6 THE FOUNDING AND EARLY YEARS A YOUNG COLLEGE RECEIVES RECOGNITION In the March 1953 issue of the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (JAOA), the ACOFP was formally recognized as “the youngest professional organization in osteopathic medicine.” The article opened by noting: “The tremendous expansion of medical knowledge has necessitated the trend toward specialization. Specialization is accomplished through the formation of specialty colleges. These colleges serve the dual purposes of education and organization. It is through graduate education programs that a college can refine and communicate its expertise. Through organization, the college produces the status necessary to forward their work both among their colleagues and the public.” The article concluded by saying: “This new group is one of the most important to arise in our profession’s history” (JAOA 52, no. 7, pp. 379–380). The recognition of general practice as a specialty was not without controversy. There were those in the AOA who felt strongly that generalists could not become specialists, when in fact many of the specialists at that time were former generalists. The movement toward specialization in general was of great concern to many in the profession. This concern was often heralded in osteopathic literature and was predicated upon the belief that “specialization tends to make man an appendage to the doctor’s particular specialty. Thus, the patient is not being treated as an integrated whole, which is the foundation of osteopathic philosophy and treatment, but would be resulting in the patient receiving seriously flawed medical treatment.” Others saw the general practitioner as the solution to this problem. The general practitioner, whose skills encompassed all the specialties, could treat the whole patient, thereby improving outcomes — a fact that has been well established today by research into the benefits of generalist care on world populations by the work of pediatrician Barbara Starfield, MD (“Is US Health Really the Best in the World?” JAMA 284, no. 4, pp. 483-4). The initial leadership structure contained a Board of Governors and three regional vice presidents from the Western, Pacific, and Central Regions of the U.S. Of the three pictured vice presidents (Richard Sayra Koch, VP of the Pacific Region; Robert G. Gardner, VP of the Central Region; and Richard O. Brennan, VP of the Western Region), only Dr. Brennan would go on to become ACOFP President, in 1959. He served a two-year term until 1961. Two key founders (Bruce S. Collins, DO, the second president, and Frank York Lee, DO, the third president) were present for the occasion. Frank York Lee, DO See “Past Presidents” in Chapter 5, page 103, for more details on key co-founders Bruce S. Collins, DO, and Frank York Lee, DO. Bruce S. Collins, DO
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