ACOS Award Winners to be Honored at the 2017 ACA

Eugene W. Laveroni, Jr., D.O., FACOS - Orel F. Martin Medal

The Amercan College of Osteopathic Surgeons and its officers, governors, and members honor Eugene Laveroni with the College’s highest award—the Orel F. Martin Medal—as a symbol of his outstanding career as an osteopathic surgeon, educator, and leader.

Eugene W. Laveroni, Jr., D.O., FACOS is a 1985 graduate of the University of Health Sciences: College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Kansas City, Missouri. He completed his internship, general surgery residency, and vascular surgery residency at Botsford Hospital, in Farmington Hills, Michigan, serving as Chief Resident in you’re his final two years where he was named Outstanding Resident of the Year in 1989-1990.

While a surgery resident, Dr. Laveroni joined the ACOS in 1987 and was inducted as a full member in 1992. He became an ACOS Fellow in 1997. As a member of the ACOS, he participated on several committees. He served as Program Co-Chair for the Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery Discipline at the 2013 Annual Clinical Assembly of Osteopathic Surgeons (ACA) and was recently elected to the ACOS Board of Governors.  He also served as an examiner and board member with the American Osteopathic Board of Surgery for many years.

Education has played a major role in his career. He serves as Associate Professor for Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Through the years, he has helped to train both general surgery and vascular residents at Botsford Hospital and has given multiple lectures at local and national conferences, to include the Annual Clinical Assembly of Osteopathic Surgeons (ACA). In 2015, Dr. Laveroni graduated from the Beaumont Health Physician Leadership Academy.

Throughout his career, Dr. Laveroni has focused on the goal of providing excellence in patient care. As Medical Director of Surgical Services and as Chief of Surgery, he was a surgeon champion for his hospital, working with several collaboratives in the state of Michigan to improve patient safety and outcomes. In 2006, he received the Distinguished Physician Award at Botsford Hospital.

Dr. Laveroni has served as Staff Treasurer for Beaumont Health-Farmington Hills since 2010. In 2014, he served on the Clinical Leadership Council as a member of the Quality Leadership Clinical Transformation Team during the merger of Botsford Hospital and two other health care systems, forming the newly created Beaumont Health System. He has served on the surgical audit committee there since 1993, becaming chairman in 2004.

Dr. Laveroni has maintained memberships in many professional organizations including, the Michigan Osteopathic Associations 49er’s club (invitation only), the American Osteopathic Association, the Michigan Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, the Society of Vascular Surgery, the Michigan Vascular Society and the Society of Vascular Technology. He was named one of “Detroit’s Top Docs” by his peers in multiple years, most recently in 2016. For over 20 years, Dr. Laveroni has unselfishly served as chairman for the Botsford Hospital “Spag” golf outing - named for his mentor and ACOS member, the late Louis Spagnuolo, D.O. raising money for the local community, even though he is not a golfer.

When free time permits, Dr. Laveroni enjoys woodworking and serves as the treasurer for the Michigan Association of Woodturners. He continues to listen to his father’s sage advice to “be careful with your hands.”

Eric A. Goldsmith, D.O., FACOS - Distinguished Osteopathic Surgeon Award

Dr. Eric Goldsmith has been named the 2017 recipient of the ACOS Charles L. Ballinger Distinguished Osteopathic Surgeon Award for his outstanding accomplishments and leadership in the field of general surgery and furthering the osteopathic profession.

Eric A. Goldsmith, D.O., FACOS of Fort Myers, Florida, is a 1984 graduate of Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine (DMU-COM) in Des Moines, Iowa. He completed his internship at Des Moines General Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa, and a General Surgery residency at Metropolitan Hospital in Springfield, Pennsylvania and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York, New York. He received a Mead Johnson Fellowship Grant as a resident. His philosophy is “quality patient care first.”  

AOA Board Certified in General Surgery, Dr. Goldsmith joined the staff of Lee Health in 2006 and currently serves as Chief Academic Officer, overseeing all allied health and medical education for four Lee Memorial campuses. Dedicated to furthering the osteopathic profession through medical education, he has participated in resident training at the St. Agnes Medical and Burn Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Des Moines General Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa, and continues to help train medical students at Lee Health.

Dr. Goldsmith has held the rank of assistant professor of surgery at DMU-COM, Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in East Lansing, Michigan, and Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Florida. He is Medical Director of Physician Assistant Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University.

A Fellow of the ACOS since 1995, Dr. Goldsmith has served on the College’s Board of Governors since 2003 and was elected President of the ACOS in 2011. He has served as a member and chair of numerous College committees and as Chair of the General Surgery Discipline, he was named a Fellow of the International College of Surgeons in 1992 and the American Society for Abdominal Surgeons in 2000.

He has served on the boards of other organizations, including the Florida and Iowa State Divisions of the American Cancer Society, the Des Moines University Alumni Association, the Iowa Cancer Pain Relief Initiative, and Florida Osteopathic Medical Association (FOMA). He is former Lee County, Florida District President for FOMA and continues to serve on the FOMA Executive Board of Trustees.

Throughout his career, he has served on numerous hospital committees and has lectured at ACOS-sponsored meetings and for other national, state, and local venues. He was appointed surgeon for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office in Lake County, Florida, from 1999-2005.

Dr. Goldsmith is proud of and thankful for his supportive family, including his loving wife, Lorrie, and children – Cpt. Hank Goldsmith, Pilot United States Air Force and twin daughters Hunter, graduate of Florida State University and Hannah, graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University.

Timothy M. Burandt, D.O., FACOS – Humanitarian Award

Dr. Timothy M. Burandt has been selected to receive the ACOS Humanitarian Award that is given to recognize members’ outstanding voluntary service to their community or state, the nation, and/or the international community. 

Timothy M. Burandt, D.O., FACOS of Brownstown, Michigan is one of six D.O.s in an extended family of eight physicians, including his youngest son A.J. and daughter-in-law Dana who as D.O. residents training in southeast Michigan, participated in international mission activities alongside him and his wife Ali. His oldest son Zach has circumnavigated the globe serving international ministries and is co-director and instructor at the Legacy School of Discipleship in Dadeville, Alabama.

After earning an undergraduate degree from Michigan State University, Dr. Burandt taught high school science before graduating from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSUCOM) in 1982. He completed his general surgery training at Riverside Osteopathic Hospital in Trenton, Michigan, becoming a member of the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons (ACOS) in 1983. He opened a rural surgery practice in the northern Michigan community of Cheboygan where he practiced for over two decades. He was elected a multi-term Chief of Staff and served on the Hospital Board of Trustees for fifteen years. Five years ago, Dr. Burandt was recruited as a turn-around agent in surgical education acting as an Academic Associate and eventually Surgery Program Director within Oakwood and Beaumont Health Systems.

Dr. Burandt was the first osteopathic medical student delegate to the AOA National Convention in 1981. He earned his board certification in general surgery through the American Osteopathic Board of Surgery (AOBS) in 1991 and began serving on the Board in 1994. As an executive committee member since 2008, he oversaw the AOBS implementation of Osteopathic Continuous Certification (OCC), instituted an annual oral examiners educational meeting and was recently elected the AOBS Chair.

As a member of the Christian Medical and Dental Association since 1997, Dr. Burandt partnered with Samaritans Purse embarking on his first medical mission in 2002 with his wife and two teenage boys to care for underserved populations in rural Honduras. His faith-based passion for serving developed into leading an annual surgical mission accompanied by his wife, son, and daughter-in-law where they work together in a small hospital operating room in Guiamaca, Honduras. When speaking of his faith, family, and surgical missions, he often acclaims, “It doesn’t get much better than this!”

In 2015, Dr. Burandt and his wife traveled to Togo, West Africa, during the Ebola crisis to relieve an overworked staff of missionary doctors by performing surgery, sharing call, and meeting the increasingly stressful demands of patient care within an austere hospital environment. This past Christmas, he accepted a call to join the Samaritans Purse Disaster Assistance Response Team in a war zone by helping open and staff an Emergency Field Hospital outside Mosul in northern Iraq. The EFH cares for the most severely injured civilians and military combatants resulting from the battle to retake Mosul from ISIS, that began in October 2016. Dr. Burandt returned to Mosul for a second deployment in April 2017 as a trauma surgeon-educator to both treat the wounded and support the transition of leadership within the EFH from Samaritans Purse to local Iraqi surgeons and national staff.

J. Bracken Burns, D.O., FACOS - Guy D. Beaumont Jr., FACOS Award of Academic Excellence

The American College of Osteopathic Surgeons is pleased to present the Guy D. Beaumont Jr., FACOS Award of Academic Excellence to Dr. J. Bracken Burns for his outstanding organizational leadership and excellence in improving the quality of osteopathic surgical education in AOA/ACOS accredited surgical training programs and in continuing medical education.

J. Bracken Burns, Jr., D.O., FACOS is a 2001 graduate of Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, where he graduated first in his class. Dr. Burns completed both a traditional osteopathic internship and general surgery residency at Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Doctors Hospital in Columbus, Ohio and a surgical critical care fellowship at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Burns is board certified in general surgery with added qualification in surgical critical care by the American Osteopathic Board of Surgery and became a Fellow of the ACOS in 2010.

Dr. Burns is currently Professor of Surgery at the James H. Quillen College of Medicine at East Tennessee State University (ETSU). He serves as the Director of Trauma and Critical Care at Johnson City Medical Center, a Tennessee state verified Level 1 trauma center. He is also an Associate Program Director for the Surgery Residency at ETSU.

Dr. Burns has been the recipient of several teaching awards including the Student Osteopathic Surgical Association Mentor of the Year in 2013. Additionally, he was a finalist for the AOA Mentor of the Year Award in 2010. While at the University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville (UF), he was twice named Best Teaching Surgery Faculty and won the UF Exemplary Teacher Award twice. Dr. Burns served as the Associate Program Director at the University of Florida - Jacksonville from 2009-2015 and Chair of the Clinical Competency Committee from 2013-2015.

Despite his academic career being primarily in allopathic programs, Dr. Burns has stayed dedicated to the ACOS. He has been a member of the General Surgery In-Service Examation Committee since 2007 and has served as Co-Chair since 2012. He was the General Surgery Discipline Program Co-Chair for the 2015 Annual Clinical Assembly of Osteopathic Surgeons (ACA) and has presented 3 lectures and 2 posters at other ACAs. He served on the ACOS Continuing Education Committee from 2013-2015. Dr. Burns has also been an Oral Examiner for the American Osteopathic Board of Surgery since 2012 and a peer reviewer for the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (JAOA) since 2014.

Dr. Burns has furthered his education by completing the University of Florida College of Medicine Master Educator Fellowship and the Association for Surgical Education Research Fellowship. He also completed the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Surgeons as Leaders Course and the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) Leadership Development Workshop Series.

Dr. Burns’ academic interests center on trauma, pre-hospital EMS care, and resident education. His work has been presented 58 times at regional or national meetings. Additionally, he has participated in 21 poster presentations. Dr. Burns has 11 peer reviewed publications, 6 published abstracts, and 2 book chapters. In addition to reviewing articles for the JAOA, Dr. Burns is a peer reviewer for The American Surgeon.