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WELCOME

     The Association of Military Osteopathic Physicians & Surgeons (AMOPS) congratulates you on your achievements. Admission to an osteopathic medical, school and selection for the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) are milestones in your career that are noteworthy.
    AMOPS invites you to become a student member of this association, which is equivalent to a state osteopathic medical society.
    When you become a licensed physician, support of your military and national osteopathic medical associations will be more necessary than ever before. The individual physician's voice can be heard and the number of member physicians assures and enhances your association's efforts to serve and represent its constituency. By joining now, as a student, you will be involved in the decisions that will determine how you will practice medicine in the future, both in the military and the civilian workplace.
    As an HPSP recipient, you will have the opportunity to do clerkships in a wide variety of general and specialty rotations in the major military training hospitals throughout the United States. You are strongly urged to take advantage of the excellent educational opportunities available in these facilities and at the same time experience military life in various parts of the country prior to choosing a site for your future internship and residency training.
    Each osteopathic medical school has an AMOPS member assigned as a medical school liaison officer who is your HPSP counselor. He or she can assist you in making decisions concerning clerkship and general military matters.

NON-HPSP STUDENTS

    If you are not an HPSP recipient, it may still be possible to apply. For information, contact a recruiter in the military service of your choice. Additional sources of information concerning military scholarships include:

U.S. Army

1-800-USA-Army or via the internet at www.goarmy.com

U.S. Air Force 1-800-423-USAF or via the internet
at www.airforce.com

U.S. Navy

contact AMOPS


AMOPS - READY TO SERVE!


    AMOPS is here to serve YOU. Some of the osteopathic schools have formed student AMOPS chapters or military clubs. Most information you desire can be obtained through the members at your school. If you do not have a student chapter and would like information on starting one, please contact AMOPS' Executive Director.
    In addition, if you have any questions concerning your life as 'a military osteopathic physician, our membership has representatives in all service branches who are available to assist you by phone or email. Just contact AMOPS' Executive Director for the name, phone number and/or email address of the chairman of our Student Affairs Committee.
    The Association of Military Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons is dedicated to representing DOs in the Uniformed Services. We request your input in regards to any specific concerns you may have about your training and your future in the military. Possible areas of concern might include payback time, bonuses, clerkship opportunities, certification and difficulties obtaining AOA approval for internship.
     By directing questions to AMOPS through the Chairman of the Student Affairs Committee, you can be assured they will be reviewed. If the problems are widespread, they will be presented to the association's membership for consideration and subsequent action via our delegates to the AOA House of Delegates or appropriate military channels.

HPSP NEWSLETTER


    For Navy students, the Naval School of Health Sciences (NSHS) in Bethesda, MD, publishes a biannual newsletter, "The One Striper," which is mailed to all Navy HPSP recipients. The newsletter is also available online at http://www.nshs.med.navy.mil/gme/mcpp.htm. Additional information may be obtained by calling (301) 295-1217 or email at culloms@nsh10.med.navy.mil.mil. The Military Medical Student Association based at USUHS also publishes a journal three times a year and has a homepage at http://www.usuhs.mil/mmsa. Navy GME information and points of contact may be found on the NSHS homepage address.

CLERKSHIPS


  In addition to your six weeks of active duty time during each year, it is now possible to do clerkships in military facilities at other times. Basically, you would be a civilian doing a rotation in a military hospital. This is now relatively easy to arrange through the hospital you desire to attend. Your school and that hospital will have to arrange an MOU (memorandum of understanding). Call the Graduate Medical Education Coordinator at the hospitals you are interested in for details.

AFTER YOU GRADUATE


There is a scholarship program available to non-HPSP students after graduation. Sponsored by the three Armed Services, it is possible to obtain a "Scholarship" during residency under the Financial Assistance Program.
    This program is offered to physicians in residency training in civilian hospitals. Candidates can receive civilian residency pay and get the same monthly stipend ($940) as the HPSP students, plus a $19,000 a year bonus if eligible for appointment in the Medical Corps, as of July, 1998, and adjusted annually.
    It is necessary to apply through a service recruiter. If sponsored for one year, you are obligated for two years of active military service. If sponsored for two years, your payback is three years of military service. In other words, one year more than the number of years sponsored.

PRIMARY CARE


    As osteopathic medical students, primary care attitudes were ingrained starting the first day of medical school. AMOPS strongly encourages you to consider clerkships, internships, and residencies in any of the primary care specialties offered in the Uniformed Services. These include Family Practice, Pediatrics,
Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and Obstetrics/Gynecology.

KEEP IN TOUCH


    AMOPS maintains a list of student members for all mailings. So, while a student, it is important to advise AMOPS of all permanent address changes, excluding those of short duration, such as clerkship and hospital rotations.
    After graduation, please contact the AOA Membership Department by phone, postcard or email. Identify yourself as a Uniformed Services physician by giving your name, rank, and branch of service, address and AOA number. The AOA mailing address is: 142 East Ontario St., Chicago, IL 60611. Or you can call the AOA on its toll free number (800-621-1773, ext. 8284) and provide the same information. The email address is aoa-net.org.
    By following this procedure, your name and address will be listed in the Military section of the Yearbook and Directory, which is the appropriate Divisional Society for Uniformed Services physicians. AMOPS purchases the Military mailing list from AOA for each and every mailing. By being on the AOA's mailing list, you are automatically on AMOPS', too.