02/12/2026    Rod Tomczak, DPM, MD, EdD

Why Podiatry Should Pursue Broader Licensure Beyond Foot and Ankle Care (Lawrence Oloff, DPM)

Larry, let me thank you again for again sharing
your impressive CV with me and the other 21,000
readers of PM News. The thing is, Larry, not many
of us have a resume as long or inspiring as yours.
When we graduated, many graduates did not match to
a residency. Even those who matched were not
assured of a surgical program and only a few
attained a PSR 24+, a real rarity. Very few
podiatrists eventually secured an academic
appointment, a full professorship, and yet enjoyed
the thrills of private practice. A limited number
became residency directors, fewer podiatrists
regularly published and a smaller minority became
lecturers. Yes, Larry, we were the lucky soldiers
of the 1980s and ‘90s and were truly fulfilled in
our profession, but we were the far and few
between podiatrists. I hear from classmates who
are now hanging up their Dremels and nail nippers
with the catch phrase, “If I knew then what I know
now, I would have done it differently and not gone
into podiatry.”

Just because every current graduate gets a three-
year residency does not mean they all finish
training with close to the same amount of
knowledge and skills to enter practice and become
a success. Current graduates look at the highly
visible podiatrists and say, “I want to be like
him or her.” Larry, you know in your heart and
soul that we are hoping new graduates can
eventually pay back their loans, buy a house, have
a family and have enough money left over to trade
in their Flintstones’ car for a newer model. It’s
a tough rode to hoe for most of the podiatric
graduates who start around $144,000.

Practitioners tell college students to look at
other professions if they want to be happy after 7
or 8 more years of training while telling a
patient with a puncture wound that legally they
should be sent to a nurse for a tetanus shot. Look
on social media and every podiatry student and
young graduate is a “surgical podiatrist.” It just
ain’t so. Everybody is board certified by ABPM,
but that doesn’t get them privileges. Enrollment
in the podiatry schools is down because students
have other options. These kids are savvy and don’t
want to be pigeonholed. A classmate, Frank
Ognibene, DPM told me yesterday, “At least we knew
what we were getting into when we started.” But
some residency committee somewhere was deciding
our future. A 21-year-old today wants to be free
to choose.

Other of our classmates ended up walking away from
practices and just retired. The practice they
spent 40 years building had little value. They
never gave a lecture, never published an article,
were never expert witnesses, never taught a
resident. Some were happy in that role, while
others would not do it again. Then there are those
podiatrists who tell us that we can take those CVs
we think so highly of, get them framed and lose
them somewhere. Sure, somebody is going to harp on
the tetanus shot. That’s just a symbol. Don’t tell
me how many tetanus shots you’ve given, tell the
sheriff when he comes to see you accusing you of
practicing medicine without a plenary license.

Rod Tomczak, DPM, MD, EdD, Columbus, OH

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