[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9941]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO DR. BOYD R. BUSER

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I wish to congratulate a distinguished 
Kentuckian and exceptional physician who brings great honor to the 
Bluegrass State. Dr. Boyd R. Buser, doctor of osteopathic medicine, is 
the vice president for health affairs and dean for the University of 
Pikeville's Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine, or UP-KYCOM. He 
is also the president-elect for the American Osteopathic Association, 
AOA, and will be installed as that organization's president next month 
at its next annual meeting in Chicago.
  Dr. Buser earned his osteopathic medical degree in 1981 and has 
served as a physician for 35 years. Originally from Iowa, he completed 
an osteopathic internship in Rhode Island before proudly calling 
Kentucky his home. He is board certified in family practice, as well as 
osteopathic manipulative medicine.
  He has taught extensively around the world for the past 15 years and 
has represented the American osteopathic profession in the World Health 
Organization. He is an officer of the board of
directors of the Osteopathic International Alliance. He has been a 
member of the AOA's board of trustees since 2004 and has served the AOA 
in a number of other capacities as well before assuming the mantle of 
president.
  Dr. Buser has been recognized by the medical community with many 
awards for his achievements. In 1994, the AOA, along with the American 
Osteopathic Foundation, named him the osteopathic profession's 
``Educator of the Year.'' The Maine Osteopathic Association presented 
him with the Roswell Bates Award in 1994 and the Distinguished Service 
Award in 1996 and 2007. He is also a current member of the Kentucky 
Institute of Medicine and the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure.
  A fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians, 
Dr. Buser is past president of the American Academy of Osteopathy, AAO. 
He is also a past chair of the National Board of Osteopathic Medical 
Examiners, NBOME, and was a founding member of the board of directors 
of the Osteopathic International Alliance.
  Dr. Buser was the recipient of the A.T. Still Medallion of Honor from 
the AAO in 2010. He also received the Riland Medal for Public Service 
from the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic 
Medicine in 2013, as well as the Santucci Award for outstanding 
contributions to the mission of NBOME. In 2015, he received the Pioneer 
of Osteopathic Medicine Award from the University of New England 
College of Osteopathic Medicine.
  Kentucky is very proud that Dr. Buser is the second dean from UP-
KYCOM to serve as AOA's president; the first was Dr. John Strosnider, 
the founding dean of UP-KYCOM, in 2006. UP-KYCOM was founded in 1997, 
and since then, more than 1,000 physicians have graduated from that 
institution. Nearly 70 percent of them serve in primary care, 
frequently in rural areas. UP-KYCOM is supplying doctors to the regions 
of Kentucky and the Nation who need them the most.
  I want to praise Dr. Buser for his many awards and accomplishments 
and thank him for bringing his talents and his expertise to Kentucky. 
The Bluegrass State is pleased to reap the benefits from his efforts to 
heal and comfort the sick. It is truly an honor for him to ascend to 
the presidency of the American Osteopathic Association, and we are glad 
to see him in that position. I know his colleagues at UP-KYCOM are 
equally pleased for him, and I wish him great success in his new role.

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