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UIW GRANT

greater acceptance of the medical profession as well as to the MDs and DOs to merge into one medical field. The contract agree-
growth it has enjoyed today. ment, approved in 1962, stated licensed DOs and recent graduates
“These are the historians, they set this wonderful foundation for would be awarded a Doctor of Medicine degree. With only an MD
us to carry forward,” Madson said. accrediting system, osteopaths could no longer receive license to
practice osteopathic medicine.
A Physician’s Mission to Defend the Field “Osteopathic medicine was known as a cult at the time,” Arm-
Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, the philosopher and physician behind bruster said. It took nearly two decades and numerous appeals from
the preventative, whole-person methods of osteopathy, implored influential osteopaths for the California Supreme Court to rule
future physicians in the field to fight for the purity of the profession. against the refusal of osteopathic licensure, resulting in the forma-
“Stand behind all legitimate research institutions,” Still said. “Give tion of two medical board licensing associations, one for DOs, one
them your support.” for MDs.
In 1963, Armbruster graduated from the first osteopathic medical While Texas granted full practicing rights to osteopathic physi-
institution named for the osteopathic founder, A.T. Still University cians in 1907, it would take nearly 70 years for osteopaths to be el-
- Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. The calling to stand igible for licensure in all 50 states.
behind the field became his mission. Armbruster was on the frontlines, recommending resolutions and
Family Physician and Proctologist, Armbruster and wife of 63 voting for the limitations and constraints placed on the practice to
years, Elaine, moved to Pearland, Texas to establish a clinic in 1964. be broken down as part of his work on the AOA House of Dele-
The bustling metropolitan area that Pearland is today, was a small gates. “Over all the years of my practice, I’ve done nothing but ad-
community on the outskirts of Houston at the time. vocate for full practice rights,” he said. “They’d have to eventually
It didn’t take long for Armbruster to become locally known in accept all of us.”
the rural community as Pearland Schools’ team physician, City of
Pearland health officer, and the doctor who sewed the local rice UIWSOM Plans to Utilize Grant to Foster
farmer’s fingers back on after he refused to go to the hospital. Tomorrow’s D.O.s
Outside the city limits, Armbruster was turning over major stones The University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic
in the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), working to assure Medicine graduates their first class in 2021 and will send them out
that states across the nation gave full practicing rights to osteopathic to residency programs. Madson aspires for UIWSOM learners to
doctors. recognize the work their predecessors accomplished in building the
“We fought for equal rights for years,” Armbruster said, referring profession, and continue in the philosophy, practice and science
to the over 50 consecutive years that he has served as an active throughout their medical careers. The partnership with HOHF will
member of the AOA. “There was always one hot spot that we had help accomplish this goal.
to straighten out one way or another.” The distinction between DO and MD accreditation is about to
One of the first hot spots was in the state of California, when change. By 2020, The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical
leaders of the California Medical Association and the California Os- Education, (ACGME) the system that accredits MD programs, will
teopathic Association met behind closed doors to discuss plans for add DO residencies and fellowships, creating a single accrediting
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