Canadian Osteopathic Medical Student Association

Canadian Osteopathic Medical Student Association (COMSA)
Abbreviation	COMSA
Formation	2011
Location	Canada;
Website	www.studentdo.ca

The Canadian Osteopathic Medical Student Association (COMSA) is a student body that works to promote awareness of Osteopathic Medicine in Canada both among the general population and the future physicians of Canada.^[1] They are affiliated with the Canadian Osteopathic Association.

History

Founded in 2011, COMSA has worked to increase awareness of the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree throughout Canada.^[2] The organization has helped hundreds of students through the process of becoming an osteopathic physician and has drastically grown in size every single year. Since 2012, COMSA started to host webinars and seminars at various universities across Canada to increase awareness of the DO medical degree. Additionally, Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSU-COM) launched a Canadian initiative to recruit 20-25 Canadian applicants each year to help spread awareness of the DO degree, leading to more than doubling of Canadian applicants and matriculates to Osteopathic medical schools (AACOM data). In 2015, under the leadership of Sevan Evren and Pranay Chander, COMSA conducted a study to determine the priorities and challenges faced by Canadian DO students and ways in which the profession can be expanded in Canada.^[2] Over the years COMSA has lobbied the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) and Health Canada to support the interests of osteopathic physicians in Canada. Within recent years, COMSA has established pre-osteopathic medicine societies in Canada at The University of Guelph and Western University. COMSA also continues to lobby provincial regulatory bodies for unrestricted licensure and title protection of physicians with a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from the US.

Mission

The Canadian Osteopathic Medical Student Association (COMSA) is dedicated to growing and spreading awareness of Osteopathic Medicine throughout Canada. Goals of the organization range from health care policy advocacy, to title protection rights, to assisting applicants strengthen their applications.^[1]

Executives

Past Presidents

2015- Pranay Chander (MSU-COM) and Sevan Evren (LMU-DCOM)

2014- Nick Church (UNE-COM) and Iain Jeffrey (TouroNY-COM)

2013- Dennis Fiddler (NSU-COM)

President

Ravi Uppal - NSUCOM

Vice president

Corey Mayer - LMU-DCOM

Director of Social Media

Khashayar Farzam - UNECOM

Secretary

Bianca Zapanta - Touro-COM

Director of Canadian Residencies

Trevor Gill - Touro-COM

Director of US Residencies

Amit Singh - KCUMB

Director of Pre-DO Societies

PJ Parmar - KCUMB

References

^ ^a ^b "comsa-do". comsa-do.
^ ^a ^b Teitelbaum, Howard S.; Weyant, Emily; Fiddler, Dennis; Bi, Andrew; Kim, Julia; Chander, Pranay; Evren, Sevan (1 May 2015). "Canadian DOs: International Expansion of Osteopathic Medical Education North of the Border". The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. 115 (5): 318–323. doi:10.7556/jaoa.2015.062. PMID 25938526 – via jaoa.org.

External links

[studentdo.ca-1] "comsa-do". comsa-do.

[auto-2] Teitelbaum, Howard S.; Weyant, Emily; Fiddler, Dennis; Bi, Andrew; Kim, Julia; Chander, Pranay; Evren, Sevan (1 May 2015). "Canadian DOs: International Expansion of Osteopathic Medical Education North of the Border". The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. 115 (5): 318–323. doi:10.7556/jaoa.2015.062. PMID 25938526 – via jaoa.org.

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