VCOM View Magazine Vol. 12 | No. 1

Resident of theYear

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TOUCHDOWN!

Dr. Nicole Fremarek’s childhood love of football led her to a career in medicine. Now she’s AAO’s 2023 Resident Physician of the Year.

O ver her education and career, Nicole Fremarek, DO, has amassed an impressive resume of service, research and education, which is why the American Academy of Osteopathy (AAO) has recognized her as their Resident Physician of the Year for 2023.This prestigious award is presented to a resident who has provided service to the AAO on a national level and has a strong commitment to osteopathic principals and practice. The recipient of the annual award is typically deeply invested in osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) and serves in a leadership capacity in the field. Dr. Fremarek comes by her interest in sports medicine honestly. Sports—especially football—was a big part of her childhood. Her family loved the classic sports movie “The Replacements,” and her father used coins to teach her the formations used by the Chicago Bears. Despite her mother being in the medical field as a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) nurse and her family’s passion for sports, it wasn’t until she was 16 years old that Nicole was introduced to sports medicine, when she took a class at her suburban Chicago high school.The class required her to spend two hours per week in the training room, which turned out to be not enough time for Nicole. Soon, she was spending 20 hours per week in the training room and knew she had found her place. Following high school, Dr. Fremarek pursued her undergraduate education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she majored in interdisciplinary

health science. She completed that degree with honors and still had time to minor in both chemistry and Spanish. Following her time at Illinois, she headed to Kansas City University (KCU) to complete her DO degree while simultaneously getting an MBA in healthcare leadership from Rockhurst University. “I began to think about the ways I could grow my patient-centered care which requires innovation, organization and management,” she says of her decision to pursue an MBA. “The program gave me the opportunity to not only develop a knowledge of the business of medicine, but also motivated me to think outside of the boundaries to provide creative and unique medical plans for my patients.”While there, she also pursued a pre-doctoral fellowship in osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM). Osteopathic medicine was, and remains, a perfect fit for her. “My values are founded upon treating patients as individuals, being innovative with patient care and recognizing that the patient plays a key role in the healing process,” she says. “I believe it is our duty as osteopathic providers to provide well-rounded, holistic care for patients, educate those who come after us and continue to remind the medical community why osteopathic medicine matters.” Dr. Fremarek fell in love with the concept of OMM while she was at KCU, where she had many mentors— including Dr. Brett Sprouse, who is now assistant professor for family medicine, OMM and sports medicine at

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