Member of the Month
Meet our past Members of the Month
May | Edwin Franks, M.D. | Iraan
TAFP Life Member recalls the golden years of family medicine
Edwin R. Franks, M.D., now retired, practiced family medicine for 51 years in the small rural town of Iraan, Texas – pronounced “Ira-Ann,” a mash-up of the names of a cattle rancher and his wife. Over his career, he delivered 3,000 babies, spanning generations, and saw the full spectrum of family medicine, “from soup to nuts,” as he said when he sat down with TAFP at the C. Frank Webber Lectureship in March 2012.
April | Ikemefuna Charles Okwuwa, M.D. | Odessa
Resident dreams of teaching, tells first-years to “seize every opportunity”
Dr. Okwuwa is a third-year resident at Texas Tech Health Science Center Department of Family Medicine in Odessa, Texas. Though now a U.S. citizen, he was born in Nigeria and received medical training at the School of Medicine at the University of Benin in Nigeria. He loves family medicine for the variety and hopes to join his residency’s faculty to give back to future physicians what he has received from his residency mentors.
March | Dustin Pratt, M.D. | Childress
Family physician practices full-spectrum medicine in rural Texas
Dr. Pratt is a family physician in the small rural town of Childress, Texas, halfway between Wichita Falls and Amarillo in the Texas panhandle. He enjoys the diversity of family medicine, and certainly practices the full spectrum in his local clinic and hospital, though he worries about the “ever increasing difficulty to recruit new physicians that do full spectrum family medicine.”
February | John Redman, M.D., M.S. | Anahuac
New physician drawn to breadth of specialty, serving the underserved
Dr. Redman is a family physician at Bayside Clinic, a federally qualified health center 50 miles east of Houston, where he serves the poor and indigent of Chambers County. He felt drawn to work at an FQHC because of his residency training at the Waco Family Medicine Program, another FQHC, and because he enjoys helping patients who would not otherwise have access to health care.
January | Lisa Doggett, M.D., M.P.H. | Austin
Austin physician “makes a difference” by caring for the underserved
In her 10 years as a family physician, Dr. Doggett has dedicated her career to caring for the uninsured, underinsured, and others in need, following in the footsteps of her parents for whom “public service is a way of life.”
2011
November | Claudia Aguero-Vazquez, M.D. | Harlingen
Rio Grande Valley educator coaches residents, patients to be their best
Though Dr. Aguero-Vazquez began her career in private practice, she is now faculty at Valley Baptist Family Practice Residency Program. It’s here that she shines as a “remarkable leader, cheerleader, and coach.”
October | J. Mark Anderson, M.D., and Walter Gaman, M.D. | Southlake
Southlake physicians share family medicine with broad audience
As hosts of a popular Dallas radio show and authors of a new book, Drs. Anderson and Gaman are no strangers to the media. The Southlake family physicians say it’s important to provide a family medicine perspective because family physicians are “on the front lines” and “see the big picture.”
September | Aaron Segal, M.D. | Plano
“Family practice” holds extra meaning for Plano physician
In practice with his wife and father, Dr. Segal reflects on his experience working with family, gives thoughts on the broken reimbursement model, and tells how one ride in a college campus ambulance sealed his destiny to become a physician.
August | Kevin P. Spencer, M.D. | Austin
Physician uses innovation and technology to deliver better patient care
A private practice physician at Premier Family Physicians in Austin, Texas, Dr. Spencer delivers quality patient care through traditional family medicine mixed with innovation and health information technology.
July | Emily Sullivan Meyer, M.D. | Hondo
Fourth-generation physician carries on tradition of patient care in rural Texas
Dr. Meyer is a rural physician in Hondo, Texas, who currently practices with her father and four other family physicians. Her family's medical tradition started with her great-grandfather when he moved to Hondo and opened a general practice in 1906.
June | Christine Criscuolo Higgins, M.D. | San Antonio
Academic physician’s love of fitness inspires community involvement
Clinical faculty at the Christus Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency Program in San Antonio, Dr. Higgins’ approach to medicine combines her family medicine training, passion for the underserved, and love of fitness.
May | Julie Graves Moy, M.D., M.P.H. | Austin
Physician explores many sides of family medicine
Dr. Graves Moy currently works for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, but has worked in academia, private practice, and emergency medicine as well. She’s currently working on her doctorate in policy management and biostatistics.
April | Loren S. Lasater, M.D. | Roanoke
Physician invigorates practice through military service
Dr. Lasater joined the U.S. Army Reserve to care for soldiers serving abroad and in the United States. Through this service he has gained knowledge and experience working with other physicians and in other health care systems that make him a better physician in his home practice.
March | Howard Brody, M.D. | Galveston
Galveston physician educates patients, promotes specialty through writing
Dr. Brody contributes columns to local newspapers to educate patients on their health and on the specialty of family medicine, and has dedicated his career to medical ethics.
February | Chrisette Dharma, M.D. | Dallas
Presenting our inaugural Member of the Month
Your Academy is proud to launch a new program that celebrates the breadth of family medicine, the Member of the Month program. Each month, TAFP will present a short biography and question-and-answer segment that spotlights a family physician’s unique approach to medicine. Read about our first member of the month, Chrisette Dharma, M.D., of Dallas, and consider nominating a colleague.