COM Outlook Winter 2019

16 | DR. KIRAN C. PATEL COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE college president instead, he suddenly offered me the dean’s position.” Melnick initially agreed to serve a two-year term, “because I really just wanted to take it easy,” he admitted. “Of course, those 2 years turned into 18 years and a lot of rewarding work.” Leaving a Legacy in South Florida After Melnick relocated to South Florida on June 6, 1980, he and Terry—with the assistance of a finance officer and a lone secretary—launched Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine (SECOM), which accepted its inaugural class in the fall of 1981. “The average time it traditionally takes to start a medical school is 5 to 10 years, but we did it in 1 year,” he said. “In fact, no new school we started ever took more than 18 months from conception to matriculation of the first class.” Because they possessed risk-taking personalities and were at the latter stages of their respective careers, Melnick and Terry frequently defied conventional wisdom to obtain the results they desired during SECOM’s infancy. “The American Osteopathic Association had recommended we start by accepting only 15 students in the first class,” said Melnick, who received the Florida Osteopathic Medical Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. Instead, the duo decided to chart a more adventur- ous course and accept 40 students in the first year, and then increase to 60 in the second year, 80 in the third, and 100 in the fourth. “It was our baby, and it wasn’t Left: Osteopathic icons Morton Terry, left, and Arnold Melnick in 1995 Left bottom: Melnick receives the American Osteopathic Association’s Distinguished Service Certificate in 2002. Below: In 2012, Melnick presented Anthony J. Silvagni with a copy of his book Looking Back … at SECOM .