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By Alex Branch

 
Kendi Hensel, DO, PhD, FAAO, is the new President of the American Academy of Osteopathy (AAO), a national organization of about 9,000 physicians and students.

Dr. Hensel, UNT Health Science Center Associate Professor in the Department of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, assumed the position in March during the AAO’s annual Convocation.

She served for the last year as the organization’s President-Elect.

“Part of what binds us as an organization is our shared joy in teaching, as well as our passion for osteopathy,” Dr. Hensel told the audience in her inaugural address. “We are pulled together by servant leaders who share that passion for osteopathic medicine and this organization.

“We have a wealth of shared experiences that are based on a joy of helping oth ers, a common passion for this work, and an openness with our patients and our colleagues. This is what sets us apart as our distinctive identity.”

The AAO was established in 1937 to teach, advocate and research the science, art and philosophy of osteopathic medicine, emphasizing the integration of osteopathic principles, practices, and manipulative treatment in patient care.

Dr. Hensel has been involved in the AAO for 18 years, serving on the Board of Trustees for eight. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Osteopathy (FAAO), an earned degree signifying exemplary scholarship in osteopathic medicine.

Dr. Hensel is one of only 85 physicians who have earned the degree since it was established in 1978.

Dr. Hensel also has served on the American Osteopathic Association’s Bureau of Osteopathic Clinical Education and Research, and is an associate editor for The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. She chairs the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine’s Education Council on Osteopathic Principles and is a member of the Osteopathic Cranial Academy and the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians.

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