Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/709194
2014, Dr. Boike became Dean of KSUCPM, where he still practices one day a week at the a£liated Cleveland Foot and Ankle Clinic. His role as an educator, however, is still of prime importance to him. "I've been involved in education my entire ca reer. A nd t he practice just enhances that," he says. "It 's tough to be an educator and teach people about something that you don't do on a regular basis. Staying involved with the clinical aspects makes people better educators." And KSUCPM has some of the best, according to Dr. Boike. In fact, more than 300 private practitioners a£liated with more than 50 hospitals, regionally and nationally, provide clerkships and residency training to students. " Throughout our 100-yea r histor y, the college has maintained one goal: to produce the finest providers of foot and ankle care in the world," he says. "A lot of people are involved in helping us achieve that goal." THE HISTORY OF PODIATRY The practice of podiatr y bega n in the 1800s. Then ca l led "chiropody," t he specialty included the study and medical treatment of the feet. But in the state of Ohio, it a lso included treatment of the hands. "Podiatric medicine started o¥ a s a n unreg u lated profession. Much of med ici ne wa s at t hat t i me," says Dr. Boike. In the early 1900s, the specialty began to ta ke shape. " Reg ulations were set down to regulate what a podiatrist could do and what their scope of practice was, and a college was formed in 1911. That was in New York," Dr. Boike explains. In those ea rly days, the curriculum called for a surprisingly brief education by today's standards — only a single year of study after high school. "Initia lly, it started o¥ pretty much as basic skin care and nail care. As time has progressed, it evolved into treating simple digital or toe deformities and now to complex rear foot and ankle reconstructive procedures." Over the nex t few decades, the spe- cia lty adopted the name "podiatr y " as tra ining for physicia ns increa sed to three yea rs of study a nd the tra ining became more rigorous. By 1940, a podi- atric medicine doctorate was required to become licensed to practice. It wasn't until 1963, however, that the Ohio College of Chiropody changed its na me to the Ohio College of Podiatr y and then (in 1967) to the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine. When the college merged with Kent State University in 2012, it assumed its current name. PODIATRY TODAY Cu r rent ly most st udent s enter i ng a college of podiatric medicine possess a n underg raduate deg ree in a physi- ca l or biolog ica l science. To ea rn the DPM degree, students must complete four years of podiatric medica l school. A n additiona l three-year residency is required to practice podiatry. KSUCPM is one of only nine accred- ited podiatric colleges in the U.S. a nd the only one in Ohio. The college, which is located at Rockside Woods Boulevard near I-77 in Independence, Ohio, main- ta ins a n average four-yea r enrollment of 425 students and typica lly graduates 85–100 podiatrists a yea r. In the pa st 100 yea rs, more t ha n 6,780 st udents have g raduated from KSUCPM. According to Dr. Boike, podiatrists play a n impor ta nt role in hea lth ca re — not just in helping patients with their foot a nd a n k le problems, but a lso in recog n i z i n g t he s y mpt om s of ot her med ica l cond itions t hey may not be awa re they have. " We see a lot of problems ma nifested in the feet that are secondary to systemic problems," Dr. Boike explains. "Diabetes is probably the number one thing we see. Patients have a loss of sensation in their feet, poor hea ling capabilities. We see patients with periphera l va scula r disease; they have poor circulation. We see patients with rheumatoid a r thritis, which ca n ma nifest itself in a ny joint in the body, but tends to ma nifest itself pret t y frequent ly in t he joints of t he foot ... so we work in conjunction, a lot PHOTO © SMITHBERGER PHOTOGRAPHY, NORTH CANTON, OHIO To enhance his role as an educator, Dr. Boike still sees patients one day a week at Cleveland Foot and Ankle Clinic, an affiliate of KSUCPM. M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S C L E V E L A N D /A K R O N / C A N T O N n J U LY/A U G U S T 2 016 0 7