TAFP member wins AAFP office
and an award to boot

September has been a banner month for Roland A. Goertz, M.D., of Waco. During the AAFP Scientific Assembly, Sept. 27 through Oct. 1, Goertz was elected to the AAFP Board of Directors and awarded with the 2006 AAFP Robert Graham Physician Executive award.

As a member of the Board of Directors, Goertz will be one of nine elected members responsible for governing the Academy when the Congress of Delegates is between meetings. Each elected board member serves a three-year term, starting at the end of AAFP’s Scientific Assembly. In addition to the nine elected members, the board consists of other representatives: the immediate AAFP Past President, who serves as chair, a resident member, a student member, a new physician member, the AAFP President, AAFP President-elect, Congress of Delegates Speaker and Vice Speaker and executive Vice President.

The Robert Graham Physician Executive Award recognizes physicians for outstanding contributions in health care organizations, acknowledged work in the provision of high-quality health care, and a commitment to fostering the tenets of family medicine and improving the health of a community, according to award specifications.

When asked about his dual role of being an executive and physician, Goertz says it is challenging. “But, a good family physician already has the type of broad perspective to be the executive of any organization,” he explains. “Shareholders, employees and others expect the executive to keep the boat going in the direction it needs to go and family physicians, in personality and nature, have great groundwork and credibility to do that.”

Each year, AAFP’s constituent state chapters nominate a member and the nominations are reviewed by a screening committee from members of the AAFP Commission on Practice Enhancement and the Commission on Quality. The committee looks for candidates who demonstrate excellence in four areas: ability in executive leadership, ability to improve patient safety and well-being and ability at innovation in health care financing, organization and delivery.

The award was first given in 1999 to Robert Graham, M.D., AAFP’s long-time executive vice-president. Dr. Graham was noted for dedicating his career to improving health care access and strengthening family medicine. Other past recipients, whom Goertz calls “role models,” include Robert E. Nesse, M.D., vice chair of the Mayo Clinic, B. Nedrow Calonge, M.D., M.P.H., chief medical officer for the State of Colorado, and Marc Rivo, M.D., M.P.H., deputy administrator for Preventive Services.

Mabry re-elected AAFP Vice Speaker

Leah Raye Mabry, M.D., of San Antonio, won re-election for a third term as Vice Speaker of the AAFP Congress of Delegates at the recent AAFP meeting in Washington D.C. As vice speaker, she will continue to work with Speaker Thomas Weida, M.D., from Pennsylvania to set the agenda and preside over the Congress of Delegates, the governing body of the AAFP. She is also a voting member of the AAFP Board of Directors.

Mabry is a long-time leader in Texas and at the AAFP. She is a past president of TAFP, a past winner of TAFP’s Physician of the Year Award and she served three consecutive two-year terms as one of TAFP’s delegates to AAFP.

She is currently the associate director of the CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency Program, San Antonio and is a clinical professor with the University Health Science Center, Department of Family Medicine.

Brenham family physician joins Hall of Honor

Henry Boehm, Jr., M.D., of Brenham, has been selected as one of five recipients of the 2006 Blinn College Ex-Students Association Hall of Honor award. Boehm will receive the award at Blinn’s annual homecoming luncheon on Oct. 14. He graduated with honors from Blinn in 1957 before attending the University of Texas and the UT Medical Branch in Galveston. Boehm currently serves as a member of the Blinn College Board of Trustees and is a faculty member of the Texas A&M University Family Practice Residency Program.

Briggs represents residents at AAFP

Emily Briggs, M.D., M.P.H., of the CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency Program in San Antonio, was elected to the position of alternate delegate to the 2006 AAFP Congress of Delegates in Washington, D.C., Sept. 26-28. Attendees of the Aug. 5 National Congress of Family Medicine Residents chose Briggs and three others from around the country to represent the interests of AAFP’s resident members. She served as alternate delegate during this Congress and will serve as delegate to the 2007 Congress.

Briggs has been involved at the state and national levels since she entered medical school. As a student member, she was elected chair of the TAFP Student Section and student representative to the TAFP Executive Committee. She also helped plan the Texas Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Students.

Martin receives lifetime achievement award

James C. Martin, M.D., a family physician who has worked for nearly 30 years to improve the specialty of family medicine, was celebrated on Sept. 28 as AAFP awarded him the John G. Walsh Award for Lifetime Contributions to Family Medicine at its Scientific Assembly in Washington, D.C. He joins only 10 other physicians in the country recognized for their long-time exceptional achievement and leadership in family medicine.

Martin currently works in a multi-specialty group practice and serves as program director for the Family Medicine Residency Program at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health Care, San Antonio. He spent 20 years in private practice after earning a medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School in San Antonio and completing a family medicine residency at Bexar County Hospital.

One of his greatest contributions to the specialty came through his work as the pioneer of the Future of Family Medicine project, a rigorous two-year study that identified challenges for primary care and called for system-wide change for the U.S. health care system. This project led to the development of TransforMED, an innovative practice redesign initiative that aims to reinvigorate family medicine and restructure health care through targeted practices throughout the country.

“Dr. Martin exemplifies all the best that this award represents and indeed he typifies what the specialty of family medicine is all about,” said AAFP President Larry Fields, M.D., in a press release.

In addition to his work with the Future of Family Medicine project, Martin is a past president of AAFP and has served on numerous AAFP and TAFP committees and commissions to address issues such as health education, legislative and government affairs, and membership.

The John G. Walsh award, established in 1973, is one of the highest honors bestowed by AAFP. It is named for the late Dr. John Walsh, who dedicated his entire career to improving family medicine. He is most known for being the first person to ever hold the presidency of three major family medicine organizations, AAFP, the American Board of Family Medicine and the Family Health Foundation of America.

TAFP members bring communities together with SWIFT

The TMA Foundation recently awarded the non-profit corporation SWIFT, or Schulenburg Weimar In Focus Together, with the John P. McGovern Champion of Health Award for its work to battle childhood obesity. The award recognizes “exceptional projects” that address public health threats. Several TAFP members are involved with SWIFT, including Robert Youens, M.D., Olga Duchicela, M.D., and Jorge Duchicela, M.D., who serves as board chairman.

SWIFT supports any project or initiative that benefits the rural communities of Schulenburg and Weimar, which have a combined population of around 4,000 people, but has been specifically honored for its support of the Healthy High/Healthy Choices program. This program instills healthy habits in local students grades 1-12 through educational programs on nutrition, common disorders like diabetes and high blood pressure and good exercise habits. It currently reaches about 3,000 youth and adults in the two communities. A TMA press release on the award recognizes the “innovative program” as one “designed to be a health and wellness model that can be utilized by any rural Texas community.”

Dr. Olga Duchicela says that the partnership between the clinic staff, school officials and others has given them an avenue to reach out, realize the resources that are out there and bring together the best of both communities. It also shows, she says, that they “walk the talk.”

“We’re not only saying we care, but showing that we do care by being active in the community,” she says.

Jorge Duchicela accepted the specially commissioned bronze statue and $5,000 award at the TMA Fall Summit in Austin on Sept. 30. In addition to the award, the TMA Foundation will award a $5,000 grant to a program similar to SWIFT.

The TMA Foundation first instituted the award in 1994. It is named after Dr. McGovern, a now-retired allergist and immunologist and current president and chairman of the board of the John P. McGovern Foundation, Houston. Dr. McGovern is known for his leadership and service to medicine in health promotion and disease prevention. The award is supported by a permanent endowment from the TMA Foundation.

AAFP charter member to retire

TAFP member Charles Alvin Jones, M.D., of Huntsville, Texas, retired on July 31 after more than 40 years in family medicine. He spent 20 years practicing family medicine in Huntsville before becoming director of the Conroe Family Practice Residency Program. Through his years as director, he was involved with the training of 170 young family physicians.

Jones is a charter member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and first joined TAFP in 1976. He served as chair of the TAFP Public Health and Scientific Affairs Committee and was a member of the Task Force on Preventive Health.

His experience growing up in rural Polk County evolved into a commitment to championing the health care needs of rural and underserved communities. Jones is a past president of the Texas Rural Health Association and former chair of the Center for Rural Health Initiatives. In his retirement, Jones looks forward to spending more time with his wife, Anna, who recently accompanied him on his fourth medical mission trip. He has traveled to Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and Mexico, and hopes to have many more opportunities to promote healing of the body and spirit.