Dr. Thomas N. Told Honored with Presidential Award of Excellence

RVU is pleased to announce that Thomas N. Told, DO, FACOFP dist., Dean of RVUCOM and Vice President of Academic Affairs, was awarded the Presidential Award of Excellence.

The award was established in 2017 to honor and recognize the faculty members who consistently demonstrate excellence in the scholarly activity of teaching, service, and research. While the award is bestowed by the University president, the recipient is chosen by his or her fellow faculty members.

Dr. Told was recognized with the Presidential Award of Excellence for his dedication to osteopathic medical education at RVU. As part of a team that informed RVU’s founding owners, he helped them see the vision for serving the Mountain West and its rural communities. At RVU, Dr. Told was integral in the creation of tracks and special programs, simulation initiatives, and the Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences and Physician Assistant Programs.

In the more than twenty years that he has known Dr. Told, Joseph Stasio, DO, FACOFP, Chair of the Department of Primary Care Medicine, says he has not known a man “who displays the integrity and compassion of an osteopathic physician [in the same way] as Dr. Told. He has dedicated his career to the profession and the training of young osteopathic physicians.” For Dr. Stasio, “Dr. Told has been a colleague, mentor, and a role model, but most of all a friend. We [are] lucky to have him.”

During his 35-year career, Dr. Told has also served on several committees and has been a member of numerous organizations. He is a past President of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP) and one of the authors of the first standards for the ACOFP’s Rural Family Medicine Track. He is a past Board Member of the Center for Personalized Education for Physicians and founding member of the Colorado Physicians Health Program. Dr. Told is also an Emeritus member of ACOFP’s Procedural Medicine Institute and a Distinguished Fellow in the ACOFP, and, in 2018, was honored with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Presidential Award of Excellence was awarded to Dr. Told during the University’s virtual Commencement Ceremony on May 1^st.