ACOFP: OUR CONTINUING HISTORY 23 Onward and, Eventually, Upward treatment modalities. During this time, pharmaceutical corporations sponsored many educational venues, including conferences and trips for the members. Boehringer-Ingelheim Ciba, Giegy, Hoescht, Hoffman-LaRoche and others provided trips to Lisbon and Madrid for educational purposes. T. Robert Sharp, DO, FACOFP, remembers a trip to Venezuela where the members met and talked with the first South American physician to install a nuclear pacemaker. The outreach programs were successful, but Dr. Sharp is quick to point out that political entities soon put these programs out of the membership’s reach. Specialists continued to be invited to these conferences to present their expertise to general practitioners. In addition to individual specialists presenting educational seminars at ACOFP conferences, ACOFP and different specialty colleges held several joint conferences. These meetings, along with ACOFP’s growing credibility, created a stronger bond between ACOFP and osteopathic specialists. ACOFP continued to grow in both membership and the number of divisional societies despite the turmoil caused by the California Merger, the move to Chicago, and the loss of records and assets. In May 1964, the ACOFP newsletter reported: The state of Michigan, with 146 active members, leads in the number of DOs who belong to the ACOFP. Ohio is second with 42 members, and then Iowa and Missouri, each with 35 members, ranking third. With its 63 pre-candidates, however, Missouri has a good chance to jump into second place. Texas has the largest number of ACOFP fellows, 11, with Michigan close behind with its 10. With a grand total of 419 active members, the ACOFP scatters its membership through 29 states. There are also honorary members in one other state, Canada, and Mexico. The ACOFP lists 89 pre-candidates, 12 candidates, 53 fellows, 12 associate members, and 6 honorary members. – The DO, July 1964, p. 64. Dr. T. Robert Sharp recollects certain requirements to maintain certification: It was not unusual then that the ACOFP would produce post-doctoral (“post-convention”) training wherever it was evident that special information might be offered to our AOA and ACOFP memberships. I had the opportunity to act as the program chairman. Many similar post-convention trips were sponsored. One of the first was the extension of the Miami AOA Convention to Puerto Rico and on to the Virgin Islands. National pharmaceutical interests offered speakers and sponsored many of the DO specialists who appeared on the program. The next AOA post-convention seminar consisted of three separate trips. One circled the Hawaiian Islands; another discovered the wonders of the Philippine Islands to progress to Hong Kong; and yet another to the Fiji Islands and on to Australia, New Zealand, and Tahiti. All seminars involved were also with a local physician and our own authorities as qualified tutors. This became the cornerstone of professionalism on a world scope.
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