iLEARN Mentor Program

AOA iLEARN Mentor Recognition Program

The AOA iLEARN Mentor Recognition Program, in association with Pfizer Inc., was developed to honor DOs who help shape the future of the osteopathic medical profession through their involvement with osteopathic medical students and new physicians in practice. Through their service, mentors bring a sense of pride to the profession and promote the art and science of osteopathic medicine. Each year five finalists nominated for the AOA Mentor of the Year Award, as well as each mentor nominated for the Award, are honored during OMED. The AOA iLEARN Mentor Recognition Program enables members of the osteopathic family to nominate the mentor who has had a profound impact on their career. Additionally, members can volunteer to become a mentor to an aspiring physician who is seeking career guidance from an experienced DO. Nominations are accepted year-round from students, interns, residents, DOs, AOA Affiliates, or any other member of the osteopathic professional family and may be submitted online, through the mail, or via fax.

AOA Mentor Spotlight

Mentor stories submitted through nomination submissions reflect how a mentor has made a difference in the life of a mentee. Mentoring students, interns, residents, and young physicians is a vital role to the osteopathic medical profession. Each month, the mentor spotlight section features such stories.

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iLEARN Mentor Recognition Program

Spotlight on

Edward G. Stiles, DO

College:

MSUCOM

Time Mentored:

Initially, when I was a third year medical student on clinical rotation; then over the course of many years when we both were faculty members at OSU-COM.

Mentor Qualities:

Dr Stiles willing shares his knowledge and encourages dialogue. He nurtured my self-confidence and is one of the most positive-thinking people I know. He encourages integrative thinking.

Mentor Characteristics Adopted:

I believe, I now exam a problem from various perspectives. I try to be open and honest in sharing my knowledge and teaching others. I know the importance of instilling confidence in others. I also hope I have gained some of the excellent patient care skills I observed in Dr. Stiles.

Mentor Impact:

I specialize in, practice and teach osteopathic manpulative medicine because of what I learned from Dr. Stiles. I am involved in establishing and running a hospital OMM service because of the example he set and the way he taught me to think. Seeing the osteopathic implications of health and disease seem to come naturally to me now. I believe that I enjoy the practice of osteopathic medicine so much that both of my children have decided to be D.O.'s

Mentor Stories:

My husband and I planned to go to Waterville, Maine, on a rotation in the winter! The hospital housing became unavailable at the last minute and Dr. Stiles and his wife invited us to live with them and their family for 6 weeks. They welcomed us into their house and their family. We ice skated with their children on China Lake, we enjoyed Marty's wonderful, healthy cooking, and we learned how to get around in Maine in the winter. That was the beginning of our experience of the generosity of the Stiles family. Several years later, we were teaching the first Functional Indirect course at MSU. Participation in the class was by invitation only and many of the participants had been my instructors and authors of books I had read. The night before the course began I was so nervous I couldn't sleep and had palpatations most of the night (I thought I might die before the first presentation.) Later I found out Dr. Stiles was almost as nervous, too. It turned out to be quite an event with many great minds assimilating and contributing to the "work in progress."

Submitted by:

Harriet Shaw DO

This is the original nomination submitted; minor formatting and/or grammatical errors have been revised.

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