FORT WORTH, Texas— Osteopathic physicians will be better able to measure the effectiveness of manipulative medicine, the hallmark of their profession, as a result of research to be conducted at the University of North Texas Health Science Center.

With support from the National Institutes of Health, the UNT Health Science Center will develop pre-doctoral and post-doctoral research fellowships to train osteopathic physicians in research methodology in osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM).

The UNT Health Science Center will receive$1.35 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health for the fellowship program. The grant is funded through the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The new fellowships will allow the health science center to enhance its current OMM fellowship programs. The UNT Health Science Center established a Pre-doctoral Research Fellowship in OMM in 1998 to expand upon its 15-year-old Pre-doctoral Teaching Fellowship. These pre-doctoral fellowships were designed to develop successful researchers in OMM.

“This expanded and improved program will allow the health science center to continue to develop future leaders and researchers capable of successful and competitive clinical and basic science research in osteopathic manipulative medicine,” said Scott Stoll, D.O., Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Manipulative Medicine at the UNT Health Science Center and principal investigator for the grant.

Program goals include:

• expand curriculum to include courses on hypothesis building, biostatistics, epidemiology, meta-analysis, clinical trial design, research methods, conduct, legal, ethical, and regulatory issues in research,
• develop new research courses with OMM focus including a OMM preceptorship program;
• extend program to attract a wider audience including faculty, pre- and post-doctoral fellows, and allied health professionals;
• establish annual OMM research conferences;
• develop Continuing Medical Education courses in OMM; and
• develop other degree tracks in OMM clinical research.

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