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CCOM Alumnus Teaches Ultrasound Worldwide, Provides Care in Underserved Areas

Going geographically East after high school in Palos Verdes, California has opened up great opportunities for me to care for domestic and global populations. I've utilized my Family Medicine and Primary Care sports medicine skills to teach and serve around the world as a Professor at Duke Medical School in the Departments of Orthopedic Surgery as well as Family Medicine and Community Health.

I attended ������Ƶ’s Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine (CCOM) from 1996 to 2000, followed by a Family Medicine residency and Primary Care Sports Medicine (PCSM) Fellowship at Duke University where I stayed for my medical practice and now serve as full-time faculty, a team physician, and work with a seven-member PCSM physician team caring for 10 area high schools in North Carolina.

I got inspired to pursue a focus in musculoskeletal ultrasound when I heard American Medical Society of Sports Medicine (AMSSM) member John Hill, D.O., give an ultrasound lecture at the 2008 American Osteopathic Association of Sports Medicine (AOASM)/AMSSM conference in Las Vegas. I saw the incredible possibilities that point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has for care. I taught and started the ultrasound program at Duke and began my prolific diagnostic ultrasound experience there as part of my training.  

I have performed over 50,000 ultrasound-guided procedures and regularly teach numerous PCSM, Orthopedic, Radiology, and Rheumatology Fellows ultrasound diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. I have also taught Ultrasound courses to clinicians in numerous countries such as China, Russia, Cuba, and Ghana. On one of my most recent trips to Uganda in May 2022, I taught sports ultrasound to the Orthopedic Society of Uganda in conjunction with the Association of Radiologists of Uganda. We taught a symposium at Mbarra University of Science and Technology and evaluated and treated members of the Uganda National Athletics team in preparation for the Pan Africa Games.

I have been doing international medical missions since 2011 accompanied by my wife, various learners, and colleagues. My four children have gone on some of these mission trips and learned the importance of serving internationally. Duke University's support enabled me to not only teach ultrasound to clinicians and staff in Ghana and Uganda but also to donate the POCUS ultrasound machines for their continued use in those countries. 

Some of my most inspiring medical mission work has been working through the “Ghana Make A Difference” program where I recurrently volunteer at a community orphanage for children with special medical needs. I have done medical and ultrasound triage at an outdoor hospital, often seeing over 200 patients per day in Ghana as part of a multispecialty team of surgeons and health professionals bringing additional care to Ghana. I also really enjoy serving on the Medical Team at the World University Games (since 2011) in various countries.

I have been very involved in AMSSM and the AOASM organization for which I am the recent Past President. When asked for advice for students, I recommend, “enjoy taking care of patients no matter if they are high-level Division I athletes, Team USA athletes, recreational and school athletes, athletes in underserved regions, or in other countries, everyone deserves your attention and the best care you can give them.”

������Ƶ Blake Boggess, D.O., FAOASM, FAMSSM, FAAFP

Dr. Boggess is a sports medicine specialist whose clinical and research interests are musculoskeletal ultrasound, regenerative medicine and non-operative orthopedics. He is a Professor at Duke University School of Medicine and a Duke Sports Medicine Team Physician.