AAFP Scientific Assembly report: Mabry elected as AAFP Speaker

Leah Raye Mabry, M.D., R.Ph., of San Antonio was elected to serve as AAFP Speaker of the Congress of Delegates at the AAFP Scientific Assembly in San Diego last week. The Speaker presides over the Congress, which is the Academy’s policy-making body.

A longtime leader on the state and national levels, Mabry has served as AAFP Vice Speaker since 2005, is a TAFP Past President, a past recipient of the TAFP Family Physician of the Year award, and served three consecutive two-year terms as one of TAFP’s delegates to AAFP.

Mabry currently serves as chief of staff at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa City Center Hospital in San Antonio and is the associate director of their family medicine residency program. She is also a clinical associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and a fellow at the Faculty Development Center in Waco.

Roland Goertz, M.D., M.B.A., of Waco announced his candidacy for AAFP President-elect. The election will take place at AAFP’s 2009 Scientific Assembly in Boston. Goertz currently serves on the AAFP Board of Directors and has served in various leadership roles within TAFP and AAFP, including as TAFP president in 1995.

Goertz is the CEO of the three foundations that oversee all operations of the Waco Family Health Center and also serves as chair of the Family Medicine Residency Advisory Committee of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Janet Realini, M.D., M.P.H., of San Antonio was chosen to receive the 2008 AAFP Public Health Award. This award recognizes individuals who are making extraordinary contributions to the health of the American public. Realini won the TAFP Public Health Award in 2007.

Realini is the current president of the non-profit Healthy Futures where she develops programs to target teen pregnancy in Bexar County. She spent many years with the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District where she founded Project WORTH, or Working On Real Teen Health, which also encourages teens to make healthy decisions in their lives.