American Osteopathic Association in Las Vegas

This week, the MWU team was off to Las Vegas for the annual convention of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA). A large contingent of our students from both CCOM and AZCOM attended, and we had over 200 alumni at our luncheon. These meetings provide great opportunities for our students to attend the educational sessions and network with our alumni at the receptions and special events. Many of our students are also involved with the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents, and they held meetings and met with students from other osteopathic schools.

The University hosted a special reception for donors in our Millennium Society on Monday evening. We had a good turnout of this important group of supporters, and CCOM Dean Karen Nichols gave them an update on their alma mater. Our luncheon the next day included a welcome from another CCOM alum, Dr. Peter Ajluni, who is the President-Elect of the AOA. He gave a warm talk about his days at CCOM, his mentor, Dr. George Caleel, and how he hopes to make his college and his profession proud as he assumes the leadership of this national association next year. We are confident he will do a great job. I think Dr. Ajluni will be the 10th CCOM alum to become the AOA president, which is a huge deal in the profession. Then, Tuesday evening, we hosted another reception for all the alumni, and we hired a magician to do some tricks. The kids and the alumni enjoyed his show.

MWU Alumni and Students at the AOA Luncheon

So, what did we do for fun in Vegas? First of all, we cheered on the undefeated Chicago Bears to victory over the Phoenix Cardinals. It was an MWU "grudge match" of sorts, and the Chicago campus won this round. We expect the Suns to have a better season than the Bulls this year, so it will even out. Unfortunately, I bet on the Bears to beat the spread, so I lost some money despite the Bears victory! I also played in the annual AOA Advocates Golf Outing, which provides funding for student scholarships. The MWU Team of Johnson, Burns (Kevin, Director of Development), O'Hare (Dr. Tom, Associate Dean of AZCOM and CCOM alum), and Prozialeck (Dr. Walt, CCOM Chair of Pharmacology) ended up at 4 under par. Not a bad round, and a beautiful day to play golf. I saw Elton John's show and would highly recommend it. And, I had a delicious meal at Spago. A few days in Vegas is always fun, but now I'm back at our Glendale Campus gearing up for our 10th Anniversary Gala tomorrow. More next week on this big event...