Mark Coty, PhD

Following an early career in self-employment and entrepreneurial endeavors, Dr. Coty began an academic career in 1992 at Hillsborough Community College. He then earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of South Florida in 1997. While volunteering at the University of South Florida’s College of Medicine in the Department of Anatomy, he became interested in medical research and entered the doctoral program in Medical Sciences in 1997.

Dr. Coty’s research involved biomechanics and computer-based finite element modeling of human tissue. These interests crossed disciplines with engineering and human sciences. Thus, he pursued a simultaneous master’s degree in biomedical engineering. As a graduate student, Dr. Coty won the Presidential Award for best platform presentation at the American Association of Clinical Anatomists annual meeting in 2002 for his presentation on mechanical properties and anatomical models of human tissue.

Dr. Coty earned a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in 2003. In May 2004, he joined Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) as part of the inaugural faculty at the new Bradenton branch campus. At LECOM, he served as

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) facilitator and Anatomy lecturer. In 2005, he was named the Director of Student Assessment and Test Management and was responsible for compiling, writing, and administering 40 discrete examinations to PBL students three times per academic semester. In this position, he worked very closely with the Assistant Dean of Preclinical Education and the director of PBL.

In 2011, Dr. Coty was promoted to Assistant Dean of Preclinical Education. In his position at LECOM Bradenton, Dr. Coty has served on many committees and won awards for teaching, including the “Professor of the Year” award and the “John and Silvia Ferretti Award for Distinguished Teaching.” In his role as Assistant Preclinical Dean, he was involved with all aspects of curricular development, delivery, and management at LECOM Bradenton, along with managing all clinical and basic science faculty members.

In 2015, he began training as a preclinical site evaluator for the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) and completed training in 2016. Over the past seven years, he has visited multiple schools as a site evaluator for COCA.

In April 2020, he joined the administrative team at A.T. Still University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Mesa, Arizona (SOMA) as the Assistant Dean of Innovation and Curricular Integration. In this position, he was instrumental in guiding the faculty as they converted a lecture-based curriculum to a self-directed case-based curriculum. Dr. Coty has been involved with all aspects of pre-doctoral medical education.