Dr. Dawn K. Walker '88 Appointed to Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners in Medicine and Surgery

Northern Cochise Community Hospital is proud to announce that Dr. Dawn K. Walker, DO, has been appointed by Gov. Douglas A. Ducey to the Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners in Medicine and Surgery (AZBOEMS). 

Dr. Walker is the Chief of Staff at NCCH and is an appointed member of the hospital’s Corporate Board of Directors. She has been involved with NCCH since 1999 as a rural health clinic provider and as chief of staff, from 2005-08 and 2016 to the present. She also has her own practice, Walker Family Medicine, PLC, since March 2008.

Last year, the Arizona Osteopathic Medical Association sent out letter seeking applications for the AZBOEMS. Shortly after that, Dr. Walker received a recommendation for the Board from her former mentor while in residency, Dr. Karen J. Nichols, D.O., who was also a past Board President of the America Osteopathic Association. 

While she had thought about applying before, she said, “The letter was a sign to do it. Between my interests and having someone I respect send a recommendation for me, I knew it was time to apply.”

On Oct. 21, 2019, Walker was interviewed by a state committee for the five-year position. She was appointed at the Board’s January meeting and will begin serving on the AZBOEMS during a regularly scheduled meeting on Saturday, Feb. 29.

Board duties will not affect her clinical duties in Willcox as the Board meets on Saturdays. The Board meets eight times a year, and by telephone conference call if needed, between meetings. The Board is made up of five osteopathic doctors and two members of the public who do not have financial ties to the osteopathic profession. They each serve a five-year term and may serve a second consecutive term if re-appointed. 

Dr. Walker said, “I was very familiar with how the Board works and how they manage doctors fairly and with compassion, which is especially needed in this time of our physician shortage. I have the utmost respect for the AZBOEMS, my fellow colleagues and the Board’s mission. I feel very honored and excited to be selected by Gov. Ducey.”

AZBOEMS members license and regulate more than 3,000 doctors of osteopathic medicine (D.O.). In addition, the Board regulates about 400 osteopathic interns and residents receiving post-graduate training in Arizona hospitals and clinics. The website for the Board is https://azdo.gov/OsteoBoard/OsteoBoard.

The Board’s mission is to protect the public by setting educational and training standards for licensure, and by reviewing complaints made against osteopathic physicians, interns, and residents to ensure that their conduct meets the standards of the profession, as defined by law (A.R.S. § 32-1854). 

 “As chief of staff at NCCH, I find myself reaching out to the community. In the past through the Willcox Meth Task Force (which she co-founded in 2006). This allowed me to extend my work into Cochise County,” she said. “As a Board member, I feel that this will broaden my horizons to the State level and allow me to bring that knowledge back to our medical staff and our community. I want to bring the latest administrative trends and policies in hopes to improve our Medical Staff which in turn will improve the medical care for our community. And I am thrilled to do that!” 

Dr. Walker is a residency-trained Board-certified Family Practice physician. She was raised in Tucson. After graduation from Salpointe Catholic High School she attended Northern Arizona University, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. She received her Doctorate of Osteopathic Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif.

Her vision is to utilize her new role to help strengthen and expand healthcare services provided by NCCH to our community. Walker knows that a great hospital, with its excellence of care, is the foundation for a healthy and successful community. . .the community she affectionately calls home.
 
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