes physical manipulation of the body's muscle tissue and bones. Practitioners of osteopathy are referred to as osteopaths. Its name derives from Ancient Greek "bone" (ὀστέον) and "sensitive to" or "responding to" (-πάθεια).
Osteopathic medicine is a branch of the medical profession in the United States. Osteopathic physicians (DOs) are licensed to practice medicine and surgery in all 50 states and are recognized to varying degrees in 85 other countries. The field is distinct from osteopathic practices offered in nations outside of the U.S., whose graduates and practitioners are generally not considered part of core medical staff nor of medicine itself. Only graduates of American osteopathic medical colleges may practice the full scope of medicine and surgery generally considered to be medicine by the general public.
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences (OSU-CHS) is a public medical school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It also has a branch campus in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Founded in 1972, OSU-CHS is part of the Oklahoma State University System. OSU-CHS offers a 4-year Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree, as well as over fifteen different graduate level degrees offered by the Graduate Programs Office.
The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) is a private, osteopathic medical school on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia (VCOM-Virginia), with branch campuses in Spartanburg, South Carolina (VCOM-Carolinas), Auburn, Alabama (VCOM-Auburn) and Monroe, Louisiana (VCOM-Monroe). VCOM also recently added Bluefield College to its list of campuses. Founded in 2002, VCOM graduated its first class of 139 students in June 2007.
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) was founded in 1947 to promote and maintain high quality standards for family doctors who are providing continuing comprehensive health care to the public. It is one of the largest medical organizations in the United States, with 136,700 members in 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam, as well as internationally. The AAFP was instrumental in establishing family medicine - a derivative of classical general practice - as medicine's 20th primary specialty. The AMA's Council on Medical Education and the independent American Board of Medical Specialties granted approval to a certifying board in family medicine on February 8, 1969. The AAFP is headquartered in Leawood, Kansas.
The University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) is a public medical school in Fort Worth, Texas. It is a graduate-level institution of the University of North Texas System. Established in 1970, UNT Health Science Center consists of five colleges with a total enrollment of 2,243 graduate students (2014–15). The institution offers degrees in both osteopathic and allopathic medicine, public health, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, and biomedical sciences.
The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) is the representative member organization for the more than 145,000 osteopathic medical doctors (D.O.s) and osteopathic medical students in the United States. The AOA is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and is involved in post-graduate training for osteopathic physicians. Beginning in 2015, it began accrediting post-graduate education as a committee within ACGME, creating a unified accreditation system for all DOs and MDs in the United States. The organization promotes public health, encourages academic scientific research, serves as the primary certifying body for D.O.s overseeing 18 certifying boards, and is the accrediting agency for osteopathic medical schools through its Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation. As of October 2015, the AOA no longer owns the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP), which accredited hospitals and other health care facilities.
Touro University Nevada (TUN) is a private university in Henderson, Nevada. It is part of the Touro College and University System. Touro University Nevada is a branch campus of its sister campus Touro University California.
Kansas City University (KCU) is a private medical school with its main campus in Kansas City, Missouri and an additional campus in Joplin, Missouri. Founded in 1916, KCU is one of the original osteopathic medical schools in the United States. It consists of both a College of Osteopathic Medicine and a College of Biosciences. KCU is one of the largest medical schools in the nation by enrollment.
Physicians in the United States hold either the Doctor of Medicine degree (MD) or the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree (DO). Institutions awarding the MD are accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) or Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). Institutions awarding the DO are accredited by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA). The MD degree is obtained at either domestic or international schools. The DO degree is obtained at domestic schools only. Foreign-trained osteopaths are not recognized as physicians in the United States.
W. Kenneth Riland, D.O. (1912–1989) was born 7 August 1912, in Camden, New Jersey. An osteopathic physician (D.O.) whose patients included Richard M. Nixon and Nelson A. Rockefeller, he was the cofounder of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Old Westbury, Long Island, New York.
Rocky Vista University (RVU) is a private, for-profit osteopathic medical school with campus locations in Parker, Colorado and Ivins, Utah. The school opened in 2006 as the only modern for-profit medical school in the United States, although several other for-profit schools have since opened. RVU's College of Osteopathic Medicine (RVUCOM) grants the degree of Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine and admitted its inaugural class of medical students at the Parker, Colorado campus in August 2008.
Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine is a professional doctoral degree of osteopathic medicine offered by medical schools in the United States. A DO graduate may become licensed as an osteopathic physician, similar to a physician who has earned the Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. There is a distinction between osteopathic physicians trained within the United States and those trained outside of the United States. Osteopathic physicians, or DOs, currently have unlimited practice rights in roughly 74 countries, with partial practice rights in many more; DOs have full practice rights in all 50 US states. As of 2018, there were more than 145,000 osteopathic physicians and osteopathic medical students in the United States.
The American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP) is a professional association and a medical specialty college in the United States. Its membership consists of osteopathic physicians who practice family medicine, residents and medical students. ACOFP is closely affiliated with the American Osteopathic Association and is the osteopathic equivalent of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Much of the association's activities involve addressing the chronic shortage of family practitioners in the United States. It is responsible for setting the standards for the inspection of osteopathic graduate medical education programs in family practice.
The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) promotes sports medicine education, research, communication, and fellowship and includes national and international orthopaedic sports medicine leaders. The Society works closely with many other sports medicine specialists, including athletic trainers, physical therapists, family physicians, and others to improve the identification, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of sports injuries. Formed in 1972 as a forum for education and research with 100 members, the AOSSM today has to more than 2,000 members.
The Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSUCOM) is the osteopathic medical school of Michigan State University located in East Lansing, Michigan. The college grants the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree, as well as a DO-PhD combined degree for students interested in training as physician-scientists. MSUCOM operates two satellite campuses in Clinton Township and Detroit. The college is accredited by the American Osteopathic Association's Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) and by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
The University of Pikeville - Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine (UP-KYCOM) is a private, non-profit, osteopathic medical school located in Pikeville, in the U.S. state of Kentucky. UP-KYCOM was established in 1997, grants the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree, and is an academic division of the University of Pikeville. The college is accredited by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) and by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
The College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP) is a private, non-profit medical school for osteopathic medicine located in downtown Pomona, in the U.S. state of California. The college opened in 1977 as the only osteopathic medical school west of the Rocky Mountains. COMP was the founding program of Western University of Health Sciences (WesternU), which now has 8 colleges in addition to COMP, each offering professional degrees in various fields of healthcare. COMP has a single 4-year program, conferring the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree. Graduates are eligible to practice medicine in all 50 states and more than 85 countries.
Stephen Typaldos, D.O. was an American physician who was the founder of the Fascial Distortion Model, an anatomical and physiological model of medicine.
