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by Nicholas Wood

From the fields of rural Ohio to the White House Garden, Amelia Tunanidas-Pantelis, D.O., (‘82) career left a lasting mark on the osteopathic profession and—more important to her—the lives of her patients across the country.

In 1978, when Tunanidas-Pantelis arrived at what was then called ������Ƶ College of Osteopathic Medicine, things were much smaller. Of course, the school itself, founded three years prior, was in its infancy—with just under 100 students and only one building strong.

“When I started, we just had Grosvenor Hall,” Tunanidas-Pantelis recalls. “The anatomy lab was down in the basement, and everything was really basic and contained.”

Early in her career, health care delivery was a much more intimate process as well. When Dr. Amy (as her patients called her) began practicing, she was the only primary care physician in the small, rural town of Lake Milton, Ohio. She got to know patients from all walks of life, even finding ways to make house calls to gather a more complete picture of her patients’ health care.

“When you go into someone’s home, you truly see how they live, what they eat, who supports them,” she said. “It gives you a deeper understanding of their health and well-being.”

The relationships Tunanidas-Pantelis forged at this time with her peers at Heritage College and the patients she regularly saw were incredibly precious and formative, but in the early 1980s, it became apparent that if she wanted to continue providing quality patient-centered health care, she needed to think bigger. Health Maintenance Organizations or HMOs were becoming more prominent, hospital systems were expanding, all while insurance costs for private practice physicians in Ohio were skyrocketing. Many providers, no longer able to afford to practice in the state, migrated out of Ohio, leaving patients with ever-fewer options to turn to.

Tunanidas-Pantelis, however, refused to be driven away.

What began as a successful campaign among fellow physicians in the state to educate their patients, blossomed into a new phase of Tunanidas-Pantelis’ career—public policy advocacy.

In 1994, she became a member of the inaugural class of the American Osteopathic Association’s Health Policy Fellowship. This opportunity not only led Tunanidas-Pantelis to deepen her impact on political matters and influence public health statewide, but it also took her all the way to Washington, D.C., where she advocated for the Patient Bill of Rights the Clinton administration would later enact.

“It was an eye-opening experience,” reflected Tunanidas-Pantelis. “We learned how to approach legislators, speak on behalf of our patients, and represent the osteopathic profession at the national level.”

From there, she continued to shape the trajectory of osteopathy when, in 1997, she became the first Heritage College alum—and only the third woman—to serve as president of the Ohio Osteopathic Association. Her service in this role, as well as her positive influence on the lives of her patients and continuous efforts to expand the reach of the osteopathic philosophy, eventually earned her recognition as the first Heritage College alumni to receive the OHIO Alumna of the Year award in 2007. She is also the recipient of the ������Ƶ Medal of Merit.

Reflecting on these accomplishments, Tunanidas-Pantelis is humble, directing her attention to what has continuously motivated her throughout her career.

“I think about those experiences and how they have influenced my life, but also, hopefully from a positive perspective, influenced many other lives—especially our patients,” she said.

After serving as senior medical director for an HMO in Tampa, Florida, Tunanidas-Pantelis retired from clinical practice in 2020, though she still seeks opportunities to mentor the next generation of women entering the osteopathic profession. She participates in events connecting women physicians and medical students that are co-hosted by Heritage College’s Cleveland campus and the Cleveland Academy of Osteopathic Medicine.

“We talk with them about not only what it’s like to be a female physician, but also what it’s like to juggle life, relationships, families, support systems, those types of things,” Tunanidas-Pantelis said. “Students today face different kinds of stress. I advise them they don’t have to be perfect—they just need to be supportive and stay true to why they went into medicine.”

Today, Tunanidas-Pantelis lives in Rocky River, Ohio, where her focus is increasingly shifting toward the spiritual dimension of care. She leads prayer groups supporting hundreds of individuals, carrying forward the mind-body-spirit philosophy that guided her practice for decades.

“You never stop being a physician,” she said. “You just find new ways to heal.”