2012 Alumni Award Winners
Young Alumni Achievement Award - Thomas R. Randoll, D.O. (COM '05)
Alumni Service Award - Paul W. Dybedal, D.O. (COM '54)
Distinguished Service Award - Tyler Cymet, D.O.
Alumni Achievement Award - James M. Gaunt, D.O. (COM '79)
Star-Spangled Banner Medallion - Gladstone A. Payton, D.O. (COM '67)
Alumnus of the Year - Karen J. Nichols, D.O. (COM '81)
Young Alumni Achievement Award
Thomas R. Randoll, D.O. (COM '05)
Thomas R. Randoll, D.O. (COM ’95), honors area World War II veterans by giving them the opportunity to see the monument in Washington, D.C., dedicated to their courage and service free of charge. For his work with veterans, he has received the Hearts and Hands Award from Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital in recognition of his outstanding leadership, professionalism and pride in service to America’s veterans. He has also received the President’s Award from the Missouri Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons for his service.
Board-certified in internal medicine, Dr. Randoll works in the Department of Primary Care at Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital in Columbia, Mo. He is also assistant program director and core faculty member for the internal medicine residency program at the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia. He is also the Central Missouri Honor Flight's medical director.
Alumni Service Award
Paul W. Dybedal, D.O. (COM '54)
Paul W. Dybedal, D.O. (COM ’54), does not mince words.
Years ago, he believed osteopathic medicine was in need of increased research opportunities to better compete with its allopathic counterparts. Fortunately for KCUMB and osteopathic medicine, Dr. Dybedal has done more than offer his assessment. He and his wife, Mary Lou, took it upon themselves to do something about it. KCUMB’s Dybedal Center for Research exists in large part because of their generosity, having made the single largest financial contribution in KCUMB’s history.
“I think we have a beautiful campus at KCUMB,” said Dr. Dybedal, one person who has played a large role in making it that way.
Distinguished Service Award
Tyler Cymet, D.O.
Ask Tyler Cymet, D.O., why he has been involved for more than three decades with DOCARE International, the medical outreach organization that provides health care in remote areas around the world, and he will give you two answers. The first is KCUMB. The second is that he loves helping people.
Currently DOCARE’s national president, Dr. Cymet credits his deep interest in the organization to 1984, when he began going on DOCARE medical missions with a group from KCUMB. He credits these colleagues with helping him stay active in the D.O. profession even as he was teaching in an M.D. program at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he spent 15 years.
“I developed a good relationship with the people (at KCUMB),” he said. “I was very impressed with their abilities, their skill, their dedication.” Most of all, though, Dr. Cymet has devoted himself to DOCARE because he loves doing it.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I like being a cultural tourist. I like exploring people’s lives and worlds, and understanding how they think. DOCARE gave me a way to do that and be productive.”
So far, Dr. Cymet has gone on DOCARE missions to Guatemala, Haiti, El Salvador, Mexico, Bulgaria, Israel and South Korea, among other countries. In Bulgaria, which was in financial collapse at the time, his team counseled representatives from that country on how to set up a new health-care system to provide primary care. At the time, Bulgaria had no public health or primary care infrastructure.
As national president for DOCARE, Dr. Cymet helps provide education and assistance for people learning how to be mission directors. In addition to his DOCARE duties, he spends 12 hours each week working as an emergency department physician at Northwest Hospital and Medical Center in Baltimore, Md., where he is also academic administrator. He is on the board of trustees of the Maryland State Medical Society and serves as president of the Baltimore City Medical Society Foundation.
A graduate of Nova Southeastern University of the Health Sciences in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Dr. Cymet is associate vice president for medical education with the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine. He is responsible for clinical medical education and faculty development for all schools of osteopathic medicine in the United States. He is board-certified in family medicine and osteopathic manipulative medicine and a diplomate of the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners.
Alumni Achievement Award
James M. Gaunt, D.O. (COM '79)
After 28 years in practice, James M. Gaunt, D.O. (COM ’79), FOCOO, still works seven days a week. A specialist in otolaryngology – head and neck surgery, facial plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery, Dr. Gaunt treats patients from all over the country but has his office in the small city of Sedalia, Mo.
Before going to medical school, Dr. Gaunt attended the University of Kansas, where he earned a degree in pharmacy. Between pharmacy school and medical school, he managed three of his Uncle Bill’s drug stores in the Kansas City area. He credits this experience with giving him the business know-how he needed to run his own practice successfully.
Board-certified in ophthalmology and otolaryngology – head and neck surgery, Dr. Gaunt is on the staff of Bothwell Regional Health Center in Sedalia. He is the recipient of the Special Board of Governors Award, the Presidential Achievement Award and the Distinguished Service Award from the American Osteopathic Colleges of Ophthalmology & Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. He served as president of that organization in 2001.
During his tenure as president of the AOCOO-HNS, Dr. Gaunt was instrumental in bringing eye, nose and throat D.O.s and M.D.s to the table to find common ground. It was his time to “go to Washington,” he said.
“I’ve been blessed,” Dr. Gaunt said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
Chalk it up to his decision to forego the bright lights and big city to raise his children in a smaller town in central Missouri. Or, maybe it has just as much to do with a work ethic that has contributed to better lives for thousands of patients and a reputation for excellence that has become known far and wide.
Star-Spangled Banner Medallion
Gladstone A. Payton, D.O. (COM '67)
Had circumstances been otherwise, Gladstone A. Payton, D.O. (COM ’67), might have attended Sandhurst, the famous British military academy, and retired from service as a professional soldier in the British Army. In another possible scenario, he might have graduated from the University of Edinburgh Medical School in Scotland.
Born and raised in Jamaica, Dr. Payton had both these options. He was commissioned in the British Army and, later, accepted at the University of Edinburgh. He chose, instead, to attend an osteopathic medical school in Kansas City because he liked the philosophy of osteopathic medicine after hearing about it.
A year after graduating from KCUMB, Dr. Payton was practicing family medicine in Mt. Clemens, Mich. He has continued practicing in the same place ever since, earning the distinction of Michigan Family Physician of the Year in 2004. But the urge to serve his country never left him.
In 1980, Dr. Payton joined the U.S. Navy, commissioned as a reserve officer in the Medical Corps at the rank of lieutenant commander. When he retired from the service in 2001, he was a captain, with a recommendation for appointment to the rank of rear admiral.
During his 21 years in the Navy, Dr. Payton received a number of awards related to his military service, including the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal given to service members who “distinguish themselves by heroism, outstanding achievement or meritorious service.”
Dr. Payton also received the National Defense Service Medal awarded for honorable active military service, the Navy Unit Commendation for non-combat service in support of military operations and the Meritorious Service Medal for outstanding service to the United States.
Dr. Payton is on the staff of Mt. Clemens Regional Medical Center. He is a life member of the American Osteopathic Association and the Michigan Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons. He is a member of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians and Surgeons, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States.
Alumnus of the Year
Karen J. Nichols, D.O. (COM '81)
Karen J. Nichols, D.O. (COM ’81) has made a career of being first: first woman president of the American Osteopathic Association.
- First female president of the American Osteopathic Internists Association
- First female president of the Arizona Osteopathic Medical Association
- First female resident and chief resident at the Oklahoma Osteopathic Hospital in Tulsa
- First female chief of staff at Mesa General Hospital in Mesa, Ariz.
“I’d been first so many times I didn't want people to point that out because I didn’t want people to think I was the token woman,” Dr. Nichols said.
She has since changed her mind. Now, she believes it is selfish to think that way. She is convinced she needs to do whatever she can to promote the idea that the glass ceiling is broken, that there are no longer any barriers for women in the practice of medicine.
The evidence shows she is right. Dr. Nichols serves as dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Midwestern University in Downers Grove, Ill. When she arrived there 10 years ago, it happened to be the first year that more women graduated than men. When Dr. Nichols graduated from KCUMB, women accounted for just 12 percent of her class.
Dr. Nichols was in private practice in general internal medicine for 17 years in Mesa before she decided to move to Chicago and serve as dean. In addition to helping shepherd class after class of osteopathic medical students through the school, she found time to start the Costin Institute for Osteopathic Medical Educators. The one-year fellowship program has graduated approximately 130 physicians and teachers, known as Costin Scholars. The program is now expanding to other medical institutions.