Faculty
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Joseph Stasio, D.O. FACOFP
Chair, Department of Primary Care
Associate Professor of Family Medicine
At the age of thirty Joseph Stasio, D.O. was living in Florida and was well into a career as a physician’s assistant when the doctors in the office where he was working suggested that he should seriously consider becoming a physician. He ultimately decided to take their advice. Two years later he entered medical school at what is now Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine (NSU-COM) in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Dr. Stasio would spend the next 20 years involved with NSU-COM first as a student and then later as a faculty member and administrator. Ironically, his pursuit of a second career as an osteopathic physician also took him back to the career he originally intended to pursue – teaching.
Intrigued by the opportunity to participate in launching a new medical school, Dr. Stasio and his family left Florida and moved to Denver in 2007. He joined RVUCOM a year before the college opened its doors to its inaugural class.
Since coming to Denver, Dr. Stasio and his family have immersed themselves in the Colorado lifestyle. He, his wife and two sons are all avid skiers. He first learned to ski as a teenager growing up on Long Island in New York. He also continues to enjoy piloting his private airplane at least two or three times a month. It is a hobby that he says “provides a great escape” and an “incomparable sense of freedom.” He also loves music – especially “rock, you know . . . classic rock like the Stones and Pink Floyd”. Dr. Stasio is a longtime guitar player and recently, has been working to advance his skills to what he calls “the next level” by taking lessons from an experienced rock and blues guitarist. Dr. Stasio’s teenaged son, who is a drummer, often accompanies his father during occasional jam sessions in the basement of their home.
As Chair, Department of Primary Care and Associate Professor of Family Medicine, Dr. Stasio continues to train students in the areas of medicine he has loved and where physicians have the most ongoing contact with their patients because, as he said, “ I like talking to and working with people”.
“There were other medical specialties where I had an interest. Other areas where I briefly considered a career. But, family medicine was where I had worked as a physician’s assistant. It was what I enjoyed and what I still continue to enjoy.”
