Ana Michunovich
Research at TouroCOM: Treating dermatologic conditions using osteopathic manipulative treatment
Born to Serbian parents in Arizona, Ana Michunovich often accompanied her parents to their former hometown on family vacations. It was the buildup of these family trips that convinced her to choose medicine: “Seeing some of the areas that didn't have access to proper healthcare, and comparing that to what I saw in the United States, made a huge impact on my decision to become a doctor,” she says.
Dr. Michunovich began doing research with Dr. Stern on dermatology during her second year of medical school. By the end of the year, she had written, submitted, and published “Potential New Dimensions in Dermatology: The Osteopathic Approach to Cutaneous Disease” in the American Academy of Osteopathy Journal. “I was excited when it was accepted—by the second journal we submitted it to, no less!” she remembers.
She credits her education at TouroCOM as the primary reason she was accepted to both of her first choices for residency. “Touro really prepared me to be a competitive applicant,” she said. “Matching to a residency in general is becoming increasingly difficult, let alone matching to one of your top choices. However, my GPA, board scores, extracurricular endeavors, and all the other components on my residency application were strong enough for me to get invited to interview at some of the top MD residencies and hospitals in the country. Without a doubt, I wouldn’t have had these amazing opportunities had I not attended TouroCOM.”
Dr. Michunovich will be doing her preliminary year of internal medicine at Staten Island University Hospital followed by three years of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
First “physician” moment
“It was definitely during clinical rotations, but I can't pinpoint the exact situation when I knew. It just felt wonderful to finally be able to apply everything that I had spent the past two years learning, and truly start making a difference in people’s lives.”
