FORT SILL, Oklahoma (June 16, 2021) -- A first-year medical student who is in the Army Medical Department Direct Commissioning Course (DCC) here presented at a virtual pediatrics conference. His classmates watched as he responded to queries from doctors about his research during a live chat June 11, at Brown Hall.
2nd Lt. Riley Frenette, C Battery, 2nd Battalion, 6th Air Defense Artillery, had given a prerecorded presentation on gastronomy tube sizing at the 2021 International Pediatric Endosurgery Group annual meeting.
Frenette's presentation was about 12 French (size) and 14 French tubing, and which one dislodges easier. He conducted his research while working with surgeons at the Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria.
During the live chat, Frenette hypothesized why the smaller tube (12 French) was dislodging more frequently than the larger tube.
"I think it went well being a first-year medical student getting questions from some of the top surgeons in the world," he said.
Frenette is in DCC No. 03-21 along with 266 other medical professionals. About 230 of them are medical students. They will graduate June 21.
Capt. Ryan Boyles, C/2-6th ADA commander, said this was the first time in his two years with the DCC that a student has presented at a conference during the course.
About a dozen of Frenette's classmates who are in pediatric specialties sat in on the live chat.
Maj. William Dean, DCC manager, said the live chat took the students briefly out of the basic training environment and showed them the Army is focused on professional development.
"We want you to be well-rounded medical officers, and if we have an opportunity like this (live chat) we'll take it," Dean said. "Medical officers have to keep up with the field with continuing education and licensing."
Frenette is on the Armed Forces Health Professionals Scholarship Program. He will begin his second year of osteopathic medical school at A.T. Still University in Kirksville, Missouri.
"I like the carpentry aspect of orthopedics: the hammering, the drilling," he said.
He will graduate in 2024. After that he plans to perform a five-year residency in orthopedics surgery at an Army medical center.
Now half-way through DCC, Frenette said the course has been great.
"I've learned a tremendous amount in the past 10 days, and I know my classmates have too."
The 30th Air Defense Artillery Brigade's DCC takes civilian medical professionals and in three weeks trains them to become Army officers (active duty, Reserve, National Guard), said Dean.
The new officers follow up with another three weeks of training in their respective medical specialties at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and with additional online training.
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