DMU leaders highlighted the University’s global health program during the conference because interest in global health trips continues to grow among DMU students in all programs. That gives alumni and other health care practitioners these important roles in the program:

Understand DMU’s commitment to enriching students’ clinical skills and cultural awareness through global health. Since its global health program began in 2007, more than 130 students have helped under-served people in 26 countries, including at sites in Uganda, Mexico, Central America and South Africa.

At the AOA Conference last November in New Orleans, Craig Thompson, D.O.'78, and his son Jonathan, D.P.M.'11, shared their experiences during a DMU global health trip they took to El Salvador in 2009.

Support students in gaining global health experiences. Donors can sponsor a student on a global health trip with a gift of $2,000 or more; gifts to the program of any amount also help.

Join a global health trip. Experienced health care providers on these trips offer invaluable guidance to DMU students and lifesaving care to people in need. One-week service trips and longer clinical rotations are available.

Get informed. Visit the DMU global health website, or call the DMU development office at 515-271-1573 for information on supporting the program.

Nick Schmit, manager of the DMU Annual Fund and coordinator of DMU’s global health “Sponsor a Student” program, and Jeff Bulson, D.O.’85.

“Our students would love to have you go as faculty on service trips,” Yogesh Shah, M.D., DMU’s associate dean for global health, told AOA conference attendees. “They can learn a lot from your clinical experience.”

Nick Schmit, manager of the DMU Annual Fund and coordinator of DMU’s global health “Sponsor a Student” program, thanks Jeff Bulson, D.O.’85, for becoming the first DMU graduate to donate to the program. Sponsor gifts cover the costs of airfare, food and accommodations – typically $2,000 – for a student on a week-long global health trip.

Practitioners needed for Guatemala service trip
A team of 10 DMU students plans to participate in medical service in Guatemala June 12-20, and they need four to six health care providers to join them.

A partnership with Rocky Vista University in Colorado, the trip is being organized by the DMU student chapter of DOCARE International, a team-based medical outreach organization dedicated to providing health care to indigent and isolated people in remote areas around the world.

To learn more about the trip, e-mail the DMU global health office at either Yogesh.Shah@dmu.edu or Chris.Catrenich@dmu.edu.

Robert Suter accepts the American College of Emergency Physicians' highest honor from ACEP President Angela Gardner.

Suter joined the military on his 17th birthday and has been in the reserves since the 1990s. He is professor of emergency medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and professor of military and emergency medicine at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. Every summer over the past decade, he spends three days training nearly 200 fourth-year medical students at Fort Indiantown Gap, a 19,000-acre military training camp in Pennsylvania.

“For students, it’s a very intense experience as if they’re in the middle of a war, with casualties, rocket fire, laws of war problems, psychological issues and dealing with the media,” says Sharp, chair of the department of military and emergency medicine, Uniformed Services University. “It’s remarkable that someone of Col. Suter’s seniority wants to come. He’s an expert medically and an extremely effective educator both on management of injuries and how to be a military officer.”

For his professional leadership in his field and in the American College of Emergency Physicians, ACEP honored Suter last October with its highest honor, the John G. Wiegenstein Leadership Award. Named after the recognized founder of emergency medicine and ACEP’s co-founder and first president, the award is given at most once a year and not at all if the organization’s awards committee decides none of the nominees is worthy.

“As I considered Dr. Wiegenstein a friend and mentor, it is very humbling to be selected for such a prestigious award,” says Suter, an ACEP fellow.

Suter became the first person to work full-time as an emergency medical technician and paramedic in 1979, the year the American Board of Medical Specialties approved emergency medicine as the 23rd U.S. medical specialty.

He was the first osteopathic emergency physician to serve as president of ACEP, which has more than 28,000 members and 53 chapters representing the 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and military/government branches.

The Wiegenstein Award wasn’t Suter’s first honor. In 2008, he received the award of “A” proficiency designator, the highest honor given by the Army Medical Department to recognize professional expertise, exceptional ability and achievement in clinical and academic medicine.

The secretary-treasurer of the DMU College of Osteopathic Medicine Alumni Board, Suter is an ardent advocate for both osteopathic medicine and his alma mater. “Dr. Suter is the epitome of what you’d want as an alumni leader,” says Ronnette Vondrak, DMU alumni director. “He’s a passionate advocate and a sincere, humble person who has served so many – his country, his patients, fellow physicians and students.”

In December, Suter was ordered to Iraq as a brigade surgeon, where he expected to work closely with combat troops in the field. There he will continue using his expertise in emergency medicine and as a teacher.

“To me, teaching is a way of leveraging your impact on the world and making a bigger difference than you ever can by yourself. By giving knowledge to your students, you can exponentially increase your contribution to patients’ lives,” he says. “In addition, teaching drives you to stay on top of your game as a scientist and clinician.”