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07/10/2026
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (CATEGORIZATION OF PODIATRIC MEDICINE)
From: Allen Jacobs, DPM
And you want to know why there is a recruitment problem? Why people do not know what a DPM is? What they do?
Allopathic medicine? Of course we practice allopathic medicine. It is a Strawman argument to suggest that only an MD can practice allopathic medicine. By the way, don’t raise that Motte-and-Baily question to the DO who must complete a mandatory course in osteopathic manipulation technique. There are multiple DOs I know who practice osteopathic manipulation techniques.
Maybe, just maybe, if YOU did not engage in the self-deprecation and devaluation of your DPM degree, and concentrated instead on demonstrating a level of clinical, academic, and ethical excellence associated with the DPM degree, some of the issues debated in PM News would be resolved without the constant use of equivocation or red herrings.
When you begin a discussion by stating, "When I graduated medical school,” you assert a foundational, “I am ashamed that I graduated a podiatric medical college or college of podiatry." It is a form of deception, self-deception as well as self-deprecation. If you do not respect yourself, why do you expect others to respect you. Otherwise, sing a chorus of Masquerade from Phantom, because that is what you are doing.
Allen M. Jacobs, DPM, St. Louis, MO
Other messages in this thread:
07/14/2026
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (CATEGORIZATION OF PODIATRIC MEDICINE) - PART 2
From: Gary Dorfman, DPM
Do you practice osteopathy or are you a chiropractor or naturopathic practitioner? No? Then what type of medicine do you practice? Does ALLOPATHIC sound familiar? It absolutely amazes me why any podiatrist would denigrate his or her DPM degree from a podiatric institution and state to anyone, "when I graduated from MEDICAL school". Sound familiar? What is there to be ashamed of? Who are you trying to impress? Are you kidding yourself?
You are a podiatrist. Your degree is DPM. You graduated from a podiatry school or college. You have a bachelors degree, four years of podiatry school, and a three-year podiatric residency. You know more about your chosen field of practice than any other medical practitioner. Why in the name of heaven wouldn’t you be proud of that?
In my fifty-five years of active practice, our profession has advanced from the treatment of just corns and calluses, ingrown nails, and dispensing of arch supports to being the leaders in functional orthotics and biomechanics, surgery for total ankle replacement, pioneers in the treatment of diabetic ulcers, and limb preservation. Let us stand tall in our professional and personal achievements and recognize our contribution to the medical establishment!
Gary Dorfman, DPM, Dana Point, CA
07/14/2026
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (CATEGORIZATION OF PODIATRIC MEDICINE) - PART 1
From: Bret M. Ribotsky, DPM
Drs. Jacobs and DiResta both make points worth taking seriously — self-respect in how we describe our training matters, and so does the substance of that training. But I think the debate itself, as framed, is a distraction from the problem we’re actually trying to solve. Here is the uncomfortable truth: it doesn’t matter what we call ourselves. What matters is what the market we’re trying to influence calls us, and what that market believes we are.
That market is not us. It’s the high school and college students deciding whether podiatry is a viable career. It’s the hospital administrators deciding whether to grant privileges, build out a service line, or hire a DPM onto a surgical group. It’s the insurance companies deciding how to code and reimburse what we do. Their perception is the only one with commercial and...
Editor's note: Dr. Ribotsky's extended-length letter appears here.
07/13/2026
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (CATEGORIZATION OF PODIATRIC MEDICINE) - PART 1B
RE: Podiatric Medicine is Allopathic Medicine (Allen M. Jacobs, DPM)
From: James DiResta, DPM, MPH
I found Dr. Jacobs' comments concerning our DPM degree spot on. We really ought not to be ashamed of our degree. Our degree today is far more respected than it was when I completed my podiatry training. The issue of whether our students are medical students or not is an important question that we wrestle with and I'm sure depending upon when you finished podiatry school might influence your response. I have always felt the didactic education and clinical rotations I completed at PCPM were on par with the medical and osteopathic students that I encountered on my rotations. I did feel intimidated at times on medicine rounds with some of them but often felt pretty good about myself and my training when compared with others.
I dug up a couple of my name badges from my rotations at Metropolitan Hospital recently from back in the day. After asking myself where did all that nice bushy hair go, the wording on the badge is medical student. I always felt that I was a podiatry student but...
Editor's note: Dr. DiResta's extended-length letter appears here.
07/13/2026
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (CATEGORIZATION OF PODIATRIC MEDICINE) - PART 1A
RE: Podiatric Medicine is Allopathic Medicine (Allen M. Jacobs, DPM)
From: Ivar E. Roth, DPM, MPH
Dr. Jacobs is correct. We should be proud of our degree. My simple answer when people ask where I went to medical school is I went to podiatric medical school at ..., or a went to podiatric medical school. I also explain that I am a podiatrist, board certified in foot and ankle surgery. I do not go into details about ABFAS but if someone wants further information, I explain the difference between being board certified in surgery and being board certified in podiatric medicine.
Ivar E. Roth, DPM, MPH, Newport Beach, CA
07/09/2026
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (CATEGORIZATION OF PODIATRIC MEDICINE)
From: Allen M. Jacobs, DPM
Self-denigration or self-devaluation is the undervaluing of yourself, your status, your achievements. Self-devaluation or denigration is when you refer to yourself as having graduated "medical school". That is self-denigrating your own education. Self-denigrating is hiding your DPM degree. By this very action you establish that you are ashamed of your degree. You devalue your education and degree. You feel less than respected for all that you have accomplished as a healthcare provider.
I want the DPM degree respected. I wish to be respected as a DPM. I desire the colleges of podiatry and subsequent residency and fellowship training to be respected for providing society with competent individuals to evaluate foot and ankle pathology, from onychomycosis to...
Editor's note: Dr. Jacobs' extended-length letter appears here.
07/08/2026
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (CATEGORIZATION OF PODIATRIC MEDICINE)
From: Lawrence Oloff, DPM
The debate continues over a plenary degree, the end of podiatry, student recruitment, etc. There are certainly a lot of armchair generals weighing in on a solution. Many have good points to make and I do not want to make light of those. However, very rarely is a bright light comment made on chiropody in these posts. Dr. Jacobs did an excellent job highlighting the changes that many of us have observed on a prior post about podiatrists who are faculty in medical schools, leaders in wound care, the complex surgeries that residents are taught, and so on. Show your board certification credentials and the operating room is yours to practice in, just like any area of medicine.
I think of podiatry as a premier medical profession to enter that is just not marketed correctly and remains mostly unknown to potential students. Does the answer lie in making a cheaper pathway? Maybe. But I think many of the advancements of podiatry are due in part by following the structure of...
07/07/2026
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (CATEGORIZATION OF PODIATRIC MEDICINE)
RE: Podiatric Medicine is Allopathic Medicine
From: David Secord, DPM
I'd like to comment about people in our profession referring to MD and DO medicine as allopathic and osteopathic and then putting ‘podiatric medicine’ in a separate category, as if podiatric medicine wasn’t allopathic medicine.
There are a certain finite number of medical theories out there, including allopathic, osteopathic, homeopathic, chiropractic, native American Indian pan-theistic naturopathy, witch doctors, Eastern Indian Ayurvedic medicine, and a few others. Allopathic medicine has as its basis the idea of pathology from disease state: bacteria, virus, prion, spirochete, genetic dyscrasia, etc. Unless I missed something critical in medical school, that’s the disease model we in podiatry follow as well. As such, podiatric medicine is allopathic medicine. Allopathic is not a synonym for "MD"; allopathy is a medical theory and one our profession follows.
Podiatry is often stated as wishing to compete with "allopathic" providers in the area, as if WE were not allopathic physicians. One of the myopic tendencies in our profession is to separate ourselves in like manner from allopathy, which makes no sense to me. Podiatry follows the allopathic theory of medicine. We ARE allopathic physicians and referring to ourselves as podiatric physicians with similarities to allopathic physicians (as if allopathy means "MD", which it obviously does not) shows either ignorance of what the term means or is a strange form of self-denigration I don't understand.
David Secord, DPM, McAllen, TX
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