February 2025 | Vol. 69, No.1

 Just about all professional organizations in the last five years have struggled with membership, and POMA is no exception. While it’s easy to blame this problem on COVID, which undeniably played a role, it’s just as easy to forget that membership has been an issue plaguing professional organizations since they started.  This article from 1959 (JPOA, Vol. 1, No.1) shows that the association had only a fraction of the osteopathic physicians in Pennsylvania as members of its (at that time) nine districts and the efforts taken to try to increase that number. Interestingly, one of the ways POA tried to increase membership was to reach out to interns and residents through their hospitals. This is one strategy POMA uses today, though it has been more challenging with the loss of osteopathic hospitals and the merger of the AOA and ACGME that began a decade ago. Today, POMA’s mission is to promote the distinctive philosophy and practice of osteopathic medicine for our patients, our members, and the communities we serve (just as it was in 1959, albeit stated differently). The strength of POMA is our members. Click here to invite a colleague to join POMA today.