TCOM’s Dr. Janet Lieto begins role as competency chair with NBOME
One of the leading innovators in the osteopathic profession who also is a faculty member at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth recently was appointed to a role on the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners.
Janet Lieto, DO, FACOFP, CMD, CPPS, director of Health Systems Science, Leadership and Innovation at HSC’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, was named competency chair for systems-based practice for NBOME.
Lieto, an associate professor in the Department of Medical Education, began her role on Jan. 1 and will serve a three-year term.
“I’m honored to be selected for this role by NBOME and to represent TCOM on the national level,” Lieto said. “I am looking forward to serving as a role model and mentor for national faculty members and giving feedback regarding health systems practices.”
Lieto is the course director for the professional identity and health systems practice courses for TCOM. These courses prepare students for clerkship and residency by tying students’ professional identity and growth with health systems science foundational knowledge that can be applied to their clinical experiences.
The curriculum is designed to promote confidence in becoming an innovative health systems science health care leader, system thinker and adaptive learner. Lieto and her team launched the first and only Institute for Health Care Improvement-supported patient safety initiative that allows medical students to learn patient safety and sit for the certified professional in-patient safety certifying board examination.
Health systems science, the third pillar in medical education, has gained importance across the nation with the need for the future workforce to understand how care is delivered in health systems, how health professionals work together, and how health systems can improve patient care and health care delivery.
“For me, the most exciting thing is working with national faculty members who understand the importance of health systems science and HSS-based practice,” Lieto said. “There are a lot of physicians who don’t understand that part of medical education, and with this new role, we can help develop some articles and learning modules for students, residents and faculty.”
In 2022-23, Lieto completed the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine’s Osteopathic Health Policy Fellowship. That fellowship was a year-long leadership training program designed to give osteopathic physicians the skills to analyze, formulate and implement health policy on the local, state and national levels, and to increase access to affordable, quality health care.
Lieto said that osteopathic physicians are better equipped to understand the importance of HSS based on their training.
“From the DO perspective, we are health systems practice trained without really understanding it because we are so patient centered about how to create care and take care of families and communities. We are the perfect profession to excel and move health systems practice forward because of our training historically and our patient-centered holistic models of medical education for our patients.”
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