For this final President’s message, I will 
attempt to taper down the word count and make this letter of gratitude uncharacteristically short. Ish. This past year has been significant for adaptive and proactive change (for the full report, please register for the Annual Meeting on April 8th!) Throughout it all, it has been inspiring to witness the engagement and dedication of so many members – at every level – to our organization. To each other.
Thank you to all district affiliates for the warm welcomes during meetings, exemplifying the osteopathic culture of collegial acceptance and mind-body-spirit care across specialities, training levels, and generations. For my MIND, thank you for the stimulating ideas and challenging questions, for the reminder of the depth of our osteopathic legacy in the founding state. For my BODY, thank you for helping heal the travel-induced somatic dysfunction, for the parasympathetic-stimulating nourishment of regional foods, and for the welcoming spaces to share them. For my SPIRIT, thank you for sharing your stories – which are a special medicine for the spirit – healers and teachers in their own way.
Thank you to all the officers and trustees who volunteered their time, attention, and discernment this past year. While there were many meetings on nights and weekends, your presence and contributions were stabilizing and enriching to the necessary organizational actions. Working alongside you has truly been an honor, and I am proud to call you colleagues.
Special thanks to all the physicians-in-training for reminding me that, while our future may look different than our past, it remains true to our osteopathic distinctiveness, where, at the root of each osteopathic physician, is the genuine desire to not only help patients heal but also reclaim their own health.
Lastly, thank you to the central office staff. You demonstrated time and time again that you are truly top-notch. From the vantage point of this past year, I can honestly and humbly say we would be scattered without you, both by the passive internal forces of busy work life and by the active external forces of professional threats. Your professionalism, responsive support, and organizational fortification are truly unparalleled. You make me want to be a better team member and be better about reading my email.
Please accept my deepest gratitude for the opportunity to serve our organization and the osteopathic profession in this role, and for the opportunity to witness, through its accompanying lens, both front-row and broad views of the impacts of MAOPS and osteopathic medicine. To consider a world which either does not exist is an exercise of reflection on identity, values, integrity, and hope. Compared to that world, I find myself more grateful for this one, and more dedicated to ensuring our sustenance within it.