It's not often that a patient has the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of Tai Chi Quan and Qi Qong from his physician.

But Dr. William Swann, the primary care director for the Fort Meade Warrior Transition Unit at Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center, has offered to teach the ancient Chinese arts to the WTU on Tuesdays before formation.

"This [is] to help them with their inner balance and to relax," said Swann, 58, an osteopath who also has served as chief instructor of the Grey Tigyr Tai Ji Quan/Qi Qong Association since 1992.

That level of dedication was recently recognized by the Maryland Association of Osteopathic Physicians, which named Swann the 2009-2010 Physician of the Year. The award was presented July 31 during the Regional Osteopathic Medical Education Conference at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Hotel in Cambridge.

"I was kind of humbled," said Swann, who has worked at Kimbrough since March 2009. "It's really a lifetime recognition award."

Modest and soft-spoken, Swann is board-certified in both internal and emergency medicine. He also trained extensively in manual, cranial sacral and spinal-strengthening therapies.

"Several people through the years nominated Dr. Swann," said Dr. Bonita J. Portier, vice president of education for the Maryland Association of Osteopath Physicians and among those who nominated Swann. "We are very proud and happy to say his time has come. We have such respect for him and his work. This award is the highest we have to bestow."

The prestigious award honors Swann's service with the WTU; his commitment to the principles and practice of osteopathic medicine, which emphasizes the whole person and the connection between the musculoskeletal system and disease and symptoms; and volunteer service with the Missions of Mercy, a traveling clinic. Until 2009, Swann had volunteered once a month for 14 years to treat the uninsured and dispense medication to indigent Medicare patients out of a Winnebago in Frederick.

"We are proud of all the work he has done in his life," Portier said. "He is a role model to his community."

For Swann, the award is also a nod to a tumultuous youth overcome by determination and discipline.

The San Francisco native and second of eight children grew up in Chicago, the first in the family to ever graduate high school. As a teen, he helped support his parents by working in a plastics factory. After high school, he delivered furniture and pianos.

Both his mother and father, a baker who served in the Merchant Marines during World War II, suffered from mental illness. So in 1969, at age 16, Swann had to care for the family.

"I took my mom and four sisters and younger brother from Dad, who was insane and an abusive alcoholic, to my aunt," he recalled. "Dad found us and I had him committed. Mom had a nervous breakdown after that and required hospitalization."

Once his parents stabilized, the family was reunited.

During high school, Swann was involved with gangs before moving with his family to another part of town. But after he was jumped by a neighborhood gang, Swann took up martial arts for self-defense.

"I never had a fight since, but I did defend people," he said. "Martial arts freed me from the dark side. It helped me to stay focused. I learned to meditate. There was no mentoring from my parents. My Christian faith and Asian philosophy became my mentors."

Swann then deliberated between pursuing art and studying medicine. "I decided that if I was accepted into Loyola University, I would go to medical school," he said.

To see if he liked medicine, Swann worked as an orderly in an emergency room while earning a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1976 at Loyola. After considering multiple medical careers, Swann went into internal medicine. "I wanted a broader scope and I like using my hands," he said.

From 1976 to 1980, Swann attended the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery on an Army scholarship followed by a rotating internship in 1981 at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii.

After two years as officer in charge of the Occupational Health Program at Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, Swann completed his residency in internal medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center from 1983 to 1986.

During the next two years, he was chief of medicine at the Fort Rucker Aeromedical Center in Alabama and also received his Air Assault badge.

"I did so much emergency medicine on the weekends, I grandfathered into emergency medicine, and that became my second specialty," he said.

Awarded the Army Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster, Swann left the Army in 1988 as a major. He then worked in private practice and emergency medicine in Maryland. After 19 years on the night shift, he decided to leave emergency medicine.

Last year Swann joined the WTU, where he provides primary care while coordinating the medical care and rehabilitation of Soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. "It turned out to be a very challenging position and a rewarding position," he said. "What I like a lot here is the team mentality, and everybody works as hard as their teammates."

Treating WTU patients is "truly integrative" medicine involving numerous specialties, said Swann.

"You have to work with every one of those teams to get the Soldier better," he said. "I try to coordinate all that care with each specialty to get the Soldiers to take ownership of their medical problems all of their life and not say, 'Fix me.' So they end up being their own doctor. You need to take time with them so they, and I, understand their problems."

Swann spoke about the primary care management of returning veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder to the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity on Fort Meade on July 29 and at the osteopath conference two days later.

"He's an excellent diagnostic physician," WTU nurse practitioner Rachel Nelson said. "He's very passionate about what he does, extremely thorough. He listens, and he takes time to follow through with the patients' needs."

Swann consistently earns top ratings on the Army Provider Level Satisfaction Survey submitted by patients. "He always gets a 100 percent satisfaction rating," said Col. Maureen Tate, deputy commander for clinical services for the Fort Meade MEDDAC. "He's very compassionate and looks at each patient as an individual, not just as a medical case. He looks at the overall person, at their physical, mental and spiritual well-being."

Swann resides on a small farm in Thurmont with his wife, Soring, a former nurse raised five miles from the Mayon Volcano in the Philippines, whom he met in 1975 in Chicago. The couple, who have three children -- Yvonne, 34, Jonathan, 33, and Chris, 30, -- and four grandchildren, share their farm with a llama, an alpaca, chickens, geese and cashmere goats.

Out of his home studio, Swann teaches Tai Ji Quan as a martial art and Qi Qong for its health benefits.

Embarking on yet another challenge, Swann fills his 90-minute morning drive to Kimbrough by learning Chinese and Arabic on tape. He already has taught himself some Russian and Spanish. He also fiddles with the cello.

"I'm an eternal beginner," Swann said.