While on his journey to becoming a physician-scientist, Josh Baker, Ph.D., who is in training to earn both a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) along with a Ph.D. in neuroscience, which he earned earlier this year, has taken on many roles and responsibilities. During his six years in the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine’s D.O.-Ph.D. Physician-Scientist Training Program, a passion for diagnostic radiology has grown while Baker became involved in local, state and national organizations and groups. Baker has worked to ensure he could take the skills learned in his Ph.D. program and implement them in his future work as a diagnostic radiologist and focused his research on the development of a predictive prognostic biomarker in mild traumatic brain injury using advanced diffusion-weighted imaging.
Baker’s dedication and work have led him to become the first D.O. medical student to be appointed chair of the newly formed Medical Student Section (MSS) Steering Committee of the American College of Radiology (ACR). The MSS steering committee is focused on “creating a community of medical students interested in radiology and developing resources for those students.” Dr. Baker’s one-year appointment began June 1.
“The American College of Radiology is one of the oldest and largest medical specialty organizations and is an incredible place to begin your career development as a future radiologist,” he said. Baker, who joined the ACR in 2022, has contributed to legislative advocacy and most recently, organized a national scientific journal club in his role as the 2023-2024 ACR Medical Student Subcommittee Education Lead. In addition to being selected as the MSS chair for 2024-2025, he also received a scholarship to attend ACR’s national meeting in Washington, D.C., this year, where he advocated for patient safety and other legislative issues with radiologists and peers from across the country.
ACR elevated the MSS to an official section to engage medical students from across the country as they begin their careers. “I started small by volunteering to create rotation guides with the ACR Rad Reserves, a volunteer pool, and hosted a journal club on neuroimaging of neonates with hypoxic ischemic injury,” Baker explained. He then applied for an official subcommittee lead position and oversaw numerous virtual events with hundreds of virtual medical student attendees from across the country. After serving in that role for a year, he applied and was selected as chair of the MSS. He will oversee seven medical student-led subcommittees, each with up to eight members who create content and host events on topics like DEI, Health Innovation and Technology, and Humanities and Bioethics, to name a few.
“What’s exciting is it’s a primarily allopathic society, so getting this position demonstrates the breaking down of barriers that D.O. students face,” Baker said. “I see this as an overall win for future D.O. students interested in Radiology, as well as for the field, which has significant physician shortages which impacts patient care.”
He said this opportunity expands recognition of the equivalence of the two medical professions and cooperation and recognition of the congruence between osteopathic (D.O.) and allopathic (M.D.) training. Being in this role “feels fantastic and is the culmination of years of interest and effort,” Baker said.
“Some people can thrive and bring unbridled positivity and energy to any atmosphere. Josh Baker is one of those exceptional individuals,” stated Mark C. DeLano, M.D., FACR, professor and chair of the MSU Department of Radiology in the Colleges of Osteopathic and Human Medicine. “His leadership is fueled by his heart, intellect, and passion for achieving the best in himself and others. I am delighted that he has been chosen to lead our next generation of radiologists and thrilled with his dedication to his work with the American College of Radiology.”
Looking toward the future, Baker hopes to complete residency in diagnostic radiology and a fellowship in neuroradiology. He plans to use his Ph.D. training to advance the use of diagnostic imaging to advance objective diagnosis of neuropsychiatric disease. He is excited about how advanced imaging techniques will improve the ability to diagnose and treat patients in collaboration with neurology and psychiatry colleagues.
Baker remembers his interview for the D.O.-Ph.D. program at the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine with Andrea Amalfitano, D.O., Ph.D., professor, Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology, who served as dean at that time. Baker said Dr. Amalfitano’s message was always to keep an eye out for what can be rapidly translated from bench to bedside and that D.O.-Ph.D. students see opportunities in the clinic and take those to the laboratory. “This unique training changes and advances the way we care for patients,” Baker said.
Prior to coming to the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Baker had studied the interaction of sleep and systemic inflammation in adolescents with insomnia. He learned about osteopathic medicine in his medical history course at the University of Pittsburgh, where he did his end of semester project on “The D.O.s” by Norman Gevitz. After shadowing a pathologist who was a D.O., he decided MSU was the place for him, where he could combine his passion for research and osteopathic medicine in the D.O.-Ph.D. Physician-Scientist Training Program.
“I knew I wanted to work in an academic setting – doing research, teaching medical students and residents, and taking care of patients,” Baker said about his motivation to pursue the dual-degree training. “This gave me a strong training opportunity to achieve that goal.”
Baker is wrapping up his sixth year in the program, recently passed his Ph.D. dissertation defense, and will be heading to McLaren Oakland in Pontiac to finish his clinical training.
Originally from Bethlehem, PA, Dr. Baker earned a B.S. in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and then an M.S. in Anatomy from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, with a Translational Science Certificate from the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the College of Medicine. Before beginning the D.O.-Ph.D. program at MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, he was a faculty member in the Department of Physical Therapy at Lebanon Valley College, teaching physiology, anatomy and kinesiology.
Baker encourages any medical students interested in exploring the field of Interventional/Diagnostic Radiology, Radiation Oncology or Nuclear Medicine to join the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine Radiology interest group, the Michigan Radiological Society and the ACR, which are free of charge for medical students and residents.
