Member Spotlight: Eileen Conaway, DO

Dr. Conaway may be one of our newest site directors but her interest in clinical research began long ago.  Prior to attending medical school, she worked as a clinical research coordinator for drug trials for indications including asthma, diabetes mellitus, vaccination, hereditary angioedema, and dialysis.  She graduated from the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2010 and currently serves as faculty for the FM, Integrated FM/NMM, and NMM+1 osteopathic residencies at Florida Hospital East Orlando.

She says, “Now more than ever is a pivotal time to participate in osteopathic research for the preservation of our profession.  Initiating clinic research is extremely difficult, especially in  solo or private practice; participating in DO-Touch.NET makes contributing to research so simple.”

In her free time, Dr. Conaway attends weekly ballet classes and loves to cook and travel.

From the Director: Awards and Publications

Wow, the time has flown and the activity level has been high since we last spoke!  We are excited to announce that our first publication originating from DO-Touch.NET data, published in the March 2014 Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (JAOA), received the George W. Northup, DO, Medical Writing Award

We were also invited by the German Osteopathic Association (VOD) to forge ties extending our capacity to conduct international research.  With the help of DO-Touch.NET member Marina Fuhrmann, D.O., Chair of the VOD, we have now established a Regional Coordinating Center in Germany (see page 2). 

Jane C. Johnson, Associate Director of DO-Touch.NET, was honored to accept the award on our behalf.  The article, “Preliminary Findings on the Use of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment:  Outcomes During the Formation of the Practice-Based Research Network, DO-Touch.NET”, was authored by Brian F. Degenhardt, Jane C. Johnson, Shanin R. Gross, Celia Hagan, Gregg Lund, and William J. Curry.

We are eager to report that the “Patient-Reported Adverse Events From   Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment” study, which began participant      recruitment last March, is moving at full steam.  We currently have 20     DO-Touch.NET members actively engaged in participant recruitment and an additional 20 are preparing to launch the study at their clinics soon.  This means we still need at least an additional 10 clinicians to participate and we want you!  This study involves minimal staff time and is easy to administer.  If you have never been involved in clinical research before, this is a great starting point!  Please contact our Network Manager at lnorman@atsu.edu to see how easy it is to get involved.

Last but not least, I would like to announce information about our next DO-Touch.NET Annual Meeting.  This meeting will precede the AAO Convocation in Orlando, FL, on March 16, 2016.  Watch your email for further details about this 8-hour CME credit pre-conference workshop which will focus on adverse events in manual medicine.  We look forward to seeing you there.