American Osteopathic Association AOA

American Osteopathic Association AOA

Chicago Office – Main Headquarters
142 East Ontario Street
Chicago, IL 60611
Tel: 800 621-1773
Tel: 312 202-8000
Fax 312 202-8200

Washington Office
1090 Vermont Ave.NW Suite 510
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: 800 962-9008
Tel: 202 414-0140
Fax: 202 544-3525

The American Osteopathic Association headquarters are located in downtown Chicago, with the Division of Government Relations located in Washington, D.C.

History of AOA

1897 Beginnings

Founded in 1897 by a group of students from the American School of Osteopathy in Kirksville, MO, the American Osteopathic Association aimed to organize the efforts of individual physicians and colleges to advance the osteopathic medical profession. Originally called the American Association for the Advancement of Osteopathy, the name changed to the American Osteopathic Association in 1901. In that same year, C.M. Turner Hulett, D.O., documented the 16 charter students in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. The committee created a constitution, and permanently established the association on April 19, 1897.

The AOA Mission according to the first president, Daniel B. McAuley, D.O.

"The reasons for the organization are many, are obvious, are strong; and personal protection is the least of these. No; the members of this organization have laid upon them a heavier responsibility, a greater duty, than the so-called "first law of nature," self-preservation. The primary objects of the organization are, in the broadest sense, to work toward and attain all things that will truly tend to the "advancement of Osteopathy," and the rounding of it into its destined proportions as the eternal truth and vital principle of therapeutic science."