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Sept. 3, 2024
By Tochi Iroku-Malize, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., FAAFP
AAFP Board Chair
It is fitting that September is Women in Medicine Month because women are going to make history this month at the AAFP Congress of Delegates in Phoenix.
When a new Board is seated Sept. 25 after elections during COD, women will occupy 11 of the 17 positions on the AAFP Board of Directors.
How? Well, barring any unforeseen events, the following will occur:
When the Congress of Delegates convenes this month, (from left) Gail Guerrero-Tucker, M.D., M.P.H., FAAFP; Karen Smith, M.D., FAAFP; and Sarah Nosal, M.D., FAAFP; will be on the ballot for president-elect.
Dr. Brull will be the Academy’s third female president in five years. It will be the first time women have been chosen as president-elect two years in a row.
It’s remarkable how far we have come.
I remember attending COD as a new physician roughly 20 years ago and seeing Leah Raye Mabry, M.D., of San Antonio, at the lectern. At a time when there weren’t many women at the highest levels of leadership in family medicine, Dr. Mabry was the vice speaker of the COD. I thought to myself, “This woman is commanding the entire Congress,” and it was amazing.
Dr. Mabry was a no-nonsense woman presiding over a Congress with a male majority. She moved the COD along smoothly and efficiently even when the topics being debated were contentious. People paid attention and respected her, and she served seven years as vice speaker and speaker.
I was fortunate to find a personal mentor back home in my own chapter. Elise Korman, M.D., was an inspiration not only because she was one of the first female presidents of the New York AFP but because she also was the kind of leader who also was “no nonsense” yet still remembered to lift up the young leaders coming behind her.
Today, women are well represented in family medicine leadership at the national and state levels, but mentoring our students, residents and new physicians of all genders, races and ethnicities remains a vital task. It’s worth noting that the National Conference of Constituency Leaders will mark its 35th anniversary April 23-26 in Kansas City, Mo. That incredible event started as a leadership development conference for women; new physicians; and minorities (that constituency is now referred to as Black, indigenous, and other people of color, or BIPOC), and it has since expanded to include international medical graduates and LGBTQ+ physicians and allies.
NCCL has been a launching pad for numerous family physicians who went on to leadership roles at the state and national levels, including many friends and colleagues. As a regular attendee, I’m grateful for the experience and networking opportunities because the path wasn’t always so clear.
The Congress of Delegates elected its first female director in 1957, more than a decade before family medicine was recognized as a specialty. But the precedent set by Mary Johnston, M.D., of Tazewell, Va., didn’t open doors for others. Another woman wasn’t elected to a director position until Jeanne Arnold of Hanover, N.H., joined the Board in 1980.
There weren’t two female directors on the same AAFP Board until Rose Mary Hatem Bonsack, M.D., of Aberdeen, Md., and Deborah Haynes, M.D., of Wichita, Kan., served together in 1997-98 — six years before Mary Frank, M.D., of Mill Valley, Calif., became the Academy’s first female president.
Lori Heim, M.D., of Vass, N.C., became the Academy’s second female president in 2009, and Wanda Filer M.D., M.B.A. of York, Pa., followed in 2015. Ada Stewart, M.D., of Columbia, S.C., became the first Black woman to serve as AAFP president in 2020.
I still remember feeling uneasy when Dr. Filer felt compelled to mention in her COD speech that her children were grown, off to college, and her obligations as a mother wouldn’t prevent her from fulfilling her duties as an AAFP officer. A male candidate with children would never have been expected to make such a declaration.
And here’s a critical part of the message that our aspiring and future leaders — men and women — need to hear: This is possible, regardless of what leadership role you aspire to in your workplace, community, chapter or the national Academy. Find and maximize your village, and there will always be a way to engage and participate.
1957: Mary Johnston, M.D., is the first woman elected to the American Academy of General Practice (now AAFP) Board of Directors.
1980: Jeanne Arnold, M.D., is the second woman elected to the Board.
1983: The Ad Hoc Task Force on Women in Family Medicine is created.
1984: Maureen Murphy is the Board’s first student observer.
1987: Murphy becomes the first resident member of the Board.
1990: The first National Conference of Women, Minority and New Physicians (now the National Conference of Constituency Leaders) creates a new opportunity for members of those groups to have direct input into Academy policy discussions.
1993: Women, minority and new physician delegates are seated in the Congress of Delegates for the first time.
1998: Family physician Nancy Dickey, M.D., is the first woman elected president of the AMA.
2004: Mary Frank, M.D., becomes the AAFP’s first female president.
2020: Ada Stewart, M.D., becomes the AAFP’s first Black female president.
2021: Women are elected to all three open AAFP director positions for the first time.
2024: For the first time, women will be chosen president-elect in back-to-back years.
No matter what you decide to do in your personal life, whether you are getting married, starting a family (or already have one), that should not exclude you from leading if it is your passion.
When aspiring leaders seek me out, I make sure to let them know that, yes, I’m a daughter, sister, wife and mom of three. I’ve been a dance mom, theater mom and sports mom. I have a day job (or two), and I have led my state chapter and our Academy.
You should know that family physicians belong in these spaces: serving in board rooms, lobbying in our state capitols and testifying on Capitol Hill, and even running for office. For example, Dr. Hatem Bonsack, mentioned above, served eight years in the Maryland state legislature while also serving on the AAFP Board at the same time.
We need to be in these spaces, to be a voice for our patients, peers and communities, in the rooms where decisions are made.
My work with the Academy is a passion that has filled my soul. I am grateful for having had the opportunity to represent you, and I look forward to seeing what you will do when you stand at the lectern and lead us.
Disclaimer
The opinions and views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the opinions and views of the American Academy of Family Physicians. This blog is not intended to provide medical, financial, or legal advice. All comments are moderated and will be removed if they violate our Terms of Use.