For the first time, Stern College hosted its own Medical School Fair. A range of medical schools were represented, including NYU Medical School, Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, The Medical School for International Health, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Sackler School of Medicine, Technion American Medical School, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Transportation was provided from the Wilf Campus so that Yeshiva College pre-medical students could benefit from this event as well. Among the range of medical schools present at the fair, it is interesting to note that there was a fair ratio of osteopathic schools to allopathic schools. However, what I found even more interesting is that more than half of the pre-med students at the fair had little knowledge about the differences between osteopathic and allopathic medicine.
“D.O.s can’t prescribe medication, right?” said a fellow eager student standing next to me near the NYIT Osteopathic School representative. Wrong. Therefore, before I divulge in the multiple benefits of hosting this fair at Stern, I do feel like there is a misconception about D.O.s which needs to be addressed.
M.D.s, or medical doctors, and D.O.s, doctors of osteopathic medicine, share more similarities than you’d think. Both schools share the same curriculum, have access to the same residencies, and (once certified) will have identical salaries. Essentially, osteopathic medicine is a system of medicine based on the theory that disturbances in the musculoskeletal system affect other bodily parts, causing many disorders that can be corrected by various manipulative techniques in combination with conventional medical, surgical, pharmacological and therapeutic procedures. Surprisingly enough, osteopathic schools actually incorporate more into their curriculum: a series of techniques primarily focused on the prevention of disease. Actually, the distinction between M.D.s and D.O.s is really only known among students in the medical field as they require different applications. People who are not medical doctors, i.e., a fair amount of the population, really have no idea that there is a difference. Check: your favorite childhood Pediatrician may in fact be a D.O.!
Once in practice, D.O.s can exceed to great, if not greater heights than M.D.s; that is, if he/she is an exceptional physician. Over this past summer, I met Dr. Jane Owen, the Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Montefiore Medical Center, the university hospital for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is also the director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women’s Health at Bronx East. Dr. Jane Owen is a graduate of NYIT School of Osteopathic Medicine. After explaining to me the difference between a D.O. and M.D. degree, she emphasized why she chose to go to an Osteopathic School. She knows more about the body as a fully integrated system then her fellow M.D. graduates and revels in telling me about her lunch meeting with a cardiologist, a Cornell Medical School graduate. The friend had post-partum carpal tunnel syndrome, and when they discussed her unresolved CTS, she was unfamiliar with basic anatomy and the options available to her other than pain relievers and surgery. It was a surprise that the cardiologist was unaware of any possible rehab option and alternative treatment; an essential part of the osteopathic school curriculum that is evidently lacking in allopathic schools. As proven by Dr. Jane Owen, the osteopathic path to medicine can be fascinating as well as more fulfilling, in her case, than following the common allopathic route.
The equivalent professional opportunities available to both M.D. and D.O. graduates were firmly declared less than a decade ago. In 2005, Jordan Cohen, the president of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) stated: “After more than a century of often bitterly contentious relationships between the osteopathic and allopathic medical professionals, we now find ourselves living at a time when osteopathic and allopathic graduates are both sought after by many of the same residency programs; both licensed by the same licensing boards; are both privileged by many of the same hospitals; and are found in appreciable numbers on the faculties of each other’s medical schools.” Well, there you have it.
The next question then becomes: If there is little difference, then why all the D.O.-hate? Well, for the most part, there really is no hate. It mostly stems from ignorance or a lack of knowledge on the part of premedical students that have not done adequate research about these two degrees. Additionally, D.O. schools tend to look for slightly different things in applicants than allopathic schools. The NYIT Osteopathic School of Medicine representative summarizes it for me, “If we see an applicant with a 4.0 GPA, a fantastic MCAT score, and little outside volunteering or involvement in the field of medicine, we most probably will not accept him. However, a student with a slightly lower GPA or MCAT score, but has shown an unwavering commitment to medicine through volunteering and actively involving himself in the medical field— this applicant we are more likely to accept”.
I believe that the Medical School Fair at Stern was a success and a positive experience. It exposed students to many different schools, both allopathic and osteopathic, in addition to presenting two American programs in Israel (Sackler and Technion), the relatively new and unconventional Hofstra Medical School, and many more. Overall, the Fair was a great way of introducing different options to pre-medical students, whether they are starting out on the arduous journey or in the process of applying. And remember, the primary goal is that you are doing something rewarding with your life. Fulfill that dream. It is up to you to determine what the two letters after your last name really mean.