Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine - OMM

I grew up in a small town in North Eastern North Carolina, with a population of <5,000 people. Ever since I can remember, I wanted to go into medicine. I left home early to go to NCSSM for high school and onto Emory for College. In college, I fell in love with teaching while working as a SCUBA instructor. Finding out about Osteopathic Medicine when I started applying, I couldn't have dreamed up a better fit. At GA-PCOM I quickly gravitated toward the OMM department and started running after hours review sessions. Coming to Spartanburg on a random rotation, by the end of my second day I knew it was where I wanted to do residency. I was so impressed with the caliber of training and expectations held by this community of physicians. As a resident, I moonlighted at VCOM as a clinical instructor in the OMM department. After completing my FM training, but wanting more, I went on to a Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine +1 residency in Orlando. Marrying the love of my life brought me back to the upstate, rejoining the physicians I so loved working with. I am now so happy to be doing what I have been so passionate about all along, practicing medicine and teaching the next generations of physicians.

Education

Dr. Kozar is board certified in neuromusculoskeletal medicine (NMM-OMM), sports medicine and family medicine, and was conferred a Fellow of American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine in 2009. He spends 60% of his time practicing neuromusculoskeletal medicine exclusively, with a 50-50 mix of sports medicine and acute and chronic pain management. In addition, he is a registered musculoskeletal sonographer.

In his academic role, he serves as VCOM’s Program Director for the ONMM3 Residency, where he is also Professor, OMM & Sports Medicine and teaches in the PPC-OMM course for students. His role has moved more to a clinician researcher and has several ongoing intramurally and extramurally funded projects.

Dr. Kozar’s interests lie in neuromuscular control of functional rehabilitative approaches, diagnostic and therapeutic uses of musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSK), and osteopathic manipulative treatment, as well as regenerative therapies. Dr. Kozar has frequently lectured nationally on these topics at the annual conferences of American Academy of Osteopathy (AAO), American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM), American Osteopathic Academy Sports Medicine (AOASM), American Association of Orthopaedic Medicine (AAOM), and National Procedures Institute (NPI).

A teacher of MSK ultrasound with the group MSKUS.com since 2009, Dr. Kozar teaches diagnostic and cadaver injection ultrasound courses seven or eight times per year nationally and internationally. Prior to joining VCOM in fall 2015, he was in private practice since 2002 with Valley Sports Physicians in Avon, CT and was a Team Physician for The University of Hartford and area high schools.

• Sports Medicine Fellowship
• ONMM3 Residency

Education

Dr. Heaton has maintained a family medicine and osteopathic manipulation practice in Arlington, Virginia since 1988. Dr. Heaton holds clinical faculty positions with eight of the nation’s osteopathic schools. He continues to serve the osteopathic community through his involvement in the Virginia Osteopathic Medical Association.

If you are a current patient or need to schedule an appointment please visit https://osteopathicsports.com/