American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians (ACOP)

We recently celebrated our annual gathering of osteopathic physicians and students at OMED 2020 this month, though this year it was unfortunately held virtually; it is hard to ignore the recent resurgence of DO’s in the national media. Unfortunately, this notice has been both negative and ill-informed.  On October 5^th, in response to the poorly executed health updates on President Trump regarding his health status following his positive COVID-19 diagnosis, many media networks opted to diminish the credentials of the current Physician to the President, Dr. Sean Conley, DO. Statements were made discounting his ability to manage Mr. Trump’s illness based only on the fact that he is an “osteopath” and not an infectious disease specialist. Many media figures limited Dr. Conley’s ability to “only osteopathy,” ignoring the contributions we as a profession make to the greater field of medicine. While in fact, Dr. Conley is a graduate of the highly-esteemed Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed his Emergency Medicine residency at the Naval Medical Hospital Portsmouth in Portsmouth, Virginia during which time he was very highly regarded. While not an infectious disease specialist, Dr. Conley’s credentials and education more than justify his placement in this prestigious role. The members of the American College of Osteopathic Pediatrician (ACOP) stand along with Dr. Conley and the rest of the Osteopathic Medicine community as we continue our quest to be viewed as equals with our allopathic counterparts.

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The American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians are mindful of the tragic murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, and express our support for ending the longstanding injustices faced by Blacks in our country. We recognize that our under-represented minority patients, families, pediatricians, and trainees suffer microaggressions and racism that may have gone unnoticed or unacknowledged.  We pledge to encourage, support, and provide training for our members to learn how to address these aggressions and treat our patients who suffer from related adverse childhood events.

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In 2000 the CDC officially declared that the highly contagious measles virus had been eliminated in the United States.  This was made possible in large part to an aggressive vaccination campaign and increasing advocacy and education by healthcare workers. In recent years, however, we have begun to see an increase in cases returning throughout the country.  While many of these cases can be traced to the virus entering the US via infected travelers from countries that do not offer routine measles vaccination, the increasing “anti-vax” movement, whether due to religious, medical, or moral objection, has also led to the creation of measles hot spots throughout the country.  We are currently facing such an outbreak as the CDC has already reported 349 documented cases of measles as of February 2019, almost as many cases as were reported in the entire year of 2016, with new cases continuing to be reported weekly.  These cases have been primarily located in pockets of Washington State, New York City and areas in upstate New York.

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