Women Have Made ‘Remarkable’ Strides in Specialty’s Leadership

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.