By Stephanie Grinnell
Staff Writer
    A potential landmine of controversy has been contained, for now, at the University of New England’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, or UNECOM, in Biddeford. Rumors circulating around the campus said UNE President Dr. Danielle Ripich, Ph.D., intended to integrate allopathic medicine with the current osteopathic courses offered currently at Maine’s only medical school, upsetting many members of the osteopathic community.
    Osteopathy treats the whole body as opposed to a specific symptom, while allopathic medicine is more focused. Nearly 60 percent of osteopathic doctors go on to primary care positions, said Dr. Adam Lauer, D.O., adding most medical doctors, or M.D.s, go on to specialize. Lauer said there is a great need for primary care doctors in Maine.
    UNECOM was established in 1978 by the New England Osteopathic Foundation, which was based in Massachusetts, with the intention of providing the six New England states with an osteopathic medical college. The purpose of the New England Osteopathic Foundation was “to operate and maintain a foundation for the promotion of osteopathic medical education, osteopathic medical research and the improvement of health care in osteopathic medical hospitals and related institutions.”
    The foundation was established because there were a large number of osteopathic doctors who were becoming too old to treat their patients and not enough younger doctors to replace them. The first class of doctors graduated from UNECOM in 1982.
    Lauer said he feels it is important for UNECOM to remain an osteopathic school, but in the light of recent comments and actions of Ripich, he and the other D.O.s are concerned about the direction of the school. Lauer said Ripich has spoken about making the school more financially viable and more affordable for students, which he said he agrees with, but he is skeptical about the talks taking place between UNE and Maine Medical Center.
    When Maine Medical Center, or MMC, took over the Brighton Medical Center, some osteopathic programs were eliminated, which created distrust of MMC within the osteopathic community, said Lauer.
There is such a concern on the UNECOM campus, Lauer has created a committee, the Maine Osteopathic Communications Committee, and a Web site to inform staff as well as other osteopaths of the “political atmosphere” at UNECOM. Lauer has posted letters on the Web site from fellow osteopathic doctors as well as responses from UNECOM board of trustee members.
“For us, the ultimate respect to come from the board and the president is to guarantee that the D.O. degree, that we love and cherish, will remain the only medical degree granted by this university,” said Dr. Owen Pickus, D.O., in a letter to the board of trustees, which expressed his concerns about the direction of the college.
UNECOM recently dedicated a newly proposed biomedical facility to Pickus.
“We want the piece of mind to know that our concerns are not justified and that all of us are pulling in the same direction,” said the letter from Pickus.
    Ripich addressed the concerns of the D.O.s during a conference held this weekend at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.
    During a phone interview Monday, Ripich said she has no intention of changing the direction of the osteopathic school.
    “We have a college of osteopathic medicine and it is our plan to make it the best osteopathic school,” said Ripich.
    As for joining forces with MMC, Ripich said the hospital asked four colleges, Dartmouth, Tufts, the University of Vermont and UNECOM to submit plans for a hospital based program, which would give MMC access to students who could later work at the facility. Ripich said she still plans to submit UNECOM’s plan, with the results of the collaboration being an osteopathic degree. She said the other colleges are allopathic medical colleges, so if their plans are chosen, the students would receive an M.D. degree.
    The other point of contention between Ripich and the D.O.’s of UNECOM has been the ongoing search for a dean for the osteopathic school. The recently appointed Dr. Jacquelyn Cawley, D.O., assumed the interim dean’s post on June 4, replacing Dr. Boyd Buser, D.O., who was asked to step down by Ripich.
    Lauer said there was a concern about Cawley’s long time affiliation with MMC and the fact the she is the president of the medical staff at MMC, a position she was elected to by her peers.
    Ripich said Cawley plans to voluntarily step down from the position to take more time to focus of the needs of UNECOM. The plan was disclosed to the staff during the osteopathic conference.
    During her address at the conference, Ripich was apologetic to the UNECOM staff for not including them more in the selection process of an interim dean, said Lauer, adding when the staff asked Ripich about plans for a dual degree, she did not directly address the question. Lauer said Ripich instead stated the goals for a dean: to strengthen the college by increasing class size, improve the student’s technology preparedness, seek research programs, improve the fiscal state of the university health clinics and push UNECOM into the top five osteopathic colleges.
    Ripich said Monday she thought the rumors were coming from the staff’s anxiety and concerns regarding the search for a new dean.
    “My commitment, and the board’s, and the university’s is to osteopathic education,” said Ripich.
    For more information about UNECOM, visit their Web site, une.edu and for more information about the Maine Osteopathic Communications Committee, visit their Web site, maineosteopathiccommittee.org.