25
COM Outlook . Summer-Fall 2014
novative mark both in the college and
throughout the osteopathic profes-
sion. In the neuromusculoskeletal
medicine realm, Dr. Wallace originat-
ed a method of osteopathic diagnosis
and treatment called Torque Unwind-
ing—a diagnostic modality that uses
physics to calculate the location of
somatic dysfunctions in the body and
to calculate the influence of strain pat-
terns in the soma.
During her lengthy career at Kansas
City College of Osteopathic Medicine,
Dr. Wallace served in numerous leader-
ship capacities, earned an impressive
nine Professor of the Year awards
from the first- and second-year classes,
and received the Missouri Governor’s
Award for Excellence in Teaching. In
the early 1990s, however, a momen-
tous event occurred when she chaired
the committee charged with hiring a
new academic dean. The eventual se-
lectee—a charismatic character named
Dr. Anthony J. Silvagni—would eventu-
ally set in motion a chain of events that
profoundly altered Dr. Wallace’s life,
both personally and professionally.
Reunited…and it
Feels so Good
Drs. Silvagni and Wallace worked
side by side for eight years, develop-
ing a strong and effective partnership.
During the late 1990s, however, philo-
sophical changes at the Kansas City
school convinced both Drs. Silvagni
and Wallace the time had come to
pursue new professional vistas. Dr.
Silvagni masterminded his exit first,
becoming dean of NSU’s College of
Osteopathic Medicine in July 1998—
leaving Dr. Wallace as acting dean of
KCUMB. In the ensuing year, Dr. Wal-
lace followed suit, relocating to Mary-
land with the objective of creating an
innovative niche medical business.
“I had been working on establishing
a company in Maryland that would do
house calls in hotels,” said Dr. Wallace,
who had purchased a 10-acre farm in
the area. At the same time, however, a
colleague from her not-too-distant past
was using his considerable persuasion
skills to convince Dr. Wallace to join
him in sunny South Florida.
“A year earlier, when Dr. Silvagni
left Kansas City to work at NSU, he
began to harass me on a regular basis
about coming down to Florida, just as
I had been harassed on a regular basis
to work at the osteopathic medical
school in Kansas City,” she explained.
“I told him, ‘Tony, I hate Florida, so
I’m not coming.’ But he would con-
tinue to call. As you know, Dr. Silvagni
can be quite persistent, and eventually
he wore me down.”
Although Dr. Wallace was willing
to come to South Florida to work at
NSU-COM and become chair of its
Department of Osteopathic Principles
and Practice, she was not about to
totally forego her bucolic existence in
Maryland. “I said, ‘Listen, I have two
requirements. I’ll come to Florida if I
can work four days a week and can fly
back and forth to Maryland each week
because I’m not moving to Florida.’
And for the first seven years I worked
here, that’s exactly what I did. I flew in
every Monday morning and flew out
every Thursday night to go home to
my farm and six dogs and horses.”
Throughout her 14-year NSU-
COM career, Dr. Wallace has used
her forward-thinking philosophy and
impressive work ethic to mastermind a
number of unique administrative and
programmatic additions and enhance-
ments working in tandem with Dr.
Silvagni. So what makes their 23-year
partnership so alchemically successful?
“We work extraordinarily well
together because he is excellent at
external politics and I’m the internal
worker,” she said. “The thing that
impresses me most about working with
Dr. Silvagni is that I believe in the kind-
ness of his heart. We have a collegial
relationship that allows us to trust one
another, which has really been em-
powering. The things I’ve been able to
achieve at NSU have occurred because
Dr. Silvagni had the vision and trust to
say to me, ‘Go ahead and do them.’”
In an NSU-COM career overflowing
with achievement, Dr. Wallace takes
specific pride in one significant en-
hancement. “Of the things I’ve accom-
plished here, from starting our Sports
Medicine Fellowship, to promoting the
student requirement for community
service and medical Spanish, to inter-
national medical outreach programs,
FAMILY PORTRAIT: Pictured (clockwise from left) are daughter Raven, Dr. Wallace,
Dr. Jill Wallace-Ross, and twin sons Hawk and Jagger at the Florida Osteopathic
Medical Association Convention NSU-COM alumni reception in February 2014.
