The ACOPedscast Podcast Series

It is hard to believe but somehow it is already August! Long summer days are starting to give way to Fall mornings and the familiar site of children with backpacks and yellow school buses fill the sidewalks and streets. It is also the time for the student athletes in our families and practices to get back to the grind. Whether it be hitting the fields for Fall sports or conditioning for Winter and Spring teams, it is always important that we guide the students… and coaches… about how to excel safely.
Scott and Jason were excited to sit down with this month’s guest, Dr. Mary Dubon, MD! Dr. Dubon is a physician scientist who is Board certified in both Pediatric Rehab Medicine and Pediatric Sports Medicine and sees patients at the world-renowned Shirley Ryan Ability Lab at Northwestern University in Chicago. She is a true expert and leader in the field as the second person in the US to achieve this double-board certification.
Our hosts take complete advantage of Dr. Dubon’s expertise in this wide-reaching discussion, covering topics from proper hydration, to return-to-play guidance following concussions, and even the advantages and disadvantages to early sport specialization in the developing pediatric athlete.
This is definitely going to be an issue to bookmark and return to frequently for some excellent talking points when you are counseling your student athletes and coaches! Happy Listening!!

It’s July and that means all over newly christened Osteopathic Physicians are starting the next step of their journey towards becoming Osteopathic Pediatricians. While there has been a continuous positive trend of DO medical students matching into pediatrics, there has been an equally alarming trend of the number of overall pediatric residency positions that go unfilled.
In this very honest but thoughtful episode, Scott and Jason sit down with current ACOP President, Tyree Winters, DO, FACOP, to discuss the current state of Pediatric training, challenges we face as a profession, but most importantly wats that the ACOP is working wholeheartedly to overcome these obstacles.
If you are invested in the future of the profession this is not episode to miss. Whether you are a pre-clinical osteopathic medical student or a retired practicing physician we all have a role to play in lifting the profession of Osteopathic Pediatrics up to its full potential!
We also want to make sure to welcome and congratulate all of you who have started that next step of your journey in Pediatric Residency Training. The ACOP family remains dedicated to supporting you each step of the way and remaining your Osteopathic Medical Home throughout your education and career!
Happy listening!!

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and what better time to highlight the importance of pediatric mental health, and the creative ways we can address a child’s needs. This month Scott and Jason are proud to welcome the inaugural recipient of the Nancy Beery Memorial Wellness Scholarship, Student Doctor Bridget Rogers, OMS-2. Student Doctor Rogers takes on a journey from her own mental health trials as a survivor of pediatric cancer to her college years at The Ohio State University (Go Buckeyes! … Sorry Scott) where she discovered A Moment of Magic. This leads her to eventually becoming part of the national executive board of the organization and the Program Director, creating the healing through art program of Express, Create, Heal. This inspiring episode speaks to the resilience of children and the importance of art in the healing process of children, and adults!
And there may be a little secret identity discussion snuck into the middle, see if you can catch it.
 
If you are interested in learning more about any of the great programs discussed on this month’s podcast you can find out more at the following links:
A Moment of Magic - https://www.amomentofmagic.org/
Express, Create, Heal - https://www.expresscreateheal.com/
Visit request form - https://www.amomentofmagic.org/request
AMoM Unlimited - https://www.amomentofmagic.org/amom-unlimited
ECH Training course - https://www.expresscreateheal.com/educationcenter
You can also follow them on Instagram at @momentofmagicfoundation and @expresscreateheal. Happy Listening!

Fresh off inspiring the audience at last month’s ACOP Spring CME as the 2026 James M. Watson Memorial Lecture, Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee joins Scott and Jason in the ACOPedscast studio. This pioneer of osteopathic medicine shares her own story and her vision for the future of the profession with our listening audience. This entertaining, educational, and inspiring conversation is a must listen for anyone passionate about the profession and the people we serve.
If you are interested in learning more about the American Osteopathic Foundation Project Future, you can find more information here: American Osteopathic Foundation | Project Future

It’s March and that can mean only one thing… graduating medical students across the country are waiting for that envelope that is going to tell you where you are about to spend the next 3-5 years as a Resident Physician. After the joy and relief settles you are left wondering just what to do with these last few months of medical school before graduation. Jason and Scott are joined by some experts on just that topic as they sit down with Trainee Board of Trustees members MacKenzie LeMay, Jess Kroner, and Madison Craft. The group talks about the excitement of Match, the nerves of relocating, and how they made the most of the time between. The team also chats about some of the best advice, and maybe some that was best kept to itself in preparing for the start of intern year. This group discussion is a must listen for our 3rd and 4th year students as you start to prepare for the exciting next chapter of your Osteopathic Medical journey.
If you are interested in reading a recent piece about this very topic here is a wonderful piece in the most recent DO Magazine: Preparing for residency: 5 things you can do before the first day
Also, DO’s everywhere were celebrating an extremely successful Match on March 20th, to see how everyone did click here: Record number of DOs secure residency positions through 2026 Match - The DO

February can always be a difficult time. Holidays are behind us, the nights are still long, our weather forecast is dependent on a groundhog, and yet Spring seems to be just out of reach. It is peak time for a case of the Winter Blues. With this in mind, Scott and Jason sit down this month with pediatric psychiatrist Dr. Olivia Shadid to discuss how we can screen our kiddos quickly, red flags to watch for, and most importantly, the need to do self-check-ins from time to time as we make our way through the end of the winter months.  Dr. Shadid talks about what drew her to her field of medicine and how she approaches the sensitive subject of mental health. After taking January off, this episode is a perfect way to kick off 2026!!
Looking forward to Spring already?? Don’t forget to register for DO Day on Capitol Hill at DO Day | Impact the future of medicine at DO Day with the virtual content on March 20-21 and meetings in DC on March 25-26. Then hop over to Columbus for the annual ACOP Spring CME Conference running March 26-29! Registration and details for this year’s session can be found at ACOP 2026 Spring Conference MMG: Welcome
Happy Listening… and hope to see you at DC and Columbus!!

December is here! We are closing out the year and getting together with family and friends to share memories of the months behind as we celebrate the Holidays… what better time to talk all things financial! Jason and Scott close out 2025 with Gabriel Miller, Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs for the AOA, to help us demystify healthcare financial policy from physician payment schedules to the ever-intimidating non-compete clause. Sharing his expertise with the ACOPedscast audience, Gabriel breaks down the nuts and bolts of healthcare policy to easy-to-understand concepts in this informational and highly educational episode that is a must listen to anyone who is responsible for their own coding/billing  and especially our soon-to-be graduates who may be in the process of reading through and negotiating their first official contract.
We at the ACOPedscast also want to thank all of you for sharing some of your time each month with us. We hope you have enjoyed our topics for 2025 and we look forward to continuing to grow both our offerings and audience in 2026! Scott and Jason want to wish you all a very Happy Holidays and a Happy and Healthy New Year! See you in 2026, and as always… HAPPY LISTENING!

November is here! The temperatures are getting cooler, nights are getting longer, and the times for getting together with family and friends to celebrate the holidays is upon us. November is also Childhood Safety and Protection Awareness Month. With all of this in mind, Jason and Scott sit down in the studio to discuss ways to ensure that you, your family, and your patients can ensure that these upcoming holidays are both joyful and safe. It is just family this month as your co-hosts take the mics without a special guest to discuss practical guidance to keep everyone around the hearth and not in the Emergency Department this winter.
We hope you enjoy this  month’s podcast, and more importantly we want to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. A special thank you to those of you who are spending this time in the wards or making your rounds caring for children and their families. Since this may be the last ACOPedscast of 2025 (December schedules being what they are!) Scott, Jason, and the entire ACOP family also want to wish you a very Happy Holidays and Healthy New Year if we do not meet again until 2026!!
Happy Listening!!

To say that there has been A LOT of talk about what should and should not be offered to our pediatric patients of the recent months is an understatement, and we at the ACOPedscast thought that this would be a perfect time to keep our commitment of providing evidence-based content to you all. To do this Jason and Scott thought they would invite a few of their closest friends to the studio. ACOPedscast frequent visitor, and infectious disease expert, Stan Grogg, DO returns and Teresa Hubka, DO, an OB-GYN from Chicago, and Laura Taylor, DO, a developmental pediatrician from Oklahoma, make their inaugural (and hopefully not final) appearances to share their expertise with our hosts and all of you.  With this panel we discuss the evidence behind vaccines, acetaminophen, and neurodevelopmental outcomes from pregnancy onward. Based in evidence, we challenge common misinformation and provide tips on how to talk to patients and parents about how to protect yourself and your children. Dr. Hubka shares her approach when counseling expecting parents on how to safely care for themselves while not doing harm to their growing baby.  Dr. Taylor breaks down the evolution of neurodevelopmental differences such as autism spectrum disorder and ADHD, debunking rumors and providing insight into the diagnosis and management of children with these diagnoses while providing reassurance to the parents. Lastly, Dr. Grogg guides us on where we can turn for the most up-to-date evidence on vaccine science, and how to get this information to our patients and families.
This episode will certainly be one to bookmark and return to multiple times no matter where you are in your medical education and career!
DISCLAIMER: We discuss some very hot topics in this episode, and we have always been committed to presenting you with evidence-based material. Jason, Scott and the guests of this episode hold leadership roles in multiple organizations, but all comments made in this episode are theirs and are not meant to be taken as the views of the organizations they either currently represent or have recently represented.