Indianapolis— Stefan Hagopian, DO, FAAO, of Los Angeles, CA, was chosen to be the 2024-25 president-elect of the American Academy of Osteopathy on March 7 during the AAO annual Convocation in Colorado Springs, Colorado. After spending a year as president-elect, Dr. Hagopian will become the 2025-26 president of the AAO, the nation’s largest medical society devoted to fostering neuromusculoskeletal medicine and osteopathic manipulative medicine (NMM/OMM).
Stefan Hagopian, DO, FAAO was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and is a 1988 graduate of the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in Biddeford, Maine. He has operated a private practice of family medicine and osteopathic manipulative medicine in the Los Angeles area of California, for the past 35 years. He has remained active in research and teaching at the invitation of osteopathic schools, professional associations and academies throughout the U.S. and internationally.
His current interests range from clinical anatomy and embryology to the application of osteopathic principles and philosophy. Most of this is based on the way in which he learned most effectively from his mentors, who placed great emphasis on the principles and practices described in our profession’s literature by A.T. Still, W.G. Sutherland, and their students. Dr. Hagopian also integrates nutrition and exercise guidance into his outpatient practice and teaching.
The United States currently has more than 120,000 osteopathic physicians. Also known as DOs, osteopathic physicians are fully licensed physicians, as are MDs. The profession has grown 63% in the past decade and nearly 300% over the past three decades. Osteopathic physicians prescribe medicine and practice in all specialties, including osteopathic manipulative medicine, family medicine, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, and surgery. They are trained to consider the health of the whole person and to use their hands to help diagnose and treat patients.
The mission of the American Academy of Osteopathy is to teach, promote, and research the science, art and philosophy of osteopathic medicine, emphasizing the integration of osteopathic principles and practice in patient care. Founded in 1937, the Academy is a specialty college of the American Osteopathic Association.