Arizona Physician Named Family Physician of the Year by the American Academy of Family Physicians

NEW ORLEANS — Eric M. Ossowski, M.D., a practicing family physician from Phoenix, Ariz., has been named the 2004 Family Physician of the Year by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). He was selected by his peers and celebrated by all attending the AAFP Scientific Assembly this week in New Orleans.

Ossowski has been a member of the family practice department at Phoenix Indian Medical Center (PIMC) for the past 22 years, and chief of family and primary care medicine for the past 13 years. PIMC serves over 39 tribes in the southwest. Ossowski helped develop PIMC’s geriatrics program and smoking cessation program. He has been active in the Arizona Academy of Family Physicians’ Tar Wars program, a tobacco-free education program, in Phoenix metro public and parochial schools. Ossowski is also involved in tobacco control issues in Arizona as a member of Arizonans Concerned about Smoking & Chewing Inc.

Ossowski has been described as a family physician that takes a personal interest in the health, lives and families of his patients. He practices both the art and science of medicine, consciously basing his medical decisions on all aspects of a patient’s life including history, culture, desires and medical needs.

A captain with the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps, Ossowski has been recognized by his career achievements by receiving the USPHS Commendation Medal in 1987 and 1993 and the Achievement Medal in 1995. In 2002, Ossowski was named the Phoenix Area Clinical Employee of the Year.

Ossowski attended college at the University of Minnesota Duluth majoring in Psychology and Pre-Med. He earned his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical Schools in Duluth and Minneapolis. He completed his residency at Duluth Family Practice Residency.