OSU Medicine student named to first national liaison role
Friday, August 23, 2019
Allen native Brandon Postoak will help encourage Native Americans to consider medical careers
The Association of American Indian Physicians has named an OSU Medicine student to serve as the first osteopathic medicine liaison for the Association of Native American Medical Students.
Brandon Postoak, a second-year medical student at the Oklahoma State University College
of Osteopathic Medicine in Tulsa, was appointed to a one-year term as liaison with
the goal of encouraging more Native Americans to consider careers in medicine and
other health professions.
Postoak, from Allen, Oklahoma, is an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation. His
small-town upbringing has prepared him for this new role.
“Growing up in rural Oklahoma, it’s easy to limit yourself and your life’s goals,”
Postoak said. “I was lucky things finally clicked in junior college, and I realized
my passion for human science and made becoming a physician my life’s goal. I want
to help other Native American students find that spark.”
The Association of Native American Medical Students represents tribal graduate health
profession students throughout the U.S. and Canada. It strives to increase the number
of Native American students in health professions and serves as a resource network
for Native Americans in allied health profession schools.
Postoak is part of a new strategy to attract more osteopathic medical students to
both organizations and to the medical profession.
“Improving health care resources is essential to curing the problems of our people,”
Postoak continued. “Many Natives are caught in a cycle that promotes poor health.
I am committed to take the educational steps necessary to step outside that cycle
and someday — as a physician — return to my people to provide a pathway to better
health and wellbeing.”
MEDIA CONTACT: Melani Hamilton | Managing Director of Marketing and Communications at OSU-CHS | 918-561-8462 | melani.hamilton@okstate.edu