After a whirlwind conference containing 28 hours of CME, a couple dozen TAFP committee and commission meetings, over a hundred informative products and services displayed in the Exhibit Hall and a host of the special events, attendees of TAFP’s 57th Annual Session and Scientific Assembly came away re-energized about the specialty. All activities were held at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center in Frisco.

CME lectures, presented by some of the top experts in the country, began with opening keynote speaker David Sherman, M.D., who lectured on stroke management. Topics ranged from discussions on vaccines and epidemics to robotic prostate surgery and the surgical management of obesity. Thursday’s three-hour workshops provided a closer look at geriatric medicine, preceptoring, new medications for office-based maintenance and detoxification, and risk management. The wildly popular procedures workshop offered hands-on experience with dermatology and joint aspiration.

At the luau-themed President’s Gala on Saturday, AAFP President Larry Fields, M.D., officiated the installation of TAFP’s 2006-2007 officers. Douglas Curran, M.D., was sworn in as TAFP President and gave his first presidential address. Curran showed pictures of himself and his family and friends as he reflected on many of the great moments in his life. He encouraged attendees of the gala to remember their own formative life moments and use them in the present.

“If you really think about what the greatest moment in your life is, that greatest moment in your life is right now,” Curran said. “This moment is the only opportunity that we really have to make a difference and change things. This is our opportunity to reflect on the past, look to the future and move forward. It is our opportunity to serve in whatever capacity we are driven to serve.”

Other officers installed were President-elect Linda Siy, M.D.; Vice President K. Ashok Kumar, M.D.; Treasurer Robert Youens, M.D.; and Parliamentarian Melissa Gerdes, M.D.

Over 100 members participated in TAFP’s committee and commission meetings, where Academy members formed policy on pressing issues to the medical community. Some topics discussed included pay for performance, scope of practice and increasing research opportunities for family physicians.

Each committee, commission and task force passed on action items to the TAFP Board of Directors. The Board examined each recommendation and matched them with overall objectives of the Academy. Within the Board’s recommendations came a decision by the Foundation to begin fundraising for the Glen Johnson, M.D., medical student scholarship, support for candidates in pursuit of AAFP Commission appointments, the creation of a task force to focus on private sector concerns and a motion that TAFP advocate for standard contract legislation during the upcoming 80th legislative session. The Board also voted to create a new local chapter, the Seven Flags Chapter, composed of members from Webb, Zapata and Jim Hogg counties. For a full account of Board action from this Annual Session, see the Annual Session Minutes in Brief on page 30.

A town hall meeting about retail health clinics held Friday night allowed members to voice their concerns to an expert panel comprised of Dr. Fields, Dr. Melissa Gerdes and Dr. Roland Goertz. The participants aired important points of view that will help shape the Academy’s policy on the store-based clinics.

On Sunday morning, Fields gave an energizing closing keynote address, bringing “glad tidings” of the state of family medicine.

“The best tiding is that the debate over the value of family medicine is over,” Fields said. “Nobody who can read a scientific study can logically argue anymore about whether family medicine and primary care bring value to any health care system. That debate’s over.”

Example after example in Fields’ presentation proved the importance of family medicine in providing care that keeps costs down and reduces disparities. In addition to a 2005 study on primary care by Barbara Starfield, M.D., M.P.H., which Fields referred to as “the gospel according to Saint Barbara,” one example showed that the supply of primary care physicians in a community “wiped out the adverse effects of income inequality.” Another showed that having “one additional primary care physician per 10,000 people could prevent 127,617 deaths a year in the United States.”

Fields ended his presentation by giving the audience a few points to take away, and topping the list: family physicians are winning. He continued to say that we must do three things to get a health care system that’s of the quality we deserve and can afford: continue to fight for workforce reform, payment reform and liability reform.

TAFP looks forward to making the CME, committee and commission meetings, exhibit hall and special events of the 2007 Annual Session and Scientific Assembly in Corpus Christi even more invigorating so that attendees can continue to leave the premier family physician conference in the state recharged and revitalized.

Among the business of Annual Session, the Awards Lunch allowed the Academy to recognize a few of its outstanding members and friends. TAFP President Samuel “Tim” Coleridge, D.O., presided over the ceremony.

The 2007 Physician of the Year Award went to Erica Swegler, M.D., of Keller, Texas, a partner in North Hills Family Medicine, P.A. She was recognized for her work in preventive medicine, specifically for promoting immunizations and screening tests for cancer and diabetes-related complications in her patients. In her acceptance speech, Swegler explained that for her, family medicine was a calling. She explained that she is “blessed everyday to have a job that’s intellectually challenging and rewarding so you know you’re making a difference in people’s lives.”

She ensured that she will represent family medicine well in the coming year, and continue to carry her banners: “a preventative style of medicine with emphasis on quality.”

Swegler has served as TAFP President, Vice President and Treasurer as well as the chair of several committees and commissions. Within her community, she serves as the team physician for the Keller High School football team and is active in her church. She credits her success to a supportive family: spouse, Paul, and children, Andrew and Jennifer.

Two extraordinary physicians share the honor of being named this year’s Physicians Emeriti. Husband and wife Robert Chapman, M.D., and Martha Chapman, M.D., of Fort Worth, Texas, have practiced family medicine for more than 50 years. The Chapmans’ patients praise them for outstanding dedication to their community’s health needs while their colleagues call them role models for all family physicians.

Coleridge presented three special awards, the Unsung Hero awards and the Presidential Award of Merit. He recognized his wife, Maryann, and assistant, Carol Knisley, for providing support and guidance to him during his presidency. Eduardo Sanchez, M.D., received the Presidential Award of Merit for his important role as the commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. Sanchez has provided the leadership needed in Texas to make immunizations, obesity and emergency preparedness top priorities in the state.

Other awardees included Thomas F. Gavagan, M.D., the Public Health Award; K. Ashok Kumar, M.D., the Exem­plary Teaching Award; Glen Johnson, M.D., Phi­lanthropist of the Year; Charles Bell, M.D., the Patient Advocacy Award; Henry Boehm, M.D., the TAFP Political Action Commit­tee Award; and the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, for the Medical School Award of Achievement.

During Coleridge’s final address as President, he outlined “the many challenges” the Academy has faced this year, including issues of the school tax reform, cuts in Title VII funding, the continuation of scope of practice issues, EHR implementation and response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He emphasized that family physicians have made “exceptional progress” and “are making a difference in our communities, our state, our country, and our families.” Coleridge encouraged members to continue to serve as mentors and role models for patients, legislators, students and residents and others so that we can all “love the lives we live and live the lives we love.”