Monday, June 23, 2025
Two of the 12 newly elected board of governors of the American Academy of Osteopathy are from the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth. David Mason, DO, MBA, CPPS, FACOFP, and Sajid Surve, DO, FAOCPMR, FAAO, were both elected to serve as AAO governors, with Mason serving for a two-year term and Surve a three-year term.
“The AAO needs to be leading the integration of osteopathic principles into CME content and delivery for our members and other DOs looking to maintain osteopathic distinctiveness,” Mason said. “We have opportunities to partner with other professional organizations to support DOs in practice. Being reelected to the American Academy of Osteopathy board of governors is very exciting.”
UNTHSC TCOM's Dr. David Mason, Associate Professor, Family Medicine and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, Interim Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine
“The American Academy of Osteopathy is the home for the distinctive practice of osteopathic medicine, and I have served this organization to the best of my ability for more than 20 years,” Surve said. “I am elated at the opportunity to take on this new role and promote the profession I love now and into the future.”
Mason has been with TCOM since 2010 and currently serves as the assistant dean of osteopathic clinical education and a professor in the Department of Family and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine. He was named the American Osteopathic Foundation’s Mentor of the Year in 2024. Mason recently completed a year-long term as the Texas Chapter of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians’ president.
A champion in the classroom for medical students and residents alike, in 2004, Mason was honored as an AOA Mentor Hall of Fame member, and in 2005, he received the Family Medicine Resident Award for Clinical Teaching. Mason was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society in 2005 and in 2008 received the distinction of Fellow from the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians.
He has been a chair for the Student American Academy of Osteopathy advisors committee, along with other roles in postgraduate education.
Mason is the medical director for UNTHSC’s Institute for Translational Research and was the program director for the Osteopathic Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine Residency and the Integrated Osteopathic Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine and Family Medicine Residency at Medical City Fort Worth.
“I have committed myself to osteopathic academic education, serving over two decades between two of our osteopathic schools,” he said. “I have maintained a connection and leadership roles in both the AAO and the ACOFP as a way to facilitate continued educational programming in each. Both groups are important to the livelihood of osteopathic medicine. Our AAO is a keystone in the profession, delivering the content and forum for osteopathic tradition and specialty practice.”
UNTHSC TCOM's Dr. Sajid Surve, Professor, Family Medicine and Osteopathic Manipulative
Medicine
Assistant Dean of Osteopathic Recognition & Director of Osteopathic Education, Office
of Educational Programs
Surve joined the Department of Family and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine at TCOM in 2014 and is now the senior associate dean for educational programs. He was TCOM’s first dually-boarded Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Osteopathic Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine physician. Surve received a Certificate of Added Qualification in Pain Medicine in 2015.
In addition to his contributions to patient care, Surve is the founder of the Performing Arts Medicine Division at TCOM, and started Performing Arts Medicine clinics at UNT Denton, Texas Christian University, Texas Women’s University, the Fort Worth Opera, the Turtle Creek Chorale and Texas Ballet Theater. In 2019, he also founded the world’s first physician fellowship in Performing Arts Medicine at UNTHSC.
Additionally, Surve has consistently demonstrated his commitment to education by teaching in the first and second year osteopathic manipulative medicine courses and as course director for the Foundations of OMM course. In 2024, Surve was conferred as a Fellow of the American Academy of Osteopathy.
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 the Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine specialty college of the American Osteopathic Association.
From HSC Newsroom - Community by Steven Bartolotta