My career has been dedicated to the advancement of osteopathic principles and practice (OPP). I have worked to advocate for the clinical integration of OPP through osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) curricular development and delivery, clinical practice and mentoring, performance and publication of OMM research, and integration of OPP on national licensure examinations and ACGME residency programs.

My interest in research began during an internship with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, when I was able to investigate methods of explosive detection. Research experiences continued in graduate school, where I studied potato genetics.

Changing gears, I went to osteopathic medical school at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. While serving as a pre-doctoral OMM fellow, I was able to work with my mentor, Karen Steele, DO, FAAO, on her project assessing the efficacy of OMM as adjunct treatment for otitis media. Thus, began a continuous interest in osteopathic research.

Since those early projects, I have been able to work on the interexaminer reliability of palpatory findings, clinical correlations of somatic dysfunction, clinical outcomes and practice management of osteopathic manipulative treatment, and educational methodology of OMM.

Participating in DO-Touch.net is a logical part of advancing osteopathic medicine through research. Being able to gather real practice data from real OMM practitioners allows a much better understanding of the tremendous benefits provided by the integration of osteopathic principles into clinical practice.

I look back at my life and am grateful for the friends who have supported me on the way to my work in healthcare.  I started my education as a physical therapist in 1993, where I first glimpsed the medical world.  Following my state examination, I spent my practical year in a rehabilitation clinic and then started work in a phyiscal therapy practice in 1996.

• Vice Chair, OMM Department, NYITCOM
• Board Certified: Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine and OMM
• DO-Touch.NET Member Since 2015

My name is Katharina Engemann and I live in Bremen, Germany.  I have been practicing osteopathy for 20 years in my own practice.

My family possesses a postcard that’s over a century old of my grandfather sitting on a political council in Lithuania that has the caption, “The world is round.  The world is small.  Who knows where we shall meet again.”

The steps that brought me to become a Clinician doing research:

I learned of Andrew Taylor Still in my first hour at College Sutherland.  He had been a doctor, preacher, and farmer. I felt right at home. In my family, we have doctors, farmers, and a great aunt who bakes wonderful cakes and prays for people to be healed. There is also a line of schnapps distillers, but that is a distant branch of the family.

Dr. Feely is in private practice in downtown Chicago at the Feely Center for Optimal Health, a small group practice utilizing Osteopathic principles and philosophy in direct patient care.