Ohio Academy of Family Physicians chapter leaders met in Kansas City, MO, April 25-28 for the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Annual Chapter Leader Forum (ACLF) and the National Conference of Constituency Leaders (NCCL).
ACLF is the AAFP’s leadership development program for chapter-elected leaders, aspiring leaders, and chapter staff. Ohio members attending included Stan Anderson, MD, FAAFP; Jeff Bachtel, MD, FAAFP; Doug Harley, DO, FACOFP, FAAFP; Mary Krebs, MD, FAAFP; Gary LeRoy, MD; Sheng Liu, MD, FAAFP; Don Mack, MD, FAAFP; Renee Markovich, MD, FAAFP; Anna McMaster, MD, FAAFP; Elisabeth Righter, MD, FAAFP; Mike Sevilla, MD; and Teresa Zyrd, MD, MSPH, FAAFP. Staff members in attendance included Coordinator of Events and Foundation Programs Katie Siegrist, Deputy Executive Vice President Kate Mahler, and Executive Vice President Ann Spicer.
NCCL is the AAFP’s premier policy development event for underrepresented constituencies, including women; minorities; new physicians; international medical graduates (IMG); and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) physicians or physicians who support LGBT issues. Ohio’s official delegates to NCCL included Ean Bett, MD (new physician representative); Wayne Ford, MD, FAAFP (minority physicians representative); Jaividhya Dasarathy MD, FAAFP (women physician representative); Natalie Hinchcliffe, DO, (GLBT physician representative); and Tamer Said, MD (IMG physician representative). Dr. Kathleen Meehan de-la Cruz served as the co-convener for the LGBT delegation and as a member constituency delegate to the 2018 Congress of Delegates. Other Ohio members in attendance included Julie Marcinek, DO, and Mark McLoney, MD.
In addition to participating in leadership sessions, NCCL delegates write, debate, and vote on resolutions related to medical practice and patient health.
Many of our NCCL delegates participated in the special constituency election progress to fill various national-level leadership positions – each did a tremendous job. Dr. Said was elected co-convener of the IMG delegation and Dr. Dasarathy was selected as a co-convener of the Women delegation and was successfully elected as a member constituency alternate delegate to the AAFP Congress of Delegates.
- An opening session and plenary with AAFP President Michael Munger MD, FAAFP, who gave an update on the AAFP’s activities including the Advanced Primary Care Alternative Payment Model, the benefit of increasing the national primary care “spend” from approximately 7% to 12%, and results from a recent study that recognized the AAFP as one of the most effective, influential, and impactful advocacy organizations in Washington, D.C.
- Breakout sessions that covered governance, communications, advocacy, media relations, and membership issues
- An inspirational presentation by Derrick Kayongo, a Ugandan refugee turned successful entrepreneur and renowned human rights activist. Mr. Kayongo is the founder of the Global Soap Project, which recycles used hotel soap and redistributes it to impoverished populations around the world. In creating this global humanitarian initiative, he demonstrated that a simple, yet novel idea has the power to transform lives.
- During the lunch program on April 27, the OAFP was recognized for sending a full delegation to the 2018 NCCL. Dr. Sevilla, chair of the AAFP’s Commission on Membership and Member Services, presented the chapter awards.
Attendees from Ohio joined leaders from the Alaska, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Wisconsin chapters for dinner on April 27 for a combined group of 57 physicians and staff.
In 2019, the conference will be held Thursday-Saturday, April 24-27, in Kansas City.