ATSU-KCOM alumna and departing board member Dr. Linnette Sells looks back on her 40-year career
Posted: September 26, 2025
For Linnette Sells, DO, FAOASM, ’82, serving on ATSU’s Board of Trustees wasn’t just another career milestone – it was a meaningful addition to a life spent leading and giving back.
“It’s been both an honor and a privilege to serve on the board,” she says. “We have a lot of highly respected, knowledgeable people in all different fields who I can learn so much from.”
An accomplished physician, veteran, and Kirksville native, her path to ATSU’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (ATSU-KCOM) was in no way traditional. After her first year of college, she got married and gave birth to her first child. Her husband was in the Air Force, and the family spent four years traveling. Unfortunately, the marriage didn’t last, and she found herself back in Kirksville as a single mother. However, this did not deter her from pursuing a career in medicine. She took the MCAT, completed all the necessary prerequisites for ATSU-KCOM, and was accepted, despite not having her undergraduate degree.
“My dad was a professor at Truman State University, and he wasn’t very happy that I didn’t have a degree from there. So, he and I worked together while I was in medical school to transfer credits,” Dr. Sells says.
She received enough credits to graduate from Truman State University with a bachelor of science degree in biology in 1981 and then graduated from ATSU-KCOM with a doctor of osteopathic medicine degree in 1982.
“The certificates would look really weird next to each other,” she laughs.
During her time at ATSU-KCOM, Dr. Sells received a health professions scholarship from the Air Force to help with tuition and living expenses. After graduation, she served in the Air Force and was stationed at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. Dr. Sells initially worked in a general medical clinic, but she found her true calling in the emergency room. The hospital commander eventually appointed her chief of emergency medicine – a role she held for three years. During this time, she remarried and had her second son.
Emergency medicine wasn’t Dr. Sells’ sole interest; she was also interested in sports medicine, setting up a sports medicine clinic at MacDill. This led her, along with her colleagues, to help establish a primary care sports medicine certification within the osteopathic profession.
Life eventually brought Dr. Sells back to Kirksville, where she joined ATSU-KCOM’s faculty in the late 1980s. She also served as the team physician for Truman State University. However, Dr. Sells and her family weren’t done moving. Her husband got an internship in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and shortly thereafter, Dr. Sells got recalled for Desert Storm, where she ran the emergency room at Homestead
Air Force Base in Miami, Florida. After Dr. Sells retired from the Air Force, she and her family moved again, first to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and then to Atlanta, Georgia, where she continued working in emergency medicine and urgent care. She then became a part-time team physician for Georgia Tech.
Despite frequently relocating, she served on the ATSU-KCOM Alumni Board, where former ATSU Board Chair G. Scott Drew, DO, FAOCD, ’87, convinced her to also join ATSU’s Board of Trustees.
“Sometimes it was a little tough because not only was I doing a full-time job, but I was also a team doctor,” Dr. Sells says. “But I managed.”
Her time on the board was marked by growth, strategic expansion, and, during her tenure as chair, the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was hard not being able to meet in person,” she says. “But we stayed connected through weekly calls and Zooms. We made it work.”
After 40 years of hard work and serving their communities, Dr. Sells and her husband made the decision to retire at the end of 2022 and move once more to Amelia Island, Florida. When she’s not out
enjoying her time at the beach (or just looking out her window at the beach), Dr. Sells is attending CrossFit classes and doing her best to stay active.
Reflecting on her nine years on the Board of Trustees, Dr. Sells is most proud of the University’s evolution and its commitment to community-centered care, hoping her presence has made a positive impact.
“I always wonder, how many students have I touched? How many patients have I touched? And how many colleagues have I touched?” Dr. Sells asks. “Hopefully I’ve left a good impression on all of them
because they’ve all touched my life as well. I want to be known for being hands-on and being the best possible doctor I could be. And, hopefully that’s the tradition we continue to keep at ATSU.”