‘The care was very unique and different’ – OB/GYN specialist takes the helm of AOA

Teresa A. Hubka, DO, FACOOG, FACOG, CS
_{© American Osteopathic Association}

Teresa A. Hubka, DO, FACOOG (Dist.), FACOG, CS, was installed this month as the 128th president of the American Osteopathic Association, and the organization’s second female president.

Hubka’s term coincides with the 150th anniversary of Andrew Taylor Still, MD, DO, developing a patient-centered approach to care in June 1874. Osteopathic medicine now accounts for more than 11% of all physicians and 25% of all medical students in the United States, according to AOA. The association currently represents more than 197,000 doctors of osteopathic medicine and medical students.

In her inaugural address on July 20, Hubka credited support and inspiration her family, particularly her father, the late Verne Robert Hubka, who served as a Navy Top Gun fighter pilot, and oldest sister, Cheri Hubka. Another influence and mentor was Karen J. Nichols, DO, the first female president of AOA.

Hubka has spent years in private practice in Chicago, where she also serves as clinical professor and department chair at Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is dually board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology by the AOA's Board of Osteopathic Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AOBOG) and the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG). She is a distinguished fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Obstetricians and Gynecologists, diplomat of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a member of the AOA Mentor Hall of Fame. A graduate of the Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine, she completed an osteopathic internship at Atlantic City (New Jersey) Medical Center, followed by a residency in OB-GYN surgery at Mercy Hospital & Medical Center in Chicago, where she served as administrative chief resident, according to her official biography.

Hubka met with Medical Economics via online meeting to introduce herself, discuss her life in osteopathic medicine, and her vision for the American Osteopathic Association. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Medical Economics: What led you to a career in medicine?

Teresa A. Hubka, DO: Lots of things led me to starting in the career of medicine in that my physician was an osteopathic physician as a child. As a family, we had an osteopathic physician, and my mother would bring in all eight brothers and sisters into the physician's office, and he would treat us very holistically and always cared about who we were and what we did in each aspect. And then when I went off to college, between college, I was also treated by an osteopathic physician, and just thought the care was very unique and different. So then when I decided that I wanted to be a physician I decided that I wanted to be an osteopathic physician.

Medical Economics: Why did you choose your specialty?

Teresa A. Hubka, DO: Well, I love women's health, but part of it is that I love to teach, and between college and medical school, I taught in elementary schools, and I taught science and I taught nutrition because my degree was in clinical nutrition and biochemistry. And so I taught this to young adolescent girls, and just all their questions about their transitions in life, I thought that was really exciting. And then, as I got into medical school, looking as we went around on rotations and so forth, just the several different types of transitions that women go through in their life, from the early stages of adolescence into the teen years, then the reproductive years, and then the perimenopause and menopause. I love that continuum of life and taking care of a patient. So, women's health care seemed perfect.

Medical Economics: How did you get involved extensively with the Association, and what made you want to lead the organization?

Teresa A. Hubka, DO: Well, the exciting thing is, I went to a fabulous, one of our flagships, one of the first five osteopathic medical schools, but Des Moines University. And there I had fabulous training. Not just because as a student in my first year, I got involved with student leadership, student government, class government, and so forth, but also I got involved with the state association. And so the state association, the Iowa Osteopathic Medical Association, there were a lot of mentors there, so the university and the state association really kind of guided the students in Des Moines, and it was a wonderful relationship that we had. My engagement in those entities as a student helped me see that I really want to be involved and engaged in every aspect. So as I was going through in my third and fourth year, where you start traveling around the country and looking at different rotations and different sites and getting to know different doctors, I was able to be, one, involved on the national level with the Student Government Association, which then was involved with the American Osteopathic Association House of Delegates. Since I was a student, I always went to the House of Delegates as a student delegate from various entities. That being said, just getting engaged and involved and seeing how you can make a difference, if you are involved. Your voice is heard, and yet you learn so much about the profession. And in learning the profession, I knew that I really wanted to be part of it from a very, very – how do I say, local but national level. So from state societies, my internship was in New Jersey, got involved in New Jersey, and started looking at what specialty I wanted, and went into women's health. So then my residency was here in Chicago, and with that, I got involved with the Illinois Osteopathic Medical Society, and that society, again, lot of mentors, lot of great people. I got involved with the medical school here, the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. Worked up through the ranks in being the department chair and trained our residents and resident physicians in their care. Got involved nationally with the American Osteopathic Foundation and kept going, kept, I don't want to say rising, but becoming more involved and engaged in the organization, and therefore became the president of the American Osteopathic Foundation. And that took me even to wonderful things like international avenues or venues where we taught and showed other areas, like in China, we also went to Guatemala, but told them what osteopathic medicine is about. So being involved and engaged both local and then state, and then national and then international, just kept blossoming and growing and makes me very excited about being involved with the AOA.