KYCOM’s Class of 2025 to receive symbolic ‘white coat of compassion’

The University of Pikeville-Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine (KYCOM) will formally welcome members of the Class of 2025 during a traditional White Coat Ceremony on Saturday, September 11, at 2 p.m. at the Appalachian Wireless Arena in Pikeville.

The health and safety of UPIKE’s campus community is a top priority. The KYCOM Class of 2025 White Coat Ceremony will be held in person for faculty, staff, students and families following CDC guidelines. All participants and guests will be required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status.

In the presence of family members, friends and the campus community, students from the Class of 2025 will be “coated” by the president and vice president of KYCOM’s student government association for the Class of 2024.

The keynote speaker for the ceremony will be Boyd R. Buser, D.O. FACOFP dist., former vice president for health affairs and dean of KYCOM (2007-2018), and former president of the American Osteopathic Association (2016-2017). 

In addition to his leadership roles at KYCOM, Buser also held the rank of professor of osteopathic principles and practices and professor of family medicine. He is a graduate of Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine, is board certified in both Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) and Family Medicine, and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians. He has taught extensively, both nationally and internationally, in the field of OMM. 

His expertise has led him to serve on many boards throughout his impressive career. Buser’s long history of advocacy in the physician payment policy arena earned him the honor of being the first D.O. to be elected by the AMA’s Board of Trustees to serve on the Current Procedural Terminology Editorial Panel in 2007. 

Buser is a past chairman of the board of the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners and is the chair-elect of the board of directors of the Osteopathic International Alliance. He served as a member of the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure and was the Co-chair of the AOA/AACOM Blue Ribbon Commission on the Advancement of Osteopathic Medical Education. He chaired the AOA’s Bureau of OGME Development and was an instrumental figure in the development of the single accreditation system for graduate medical education. In 2020 he was elected to the board of directors of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

In 1995, Buser served as President of the American Academy of Osteopathy and was named Educator of the Year by the AOA and American Osteopathic Foundation in 1994. He currently resides in Kennebunkport, Maine, with his wife Pam, serving as clinical professor at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine.