03/23/2026    James DiResta, DPM, MPH

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times ( Allen M. Jacobs, DPM)

I appreciate Dr. Jacobs ‘recent entry and the
accolades provided and I couldn't agree more. The
profession of podiatry has come of age and
podiatrists are in a better and more envious
position today than ever. I know as I experienced
these last 40 plus years and I can only look back
with gratitude on what collectively we have
accomplished. But we have a problem. A very big
problem and it couldn't be more obvious to anyone
who has been involved in graduate medical
education and it should be obvious to our
profession as a whole. Calling the problem
transient is delusional and won't fix it.
Marketing wont fix it.

Our student applicant pool is dwindling and the
strength of that pool is, well, let's just say
it's lacking. If you don't see it go and look at
the numbers yourself and when you can't find all
the numbers (trust me nobody in authority is
releasing them) ask yourself why? Call. Request
them in writing. What you'll get is bits and
pieces at best and you'll start to see that
something is not right. This pattern of
acceptances is going to catch up with us. TUSPM,
one of our jewels, had matriculant MCAT scores of
500 just ten years ago and that has gone down to
493 and falling.

There are workarounds like colleges accepting DAT
scores and optometry school admission test scores
now so even these MCAT numbers are misleading. We
can argue that test scores are not indicative of
future student performance in medical school but
there are studies that will refute those
assumptions. The bottom line is there will soon
not be enough qualified applicants to fill the
spaces we have and I would guess that has already
occurred. The reasons are obvious and the degree
change to DO or any plenary degree is needed to
attract students to our schools.

There are the ever advancing competitive
professions of PAs and NPs. There are 190,000 PAs
alone in the U.S. today and climbing. There are so
many more DO seats available that any good college
student who wants to become a physician sees the
obvious and is going to apply elsewhere and I
stress no matter how much you love and cherish
podiatry you would do the same yourself today. We
need to do something... Not tomorrow, Not after
breakfast, but NOW.

James DiResta, DPM, MPH, Newburyport, MA

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