The American College of Osteopathic Surgeons (ACOS) presented the 2019 Guy D. Beaumont Jr. FACOS Award of Academic Excellence to Norman Rose, D.O.’63, FACOS, FICS, for his outstanding organization leadership and excellence in improving the quality of osteopathic surgical education in surgical training programs and in continuing medical education as well as osteopathic student medical education. The award was presented on Oct. 21, 2019, during the 92nd Annual Clinical Assembly of Osteopathic Surgeons.
After graduating from DMU in 1963, Dr. Rose completed his internship and general surgery residency at Des Moines General Hospital, which offered one of the first general surgery residencies in the profession. He then practiced surgery at Des Moines General Hospital, where he was chief of staff, chair of the department of surgery, chair of numerous committees and director of the surgical residency program. He also taught at DMU and served as chair of the surgery department. During his time in Des Moines, he published more than 20 scientific papers, won several grand prizes for scientific exhibits at the Annual Clinical Assembly of Osteopathic Surgeons and presented more than 100 lectures and papers at state and national meetings.
Dr. Rose remains involved in surgical residency training today in the program he started at Larkin Community Hospital in Miami, FL, where he serves as academic director of the general surgery residency. Including his current residents, he will have been involved as an educator in training more than 100 osteopathic and allopathic surgical residents over the last 55 years. He chaired the surgery department at Nova Southeastern University, where he now is clinical professor of surgery. The recipient of numerous teaching awards, he also is clinical professor in the department of biomedical sciences at Larkin University as well as adjunct professor of specialty medicine at DMU.
As president of ACOS in 1991, Dr. Rose was instrumental in establishing the Student Osteopathic Surgical Association (SOSA). DMU was one of the first institutions to establish a chapter. He actively pursued earning recognition by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) of the unique membership of the specialty colleges, which led to ACOS representatives becoming voting members of the AOA House of Delegates. He served ACOS extensively in other roles, including as a member and secretary-treasurer of its Board of Governors and chair of its membership committee. He also was the first chair of the ACOS website oversight committee and served in that position for 10 years.
The Iowa Osteopathic Medical Association honored Dr. Rose with its Physician of the Year Award for his achievements in the state. These achievements include the production of more than 250 hours of AOA-approved continuing medical education, his appointment to and service on the Iowa State Board of Medical Examiners and his selection as recipient of the American Cancer Society Harold W. Morgan Outstanding Volunteer Award. He served as president of the Iowa Osteopathic Medical Association and as founder and editor of the association’s Hawkeye Osteopathic Journal.
A Fellow of both ACOS and the International College of Surgeons, Dr. Rose received ACOS’s highest award, the Orel F. Martin Medal, as a symbol of his outstanding career as an osteopathic surgeon, educator and leader. His mentorship through the years has produced many outstanding leaders within the profession, including several deans, presidents of osteopathic medical colleges, chairs of many surgical departments as well as a past ACOS president. His residents have received many awards under his tutelage, including Outstanding Resident of the Year honors, resident achievement awards, first-place poster awards and several Robert C. Erwin Literary Awards.
