SOMA ACOFP chapter wins national awards
Posted: February 18, 2011
ACOFP chapter president and vice president with some first-year members and state chapter supporters at the fall ACOFP convention
The ATSU-SOMA chapter of the SAACOFP, the Student Association of the American College of Family Physicians, placed first in two categories, leading chapters in communication and the A.T. Still Award.
The A.T. Still award is presented by ACOFP annually to a chapter that best promotes the integration of osteopathic principles and practice of osteopathy’s founder, Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, and their integration into family medicine. The award is based on a chapter’s sponsorship of events, speakers, and/or workshops that address the use of osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) as a family physician.
“Our SOMA chapter sponsored numerous events including inviting osteopathic family physicians in the community to present to students how they use OMM in their practice and lead us through some of their favorite techniques, “ said SOMA student Gillian Wackowski, OMS II, and current president of the SOMA ACOFP student chapter.
She was quick to point out that many others were others involved in planning chapter activities that helped secure the award including Alice Chen, OMS I, (president–elect, SOMA chapter) and Leeling Ong, OMS I.
“We are very proud to receive this award, especially since it’s named after our school’s founder, “ said Wackowski. “We also could not have won this award without the support of our advisor, Stan Brysacz, D.O., assistant professor, SOMA, and the board members of the Arizona ACOFP. They were all so supportive of our chapter’s activities and always willing to share their experience and knowledge with our members.”
“Our ACOFP student chapter has done an exceptional job regarding student activities and advocacy,” said Thomas McWilliams, D.O., dean, SOMA. They have accomplished this even though only one class of students is located at the Mesa campus and the other three years are distributed around the nation at our 11 community campuses. I am very pleased that their efforts and successes have been recognized.”
The award will be presented at the national ACOFP conference in San Antonio in March. The chapter also won a $1,000 award, which will be used to pay for programming during Primary Care Week. This is the second national award the chapter has received in three years.