TCOM alumnus establishes Dr. William R. Boone Jr. and Kyoko Nakamizo Scholars Program
He practiced osteopathic medicine following in his father’s footsteps, lived a simple life, drove a modest car and took care of his community for decades as a family medicine physician. Now, Dr. William R. Boone and his wife Kyoko Nakamizo are giving back to the medical school that made it all possible with the establishment of the Dr. William R. Boone Jr. and Kyoko Nakamizo Scholars Program for students at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth.
This scholarship program will support TCOM students who are committed to careers in family medicine, possess a passion for the whole health model of care, and seek to integrate osteopathic principles into their practices. Recipients of the scholarships will be known as the Boone-Nakamizo Family Practice Scholars. The gift will impact 40 future TCOM students over the next 10 years, with each scholarship totaling $5,000 a year, for four years.
“I’m very grateful to all the people who helped get me to where I am right now and without them, I would not have had this opportunity to do this,” Boone said. “My greatest love is practicing medicine. My wife and I live simply, and we wanted the lion’s share of our income to go to something that’s going to help another person, do what I’ve done, and perhaps help other people as well.”
Boone, a 1983 graduate of TCOM, practiced medicine for 36 years as a family physician. It began after his internship at Corpus Christi Medical Center when he worked in his father’s clinic in the Pleasant Grove area in Dallas. Boone worked alongside his father, Dr. William R. Boone, Sr., who already had decades of experience. It was with his father that Boone was exposed to just about everything family medicine could teach.
“At the start of my practice, I joined my father, another D O, who had already been in practice for 36 years,” Boone said. “Working with him was a privilege as I learned many things from the “old school” I had never learned in my educational training.”
Boone did it all as a family physician, from newborn delivery to geriatric care. He took care of a sizable nursing home population and assisted with C-sections and many other general surgical conditions. After working with his father for 10 years, Boone began to practice in Rowlett, Sunnyvale and surrounding areas. He was on the Texas Medical Board’s Physician Review Committee and was a family physician preceptor for both osteopathic and allopathic medical students each year.
When looking back at his own path, choosing between osteopathic and allopathic medicine was an easy decision.
“I didn’t have any desire other than osteopathic medicine,” Boone said. “I was only interested in osteopathic medicine. I liked the philosophy and how the body worked as a whole, the systems all depended on each other. I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t get into TCOM.”
Before entering medical school, Boone spent time in India working as a volunteer at a Leper colony at the foothills of the Himalayan mountains. He was so impressed by the dedication and service of those treating patients in very spartan conditions.
“They would do cataract surgery in a tent, or treat someone who might have been bitten by a tiger,” Boone said.
He remembers his time at TCOM fondly, even some of the more embarrassing moments of his medical school training, like when he was asked to perform a physical exam on a patient right before surgery and botched the exam.
“After 36 years of medical practice, I have retired, but I have not retired from life,” Boone said. “I wish to express my gratitude to those teachers, professors, and preceptors who have assisted me in allowing me to practice medicine competently for those patients I proudly served. As my wife and I have no children and few other relatives other than a few that I will include in my will, I want to provide the bulk of my estate to set up a scholarship fund for incoming medical students.”
A humble servant for most of his professional life, through his generosity Boone’s legacy at TCOM with the creation of this scholarship and in the profession will resonate for generations to come.
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